+Carl Lakes Carl, again, thanks for such a great compliment. Glad this method worked out for you. Cheers, Kevin

+dgp2012 Daryl, thanks for the great feedback. Glad to hear you found the video helpful. Cheers, Kevin

Joe, Wow. Thanks for the super great compliment. Glad to hear you find the videos informative. I've got another ops session coming up soon.

Can't wait, your layout is very well designed, think your ever finish it? Or will it be like mine, every time I think this is good, I change my mind.

Joe, thanks. I don't know if it will ever get finished or not. Up until now, I seems to switch scales, era, or prototype every couple years. I've modeled the Joint Line in O and N scale both as KCS, ATSF, MRL, and PRR just to name a few. I suffer from the other scale/layout/era/prototype is better than whatever I was currently working on. I haven't had this layout even two years yet so it will be a while before its finished.

You're welcome. Glad to hear that you found the video useful and this technique has worked for you too. Cheers, Kevin

+David Muse David, thanks very much. Glad you hear you like the videos and have found them useful. Cheers, Kevin

+David Muse Thanks for the feedback. Glad you found this video useful. Cheers, Kevin

Vinny, thanks. I never bothered doing this when I was in N scale. I found that most of my engines were Kato and Atlas and most of them ran pretty well together right out of the box. Still a good idea to do in N scale, I just never got around to in. In HO there seems to be a larger difference in how engines perform. Without speed matching I would be a lot more limited in building up consists and helper operations wouldn't work well at all.

HO Scale Model Trains & Colorado's Joint Line Layout you are right as far as my locos go.. they seen to run well together right out of the box... basically the only change i do is the slow speed...& still have to bring a few of them down a bit more... thanks for all your info vinny

Glad to hear you found this video useful. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks. Glad you found this technique useful. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the feedback on my video. Cheers, Kevin

You're welcome and thanks for the very nice compliments on the video. Glad to hear you found this video useful. Hopefully you'll find some of my other videos useful as well. Cheers, Kevin

Thank you for the compliment on my video. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the complement. Glad you enjoyed it.

+BArailsystem Glad you found the technique helpful for you. Cheers, Kevin

Deryk, you're welcome. Hopefully some guys find this technique useful. I've been doing my speed matching this way for a few years now and can't imagine doing it any other way.

Thanks

Not a problem. Glad you enjoyed the video.

Thanks

You're welcome. Hopefully you'll be able to use it. Cheers, Kevin

James, thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video. Understand about the music. I try to make it soft enough to not interfere with my voice over, but sometimes I still get it too loud. Cheers, Kevin

Good idea. Thanks for sharing YOUR technique.

Shaun, since you're using Digitrax the PR3 is the way you'll want to go. It allows you to use it independently of your layout as a stand along programming track or it can connect to your Digitrax Loconet and use it to control parts of your layout.

I saw that on their website. I just need to save money to get it. I didn't realize that u needed a link to use decoderpro until I saw a video about it

Nope. Once the engines are speed matched you can consist them together without any other adjustments. Just consist them together using your DCC system and you're all set. Thanks for the compliments.

Decoder Pro is a free software program available from JMRI. Thanks for the compliments on my layout. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the feedback. Cheers, Kevin

In my experience even engines that are not speed matched will not have their motors damaged in any way regardless of how differently they run. They will not run very smoothly when coupled together, but the wheels slide on the track pretty easily. If one engine is running a bit fast or slow, its motor should be fine. Cheers, Kevin

+N-Scale Union Pacific Evanston Subdivision Roy, can you write any changes to your engine with JMRI or just not the speed table? If nothing is working, then something not right with the set up of the PR3 or other computer interface. If everything else works, then look to see if the decoder type your using have a pull down on the speed table page that allows you to select a user defined speed table. If not, type just adjusting the VMin, VMid, and VMax to see if your engine responds to those changes. On some of my engines I just adjust those settings rather than the whole speed table and get the engine matched for all the speeds anyway. Hope this helps. If not, you might want to contact Big Bill Graham over at KZfaqModelBuilders. He's a bit of a JMRI guru. Cheers, Kevin

First I'd try to identify which engine, or engines, are running at different speeds when running in reverse. If you can, set up a loop of track with 2 engines on it facing opposite directions. Start both of them going the same direction so one is traveling forwards and one is traveling in reverse. Set them both at the same speed step, like 50 or something, and see which one is running slower or faster. Compare each engine to each other this way. Hopefully you'll identify the one engine that is running too slow or two fast while in reverse. Adjust the reverse trim (I think CV 66 - Forward Trim = 128 (Default) and CV 95 - Reverse Trim = 128 (Default)) to speed up or slow down the engine in just one direction. You don't want to change your regular speed curve if you have all three running well together forwards. You just want to make one or more of the engines go either slower or faster when it is in reverse. Different decoders do this differently but for LokSound I believe these CVs multiply all data points in the speed table (either CV 67 to 94 or CV 2, 5, 6) by a factor of n/128 (where n is the value in CV 66 or CV 95). This results in the overall speed curve to be adjusted up or down without the need to adjust the speed table points again. CV 66 and 95 can hold values between 0 and 255. A trim value greater than 128 will result in a higher speed, a trim value less than 128 will result in a lower speed. A value of 128 maintains the original scaling factor of 1 and will therefore have no influence in the speed curve. Hope this helps. Cheers, Kevin

+James L Coble I used a Digitrax Radio Super Chief DCC system to control my layout. Cheers, Kevin

Ok thank you for letting me know.

That's the best part, JMRI Decoder Pro is free! You can download it from jmri.sourceforge.net/. You will have to get a computer interface as well. NCE and Digitrax both have them. ESU LokSound has their own software for their computer interface, but their decoders can still be programmed with Decoder Pro. I use the Digitrax computer interface (PR3). This is a completely stand alone programmer that will work to interface with a programming track regardless of what DCC system you use to run your layout. You can also use it to link your layout's Digitrax LocoNet to your computer if you want to control portions of your layout with your computer.

Thank you for the feedback on my video and the background music. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the feedback. Cheers, Kevin

Agreed.

Thanks for the feedback. Cheers, Kevin