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First group question: change ends of MU

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Archive:
Originally posted by TS on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jan 25, 2015

Ok, I'm jealous of everyone who owns a RailPro system. I tried to get
one but unfortunately the supplier let the cat out of the bag
(unintentionally) to Tim Ring who then told them "you can't send it to
that country!". I'm well aware of why and after testing the unit I was
quite prepared to work with Ring Engineering for product approval but
either they can't put 2 and 2 together or they just aren't interested.

All that out of the way, there is one thing that I've been wondering
about. I don't know if I'll get an answer with so few members here so
far but I continue, who know perhaps when we have many more members
some of them might read back this far...

In all the instructional videos I've seen I've not seen this;
How easy is it to "change ends" of a MU?

Let me elaborate, suppose you take your MU out of the loco depot, run
past your train and then back onto it. You have no need to change ends
as your already running with the lead loco at the front. Now suppose
you take your MU from the loco depot and run it straight onto the train,
you now need to change ends as the lead loco is coupled to the train and
the rear one is the one you need operate from (headlights, ditch lights,
horn etc). How easy is this to do? do you need to unlink the MU and re
link it or what?

Tim
Land of OZ

Archive:
Originally posted by Jacob Damron on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jan 25, 2015

Tim,

Welcome. For such a short move I'd recommend just building the consist the way it's supposed to run. You can individually control the lights of the locomotives in a consist and could turn on and off the rear unit light. You can also instantly change the running direction of each locomotive without breaking the consist. Ill make a video soon highlighting the MU capabilities. Thanks for the idea.

Jacob

Archive:
Originally posted by TS on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jan 27, 2015

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for having us all :)

I'd look forward to seeing a video. I think a more extensive video is
needed on MU than highlighting, which is covered well in a video by
Freewake84 on Youtube. In fact both his videos are quite good. For those
that have not seen them here are the links.



Getting back to the topic at hand, your idea is certainly workable but
not the ideal solution, the loco depot can be many kilometres/miles
from the yard, you might even be running a light engine movement up
a branch line (could be 100 km/miles) to collect your train. It sounds
like a nifty feature that shouldn't be hard to program would be a
"reverse MU" function (geez, it's hard not to use DCC parlance and
call it a consist after so long!).

I can also see other operations that would need it, specifically
passenger trains with a locomotive on each end (push-pull), DMU's when
MU'ed together.

I have to stop now, the more I talk about it the more I want something
that can't be had.

Tim
Land of OZ

Archive:
Originally posted by kpack05 on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jun 3, 2015

Hi Tim,

Those are my videos, thanks for linking them.  Yes, they are just a general overview but they give a decent idea of what is involved.

What you are asking is probably possible with a software update.  There is currently no button to quickly swap an MU from one lead loco to another.  What I have been doing is usually setting the consist the way it will run the majority of the time and use it like that (as Jacob said).  The locos will still run fine even if the MU is running reverse of what it is set as.  Not quite as smooth as forward, but still just fine. 

If I really want/need to swap the MU to a different locomotive I just quickly unlink and relink the way I want it.  It seriously takes all of a few seconds to do it.  A couple taps on the screen and you are good to go.  A single button would be nice, but MU'ing in Railpro is so stinking simple as it is that it's almost not necessary.

That being said, it's still worth bringing it up to Ring Engineering as a possible future update.  If enough people request it, it can happen.

-Kevin

Archive:
Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jun 3, 2015

what am I missing here?

When I want to change the lead loco, I simply go back to the loco selection screen and choose the other loco. done.

Does this have some effect I am not aware of?

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