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2. Use the numeric keypad to control the functions. The changes will take
effect immediately if the locomotives are moving, otherwise changes will
take effect when you reselect the TOP address on the throttle.
3. When you are finished turning functions on or off for the consisted loco,
simply select the TOP address and resume running the MU.
4. Remember, you will not be able change the speed or direction of any indi-
vidual loco that is part of an MU. Locomotive speed and direction for all
locos in the MU are controlled by the TOP address.
Note: You can also control the functions of a MUed loco from a different
throttle that is connected to LocoNet or with one of the Jump ports on the
DCS51 (see Section 25.2 for setting up the Jump Ports), leaving the TOP
locomotive selected on the main throttle of the DCS51. Function state
changes will take effect immediately whether or not the loco is moving.
19.0 Stealing: When an Address Is Running on Another Throttle
Digitrax systems do not allow more than one user to select and run the same
locomotive address unless the loco is “stolen” by the new user. When an
address is receiving commands from more than one throttle, it may seem to be
out of control.
Stealing is a safety interlock that prevents operators from automatically taking
control of locos that are already selected and being run on another throttle.
Occasionally you may need to override this interlock to gain control of a loco.
This override is called stealing and will result in having a single loco address
selected on two different throttles at the same time.
For example, if you are running a train on a particular loco address at 25%
throttle and another operator is running the same loco address but sending a
stop command you will see the train stop unexpectedly. From your perspective,
the train is not behaving correctly so you would probably increase your throttle
setting and the train would begin moving again. From the other operators per-
spective, the train is moving again so it is not responding to his/her commands.
Since the other operator wants to stop the train, he or she is likely to send the
command again since the train is now moving again. As you can see, having
two engineers on the same train can give strange operations. For this reason,
Digitrax interlocks locomotive selection so that you can’t take control of a loco
that is already selected on another throttle without “stealing” the address.
If you try to select a loco address that is already selected on another throttle in
the system, the DCS51 will display
“StLo”
to let you know that if you want to
select that loco you will have to “steal” it. A blinking
StLo
means Steal Loco?
