Originally Posted by: Petros 
Hello friends. I am newbie here.I have an old set of m tracks, analogue, from my childhood and i want to revive it. I got the beginner set with e and T1 extension. I got only one loco the 89006 with one trafo 37540. I would like to buy a new one loco. How could run simultaneously two locos on tracks? Do i have to buy a new trafo? How the connection would be. Sorry if this subject has been answered but i haven't find any manual on internet.
Hello Petros, welcome to the forum.
You have a couple of options, depending how far you want to go and how much you have to spend.
With analogue, whenever there is power on the tracks, all Loco's on that track will move.
One very simple method is to have two seperate tracks, ie in very simple terms, an oval within an oval. You can join them, but they must be electrically separated at the join. Then you have a trafo for each oval. Of course it does not have to be an actual oval, it could be an "end-to-end" layout, or a combination of both but you still need separate tracks for each loco. A good example would be an oval, with a storage/switching yard.
One loco can be controlled on the main track, and another Loco can be controlled in the yard, but you still need a seperate trafo for each Loco. But in the hard, you can use switches to control the power to each siding. Then you could have a loco sitting on a siding, but with the power turned off so the Loco does not move on one track, but another on the track beside can be controlled. Again you would need to electrically isolate each storage track so the power can be cut off or on as required. I hope that makes sense. No doubt, someone else will come in and explain it much easier than I have
The second option which many people like is to make the second Loco an Electric Loco (with a pantograph). This way, you can run your existing Class 89 from the track, and the E-lok from the overhead. Both on the same track, but with two trafos so they are truly independent. ie, two people can control a train each. I quite like this myself, but..... you will have to get an E-lok, and of course overhead masts and wires, and I guess more track anyway.
Fortunately, (depending where you live) used M-track is now quite affordable to find second-hand and will not cost a lot of money. I think there is a bit of a Märklin community in Greece?, and there are some other members here already.
The third option which many others will recommend is to move into the "Digital" age. This way, each Loco has a special decoder installed (in place of the reversing unit) and a unique address.
At the simplest level, you can use "Delta" or the most basic 6021 Controller. A Delta controller can run up to four Loco's, but you have to select either Loco. You can't actually control two at the same time. Whichever one is selected is the one you have control of.
By that I mean you would select one Loco, set it running, and then when you switch to the second Loco, the first one keeps going at the same speed but you can't control it until you select it again. You have to get used to that.
But you can easily connect a second controller to the Digital arrangement. Now you have two seperate speed controls, one for each loco, both on the same track, at the same time.
You might think moving to Digital would be expensive but not always. Older controllers such as the 6021, MS1, CS1 etc are quite reasonably priced, and you might even find a great deal on a starter-set which already has a Digital Loco, maybe some wagons, an MS1, and additional track. Bargain!!
Hopefully that gives you a better idea?
Regards
Steve
NZ
