An Intro to 'MUing'
Railroads are
constantly trying to win a never-ending horsepower race -– adding the most
horsepower to deliver the largest load in the least amount of time possible for
the highest attainable profit.
Adding another locomotive to the train
would do the trick in the steam era, but also required an extra crews to run it
effectively.
Coordinating
locomotives became a disciplined skill and an art, and was often rough on
engines.
As their size grew larger and larger, steam locomotives, such as the
massive, 6,000+ horsepower Big Boy, were being developed and could be
successfully run by a single crew.
Diesel engines surpassed steam in
efficiency, allowing railroads to add units that could be run without requiring
more crew members.
This became known as multiple unit (MU) operations.
The
locomotives were run as a group called a consist, and could be controlled by a
single crew in the lead engine’s cab.
Adding a unit to the consist was as
straightforward as coupling to it, starting it up, selecting “MU Operations”
from inside the cab to provide lead engine control, and then linking each unit
together with hefty MU cables.
Tsunami decoders can be configured to reproduce prototypical MU
operations simply through adjusting corresponding CVs.
This allows each of
your locomotives to perform normally when independent, and follow the proper
consist operations, such as allowing only the lead locomotive to blow its horn
while all units can employ dynamic braking, when in a consist.
Over the
course of the next few newsletters, we will cover in-depth how to use consist
operations (or “MUing”) on your layout so that your mainline and hostler
operations will take on a new element of fun!
