One loco MUCH faster than the other

[El Robbie]

I'm just getting back into model railroading after a number of years. So far I have just an oval of Bachmann Track and the DCC EZ Controller ... just dipping my toes in the water.

I have two locos at this point, both Bachmann ... a Baldwin 4-6-0 steam loco and a EMD 3 diesel. Both have DCC factory installed. No sound on either, just the DCC. No modifications to the CV values, they're both at factory default.

My problem is that the diesel goes literally two-and-a-half times faster than the steam loco at full throttle. On my oval, two laps around the track took the diesel 9.25 seconds, but the steam took 23.5 seconds.

Is this normal? The diesel is greatly exceeding scale prototypical speed, but the steam isn't reaching full prototypical scale speed. I can always throttle back the diesel to proper speed, but I can't speed up a loco that goes too slow.

Mostly I guess I'm just puzzled by the huge discrepancy between the two and whether this indicates a problem.

Thanks for any feedback.

[gatrhumpy]

Change CVs 29 and 67-95 on the diesel to slow it down and match the steam locomotive.

[El Robbie]

Changing the CVs you mention might slow down the diesel, I'll give it a try, thanks. But if I slow down the diesel to match the speed of the steam loco, both will be running too slow.

Can anything be done to speed up the 4-6-0? It seems to be running below scaled prototype speed.

[spookshow]

The Bachmann 4-6-0 has a very low top end speed, particularly as compared to some of Bachmann's diesels. I don't know how prototypical that may or may not be, but in any case, the only way to make a locomotive go faster is to increase the voltage at the rails (via settings in your DCC system). This will make all of your locomotives run faster, but as noted above, that can be dialed back as need be via CV settings in the individual locomotives.

-Mark

[El Robbie]

Mark, that is GREAT info, thanks!

I've been to your Spookshow website numerous times, and it's a wonderful source of information. Thanks for that public service as well.

Okay, I'll just accept the fact that the Bachmann 4-6-0 is going to be slow. That's disappointing ... it somehow fits the image I have in my head of what a steam loco should look like. (YMMV 😊)

Does anyone happen to know whether there's a 4-6-0 from another manufacturer that runs faster? Or whether there are other Bachmann steam locos that run faster than the 4-6-0?

[gatrhumpy]

All the 4-6-0s run the same speed.

[spookshow]

Bachmann makes the only 4-6-0 in N scale. Bachmann's steamers of recent vintage all tend to run about the same as the 4-6-0, with the exception of their K4 4-6-2. That one has a noticeably high top-end speed (perhaps because it was designed for passenger service).

-Mark

[El Robbie]

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the feedback.