you can’t use all DCC decoders and you can’t include analog locos
in your consists. If you choose to use Advanced Consisting, please
see the information about status editing in Section 17.0 and visit our
web site for complete information about this method of consisting.
You can add a locomotive to a consist in either orientation and in any physical
location in the train. When you send commands to the consist you use a single
address and the command station handles the rest of the commands to the other
locomotives in the consist. Since the address you will use to control the consist
is not necessarily the address of the lead or head end loco, Digitrax has chosen
the term “TOP” locomotive for this special address. It usually will be the train
number.
By definition, Digitrax always adds loco addresses to the “TOP” loco
address in a consist.
The “TOP” loco is special, in that it is the address that receives the
speed & direction commands for the entire consist.
All non TOP loco addresses added to the consist are controlled com-
mands sent to the “TOP” loco.
The TOP locomotive does not have to be a physical loco on the track, it
can be a phantom.
Digitrax defines the TOP loco as the loco on the R Throttle Knob at the
time when the MU add is performed.
All loco addresses in a consist will have the same status as the TOP
loco. They will all be common, in-use or idle based on the state of
the TOP loco.
Each loco within a consist maintains its original advanced 28/128 or 14
speed step mode setting.
A consist can be released by one throttle and then selected and run by
any other throttle.
A consist TOP address can be dispatched and acquired on another throt-
tle just like any other address. See Section 14.0.
To set up a consist using your DT400 throttle:
1. Select the loco address of the TOP loco on the R Throttle Knob.
2. Select the address of the loco you want to consist to the TOP loco on
the L Throttle Knob.
3. Move the two locomotives into position. The locomotives can be
headed in either direction. They can be adjacent to each other in the
train or one unit can be the mid train helper or a pusher on the end
of the train.
4. Before consisting the locos, make sure that both are traveling in the
SAME PHYSICAL DIRECTION ON THE TRACK
. (The direc-
tion indicators may or may not match, the important thing is that the
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