Attached formation question

[Ultratram]

I have noticed mostly with kato trains there are A, B, C sets. Often the one listed as the attached formation has a motor. As does the basic set. One thing I've always know is putting two motors on a track is a big no no, probably involving sparks.

 

The question is, does one motor get switched with a dummy under floor trailer?

 

That seems difficult since all the spare parts seem difficult to get or sell out fast.

 

Any insights would be nice to know thanks.

[Kiha66]

More than one motor is fine, but it is usually just unessasary.   The add on motor-less sets are cheaper, as the have less parts and are so people can make a larger train.  Which sets in particular are you looking at?  

[katoftw]

The 4 car basic + 4 car add on + 2 car addon for a Shonan Shinjuku set with the attached 5 car add on is because at times these trains run separately as 10 and 5 car sets.  And combine into one at certain stations.

 

You should have no issues with sparks.  I'd ran many trains (so multiple motor cars) on the one line, and never had sparking issues.

[Ultratram]

I keep debating on completing my e231 kato joban line with the 5 car set. I guess I was wrong with have two motors running at same time on DC?

[chadbag]

You should be fine having 2 run on DC at the same time.   Hopefully they are somewhat matched.

 

I've run multiple trains at once on my setup when using DC and never had an issue (mostly breaking in multiple at once ;)

 

[kvp]

The prototype is also using multipe motor cars (they are emus) and Tomix even recommends multiple motor cars in the same set for hillier layouts. Kato sets with multiple motors are rare but usually happen with connected set, even for shinkansen formations. In these cases the second smaller set usually lacks traction tires so the motor cars won't figtht each other.

 

The only thing could cause trouble is with a load compensating controller as they get confused over the two motors. But those don't like working head/tail lights or internal lights either so not recommended for japanese trains. Any normal DC or PWM controller with speed matched DC motor cars should be ok. You can even run multiple independent trains from the same controller as long as it has enough power for it.