Garden Railroading - Controlling Several Trains

When you get started in large scale railroading, you usually begin with one track (a circle or an oval) and one power supply to control one train. It doesn't take long for this to get boring, so you might think of running more trains on more tracks. Each separate track will need a separate speed controller. With smaller, low cost power supplies, this means several separate power supplies will be used. Some larger power supplies have two, three, or four speed controllers in one box, for example PH Hobbies (http://www.phhobbies.com/) or Bridgewerks (www.bridgewerks.com ). You can also find systems that allow several separate speed controllers to be connected to one power supply (eg LGB 50061+50070+50090). Remember, the total load of all trains will determine the amp rating of the power supply needed to run multiple trains. You might consider the walk around radio controllers, mentioned above, to run the separate tracks. One large power supply with 3 or 4 radio-receiver speed controllers is a reasonably inexpensive and flexible system. One or two handheld transmitters will be needed (eg AristoCraft Train Engineer system) ( www.aristocraft.com).

You can run more than one train on one track, provided your power supply is big enough, BUT, one train will always catch up to the next. You will have to manually catch the faster train and hold it for a short time to prevent a crash. Alternatively, you can isolate a portion of track with plastic rail joiners and connect a toggle switch between the power supply and the isolated track. By turning the switch to the off position, you can hold the faster train for a few moments and then release it. Instead of the toggle switch, you can use a second speed controller on the isolated track to adjust the speed each time the faster train comes by. This kind of operation requires constant attention and may get boring for the operator.

Several battery powered, radio controlled trains can be run on the same track - that's the appeal of battery power with R/C. One or more additional trains could also be run under track power. Digital command control (DCC) also allows multiple trains on one track. Locos require some re-wiring for battery or DCC operation.

DCC for large scale is available from LGB (lgb.de ), Locolinc (locolinc.com ), and others.
Battery Backshop ( www.batterybackshop.com) and 4QD (www.4qd.co.uk) offer radio control and batteries especially designed for large scale trains. For battery operation, be sure to disconnect all sources of track power to the locomotive; otherwise, the battery will end up powering other trains through the track.