Consisting MTH HO-Scale Locomotives

MTH has hit the HO market very strong in the last couple of years and has released more models in a very short time than some of the traditional HO manufacturers have in a while. They are currently one of the industry leaders manufacturing O-Gauge models and their own DCS digital system.

Up until recently, MTH has released many HO-Scale steam locomotives and the task of consisting hasn't been in the spotlight since many modelers rarely consist multiple steam units. Their new HO-Scale EMD SD70ACe has generated quite a bit of excitement as it is now starting to hit the street.

We have recently received several tech support questions related to consisting these locomotives and thought we would pass along a few tips on setting up consists with these high tech beauties.

MTH has performed admirably integrating a decoder that responds not only to DC/DCC but also their own proprietary DCS system. By having such a complex decoder there are sometimes issues that may arise related to functionality.

At this point in time, the ProtoSound 3.0 board that comes installed in MTH HO locomotives does not support advanced consisting. Advance consisting has become the norm in DCC operations, but by no means is it the only way to operate. What this translates into is that these locos may not respond to the way we are normally setting up our consists.

Advanced Consisting is when the locomotives assigned to a consist (a multi loco lash up) have the same consist address assigned to CV19 in each loco's decoder. This allows all of the locomotives to respond together as one.

Another method of consisting is called Universal or "Old Style" consisting. This is when all of the locomotives in a consist  are set up to run together but instead of the decoder doing the work as in the Advanced method, the locomotive consist is managed by the Command Station of a DCC System.

Since each DCC system manufacturer has their own throttle menus and features for consisting it may work a little different for each system. Since the MTH HO locos don't currently support Advanced Consisting, we recommend using the "Old Style" Consisting method.

The following steps should make setting up consists with MTH locomotives very easy. We are pointing out the choices for the user to make with each system, but due to space limitations cannot provide the required steps to build the consist. Please refer to your owner's manual for your specific system.

Digitrax

Digitrax users should not have any consisting issues unless you are specifically trying to directly set up an Advanced Consist. When setting up a consist on any of the Digitrax systems, they use the Old Style method by default and the command station keeps track of the locos in the consist. Just follow the steps for consisting in your owner's manual.

Lenz

Lenz users have two options for consisting locomotives and they are Double Heading (F2 on the LH100 menu) and MU-ing (F3 on the LH100 menu). MU-ing is the method used by Lenz to set up Advanced Consisting and Double Heading is their method for Old Style Consisting.

When setting up a consist that contains an MTH locomotive choose the Double Header method and set up the Old Style Consist (Double Header) per your owner's manual. There is one limitation with the Lenz system that it will only allow two locomotives to be assigned to a Double Header.

NCE

NCE users have the option of setting up either an Advanced Consist or an Old Style Consist. When using the consist setup keys you will see a screen that will give you the choice of "Enter for Adv" or "1 for Old". Select "1" and set up the Old Style Consist per your owner's manual.

MRC

MRC users have the option of setting up either an Advanced Consist or an Old Style Consist. Press the consist key until you see "oLd SET" flashing in the display and set up the Old Style Consist per your owner's manual.

We have had several conversations with MTH and they advised us that Advanced Consisting support is something they will be working on for future models.