Is Using more then 1 Locomotive on a Train useful?

[[KBD]SixxTailsHD]

Is Using more then 1 Locomotive on a Train useful?

[Autocoach]

Yes. All stats are additive . Will increase acceleration or allow for lengthening

[gGeorg]

No. Rather than one long train is better Two trans. It offfers better frequency and more fluent transport. Also producttion (or people) start up( ramp up/grow) faster with more frequent delivery.

[Vimpster]

Yes. Though in principle what gGeorg says is correct it is not always practical and not necessarily even relevant when it comes to cargo. Sometimes your rails are overloaded with trains so you need to make fewer longer trains to reduce congestion. But also sometimes the most efficient locomotive available at a specific point in time is a relatively weak engine that needs to be doubled or tripled to do the job but still remains more cost effective than a single more powerful locomotive.

[Autocoach]

Originally posted by gGeorg:

No. Rather than one long train is better Two trans. It offfers better frequency and more fluent transport. Also producttion (or people) start up( ramp up/grow) faster with more frequent delivery.

Above a frequency of 90 seconds you won't get any benefit as the trains will just be waiting for each other . In 1850 I find I need to run trains with 4 locos as they are very weak. Frequency is useful and can stop issues such as platforms overflowing but town growth is not related to frequency in TpF2 .

[larry_roberts]

Yes in the early years of the game, when the engines lack power, it can be useful to double head a train, and not too expensive when loco's are reasonably cheap to buy and run!.

[genemead]

Originally posted by gGeorg:

No. Rather than one long train is better two trains. It offers better frequency and more fluent transport. Also production (or people) start up (ramp up/grow) faster with more frequent delivery.

I agree. I've never double headed a train.

[Neighbor Kid]

Well.... I run double to 6 locos on my freight. Raw materials like coal i run about .5-to 1 mile long trains

[canophone]

I think the numbers to care about are the 400 production, 400 rate per year on the train line, and the storage capacity on the station platforms (is it fully transporting?). As well, are you going uphill or carrying a lot of weight especially with a slower locomotive? You may need extra tractive effort in that case.

[daventure2005]

It is useful in certain rare situation. I can only think of one situation. There is a maximum number of trains that can efficiently run in one line. Trains have to wait for each other when this capacity is reach, reducing efficiency. Doubling locomotive allows for doubling capacity of the line before the next more powerful locomotive become available.

Another situation is where the newest locomotive top speed way exceeds the fastest wagon. So it may make more economic sense to use several older-cheaper locomotives that matches wagon speed.

[Gardening Pudding]

Originally posted by Neighbor Kid:

Well.... I run double to 6 locos on my freight. Raw materials like coal i run about .5-to 1 mile long trains

You can't be playing on medium or hard then. There's barely economy for 2 engines. 6 would kill any profit.

[Vimpster]

Originally posted by daventure2005:

Another situation is where the newest locomotive top speed way exceeds the fastest wagon. So it may make more economic sense to use several older-cheaper locomotives that matches wagon speed.

As illogical as it may sound, you don't actually pay more money for faster locomotives. The cost is almost entirely derived from the power only. If the wagon speed exceeds the locomotive you are paying for that unused speed potential, but not the case when it is the other way around. For this reason the ALCO PA is one of my most used locomotives for cargo despite how much faster it can go than the wagons. It's power is more on point with what I need much of the time.

Originally posted by NoobNoobTrain...:

You can't be playing on medium or hard then. There's barely economy for 2 engines. 6 would kill any profit.

Although having 6 seems a bit strange to me if you aren't purely doing it for looks, having 2 locomotives does not necessarily mean you are paying more money. In fact it could mean the opposite. I only play on medium and hard difficulties and I often double head using the ALCO HH 600 and the EMD GP 9 locomotives because using 2 of those locomotives is often cheaper than using a single of one of the other more powerful locomotives that are available at the time. Also if you have ever used the ALCO PA/PB than you have effectively double headed your train as that is simply a double of the ALCO PA.

[Ideas Man]

Originally posted by NoobNoobTrain...:

Originally posted by Neighbor Kid:

Well.... I run double to 6 locos on my freight. Raw materials like coal i run about .5-to 1 mile long trains

You can't be playing on medium or hard then. There's barely economy for 2 engines. 6 would kill any profit.

Not true. I'm playing on hard and I double head my long freight trains. They do travel a sizeable distance though and they are steam locomotives so that may play a factor but they are very profitable.

I do it for the look as well. There's something nice about watching a half kilometre train travelling over and under other lines and around mountains.

[madmanthan21]

If you are playing vanilla, then usually not, but as soon as you add industry booster mods, to ramp up production (and demand), then yes, also for cargo, the longer the train the better, because you want to minize the number of trains, to maximise track usage (tracks cost money)

basically, for me, as long as the train can maintain about 40-50 km/h on medium slop (i don't have high slopes on mainlines), it's good to go.

And, like i said previously, you want to minimize how many tracks you have, which means longer trains, which means you start getting into 1-3km long trains, requiring 2-6 locomotives.

[Dan]

With freight, longer trains tend to be better as frequency doesn't factor into the amount of goods they create. Also speed doesn't tend to be that important with freight but faster trains do allow you to use less trains while maintaining line capacity so it can be a balancing act.

Passengers on the other hand respond mainly to speed and frequency of service so you tend to be better off with more trains at higher speeds.

I've also found once you get to around 2 minute frequency with trains you need higher capacity rather than more trains since you need about that gap for trains to load and unload without train queues forming.