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Reply to "Old technology conversion to new"

Lionel's diesels, including your 8580, use back-drivable gears.  So the motors in a dual-motored unit can actually "help" each other.  For example: when one Pullmor motor's armature is "stuck" in the node between the poles, chances are that the other motor's armature may not be.  So the second motor rotates and nudges the whole train.  Because the wheels can turn the motor, this releases the load on the first motor.  So now it also rotates.  If you accept this premise, a Lionel diesel with two vertical motors is benefitting from about 18 "power pulses" per inch.  This compares favorably to a 5-pole can motor.  If both motors are in good working condition, it should be able to maintain about 600 rpm, or a steady 9-10 mph on level track.  If one motor starts way before the other, something is wrong and you need to troubleshoot that to restore performance.  That's just about as good as any can-motored diesel could do before the advent of speed control.

Conversely, most diesels with twin vertical "can" motors do NOT have back-drivable gears.  The gears are self-locking.  Thus one motor cannot "help" the other, at least not very much.  So you might see some bucking and surging of the individual trucks when the loco first starts moving.  On those trains, I bet that you could get a smoother start, and maybe a slower minimum speed, if you observed which motor was more reluctant and performed a radical motor-ectomy!

Last edited by Ted S

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