ok what you are looking for are called dummy engines and they are best found on ebay.
You can indeed consist trains very easyily in DCC but I have done it in DC also you just hook two engines up and off you go.
the amount of cars it can pull depends on the engine you are using.

 

This brings up another question, can you run two motorized engines on one set connected together?

and yet another question, how many cars can one engine pull without burning up the engine, on a flat surface no inclines.

In a word, yes...so long as they are not Athearn and they don't have Kadee couplers Athearns will short out thru the couplers unless you use Kadee's insulated ones.


I've gotten 30+ from an engine...you'll have to go trial and error. As you add cars, check for a hot "smell" and make sure it's not getting warm. ---Or---hook up an amp meter to the track...if it's drawing more than a third amp or so, you're probably at your top end.

 

Whenever I run two powered engines together, I try to pick two that are very similar...maybe the same brand, and same type. I feel the closer they perform to each other, the better. That way one won't push or pull too much. I have had three together before too, and it worked well also.

I agree with Shay's analysis...I have gotten 30+ cars from one engine also, and 52 cars from two or three engines. If the cars all roll easily, you can pull quite a few.

Chad

 

^^^^ What he said about the consists. I have two Bachmann locos, one F7 the other is a GP35. They run at completely different speeds. The F7 will pull smoother, but wont go as fast. The GP is jumpier on the throttle, but is lightening fast around the track. I cant run them together or else one is dragging/pushing the other. They are alomost the same age, have about the same run time, and I think the same motor, but one is simply faster than the other.

 

If one engine was slightly faster than the other, I believe I always put the faster one second and the slower one first.

 

I agree with everyone above. Like what was said earlier, doing this in DCC is not a problem at all. But though it can also be done in DC as well, I've found that this is done better with a more powerful transformer, especially when running certain older model locomotives together. At the same time, some of the new Athearn and Proto models have nowhere near the electrical drawing as what some of their older models have.

When using one of these larger transformers, you would be less likely to encounter heat problems, which is often the case with some smaller transformers. These larger transformers are built to run multible engines and longer trains. Of today's newer model locomotives, the ones that run together the smoothest and draw the least amount of power while doing so are Kato, Atlas and some Athearn models

How I know this is that both of my transformers come equipped with an ammeter and a voltmeter. With either of these transformers, I can instantly see how much power draw the locomotives are pulling against how much power that I'm supplying to the track. Also, each one of these transformers is capable of putting out up to 30 volts of power. So running multible engines has not been a problem. But like I've said before, though I could run up to five locomotives together with each of these transformers, because of the size of my layout, I only run two, otherwise it looks strange.

Routerman

 

Thanks for the replys guys, I had no clue you could pull that many cars with one engine. Heck I don't even have enough track for that many, it would look like a snake swallowing its tail.

Thanks again.

 

Yes...the size of the layout makes a difference...watch for where the train ends---and begins...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khdV_UsEbY8

 

WOW! How'd you get the spacing to line up like that?

 

...took a bit of work but the last three cars had to be carefully chosen for length, there is enough slack to keep themselves from falling sideways though.