Experiment- testing 2x full Lima / Jouef TGV rakes at speed

SNCF frequently runs double TGV rakes. These monsters are 20cars long. I have several Lima / Jouef full TGV rakes, so I decided to see if it was possible to find a way of running them together at speed without them ending up in a massive (and expensive) pile.
In the end, the solution seems to be not to couple them at all. I placed the dummy power cars at the front and rear, with the two motored power cars in the middle. The TGV Réseau power car pulls better than the POS at the rear of the front unit. So the two units naturally buffer up against each other. This seemed to work well up to maximum speed. I don't think they are running at scale 180mph, but it looks pretty impressive. Obviously, you would need a massive layout to make this setup viable, but there is just enough room on my setup to get a spectacular view of the consist.
I may look at doing reduced six sets (5 or 6 car) in future.
The units involved are a full rake Jouef POS unit (Duplex power cars with Réseau cars, and a Lima / Jouef Réseau unit. Some of the cars are POS decoration samples repainted with the old style window flashes- the Bar car is an undecorated running sample I painted from scratch. The Réseau power car is also a running sample redecotrated from scratch.

[@MrThairacer]

very cool 👍 , same you have have some chaos material on the platter , same a track test and never finished experimenting ! tgv 🚄 is a delight to see running.

[@danielparrott8339]

That’s me- always buying the trains, never doing scenery or wiring point motors! That video was even more chaotic than usual though!

[@bricksmicro]

Very impressive! Looks great on those sweeping curves.Great job!

[@danielparrott8339]

I'll tidy up the layout next time. I just did this on a whim whilst fixing all the broken gears and pickups on my TGV fleet. They get totally thrashed, so always need repairing!

[@bricksmicro]

I like the layout design. A few smaller curves to give enough room for that large sweeping curve at the bottom right to really give that realistic shot.

[@hovermotion]

Wow👍🏻

[@tomsmaerklintrainlayout6742]

Very impressive, I’d be scared that they derail at high speed…

[@danielparrott8339]

Actually, it was quite stable, but I did start slowly, then speed up. I built my layout with some very gently curves, which helps. I'm sure you have discovered that it takes a bit of work to make sure a longer TGV rake behaves properly! Once the track holding capabilities are a bit more consistent though, you have the confidence to push on the speed.

[@tomsmaerklintrainlayout6742]

@@danielparrott8339 thanks for the additional info. I haven’t tried this yet, but ran into issues with my 8-car Jouef EuroDuplex AC version derailing on curved switches (cars are too light, and the C-track layout is not built for high-speed trains). All the Märklin trains seem to run fine (they are heavy) and I will get a Märklin 10-car TGV Atlantique next month…

[@tomsmaerklintrainlayout6742]

@@danielparrott8339 and I’m planning a high speed layout with wide curves, but need to make more space in my basement…

[@roxy8805]

Cool!!!!

[@johanrosenfeld3153]

Bonjour, peut-t-on envisager une UM de TGV POS et TGV Reseau de KATO en N ? Merci d'avance, Joh76.

[@rishabhsrivastava1651]

Bro I want to buy it

[@IxtimmiboRT1427]

How do you connect the two trains

[@danielparrott8339]

One is faster than the other. I put the faster TGV behind the slower one. The motored power car is at the back of the front TGV and at the front of the back TGV (I e. Two power cars face to face in the middle). The two trains are not connected at all, just pushing up against each other!

[@IxtimmiboRT1427]

@@danielparrott8339 I don't get how you connect them. Could you please do a Video Tutorial on how to connect them.

[@danielparrott8339]

@@IxtimmiboRT1427 It is quite simple- the two trains are not connected at all. The one at the back is slightly faster and pushing the slower one.

[@IxtimmiboRT1427]

@@danielparrott8339 You mean the back Train is just pushing the front Train?

[@danielparrott8339]

@@IxtimmiboRT1427 Yes. Simple, but effective 😁😁