I've done this on occasion to test an analogue loco without taking my digital locos off the layout and it doesn't seem to have harmed anything.

I've never run it like this for very long as I don't find it much fun without any way of controlling it. Running a digital loco at the same time means you will probably have to resort to the STOP button to get out of trouble!

Well, our resident expert, FKowal, has a bit of a different view from Eroncelli's:

Silvano, there are two coils in the analog locomotive which are used to generate the magnetic field which makes the rotational power of the locomotive. These two coils are dependent upon analog power to generate the magnetic fields properly. The motor also gives back electrical power to the digital power supply when it stops or slows down. This is common in all analog (AC) motors.

When you put an analog locomotive on the digital set, the motor does not receive its usual uniform analog power which changes only with respect to voltage. It receives a digital one which has a continuously changing bipolar signal. This means the frequency is changing, and it is a DC (direct current) signal.

This power is bad for the analog locomotive.

It will not run properly and you will probably burn it out over time. Electrical motors are able to be abused for a period of time but they will eventually fail.

I also expect the speed of the analog locomotive will be changing as you change the speed of the digital one.

There is feedback from the analog locomotive returned to the digital power supply called VAR (Volt*Amp*Reactive). Can the digital power supply handle this without damage on a continuous basis? I simply do not know.

In any case, you know the analog locomotive runs slower on the digital even though it is given a 18V track supply which when running in analog would give it a top speed. Intuitively you know this is wrong.

Final answer, it will cause problems and damage but I do not know when. How long will you be lucky?


Please give me an answer why you are NOT crazy in wanting to do this.

So, what do you think? Is Eroncelli right or is Frank right? Or are they BOTH right?

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!!!

Essentially you are doing something which the equipment is not intended to do. Whenever this happens there could be unexpected results because the equipment has not been tested in this way.

I have found that I can test an analogue loco for short periods without harm to the loco or the MS2, but I would not run it like this indefinitely.

The loco does NOT go at full speed. On a digital layout the analogue loco goes slower than on an analogue layout.

The 3000 can take it.

I am not so sure that all digital locos go well on an analogue layout.

One loco in particular I have runs just fine in digital but had problems in analogue.

I no longer have an analogue layout, but do have the track and transformer to do a supplementary layout, but I just don't see the point. Space with me is an important consideration.

Anyway, I do want to thank everyone who was kind enough to reply and take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving Day
(Monday coming in Canada).

Again I confirm: an analog loco on a digital track will run at max speed, with no regulation at all: that's a point !
If this speed is exactly the same as the will run in ac analog is not important.
The standard Maerklin motors are running under ac or dc indifferently: digital current is a mix, but still the motor works; not perfectly, but it works.
In the long run, maybe the motor will suffer (overtemperature), but no one is interested in running a loco at the max speed with no regulation: so, not an issue.

Digital locos can run on analog tracks: and usually run better than analog locos.

I simply don't understand why somebody likes mixing things: an analog TV won't work with digital signal !!
If you like Maerklin analog locos, run these on an "M" track with analog transformer.

Maerklin, at the beginning of the digital era, considered the possibility of running locos on "mixed" tracks (analog and digital) using special "slider isolator" sections: it's possible, but the risk of a wrong connection (burning the digital controller) is so high that almost nobody took this opportunity: they stayed "analog" or switched to "all digital".

I didn't want to be precise: I intended to say that running analog locos on a digital track, is not feasible.
Either it runs at high speed (no matter how high, but totally unregulated) or, in case of standard DC motor, it will burn.

I think that you agree with this last sentence, so the issue is solved.