Keeping O scale trains on the track

[Anonymous]

I have an o scale high rail layout and I have been having trouble with box cars and passenger cars (especially those in the back of the train) coming off the track.  Other than adding weight to the cars, does anyone have any ideas about how to keep derailments to a minimum?  Thanks.

 

Paul

[Bob Keller]

Is the problem running speed (too fast = whiplash effect) or are the curves tighter than needed for the car?

[chuck]

If you are using classic tubular track, you can glue magnets under the cars to make you're own version of "magnetraction".  If you are using nickel silver track you can glue some sheet metal (like galvanized steel flashing) under the track and then glue the magnets under the cars.  Or, you could try slowing the trains down from near warp speed

[mackb4]

    I would ask whats already been mentioned      .Whats the radius of the track and how long is the train ?

     Too much train length with tight radius makes for disaster .

  I have the same problem on my 4x8 temp. layout.

  Also I have to watch that I don't put too heavy of a car on the rear of the train so it does't pull the train over in the middle. 

[phillyreading]

Another thing that may happen is when two or more brands of trains are combined; Weaver and Lionel, K-Line and Williams.   Are you running post war and modern trains together?  If so you will need to put the post war stuff up front as the post war wheelsets generally weigh more.  Also MPC era trains some wheelsets were plastic with plastic wheels and plastic weighs less than steel.

Lee F.

[Roger Bielen]

Another thing to check are the couplers.  Sometimes one brand is a bit "tighter" closed than another and doesn't allow enough swing on  tighter curves.  I have this with a cheapie tank car, Santa's Best Eggnog", with plastic trucks and fixed coupler that I have on the Christmas layout.  At the end of the consist no problem, anywhere else it causes the cars front and rear to derail.

[phillyreading]

Another thing to check are the couplers.  Sometimes one brand is a bit "tighter" closed than another and doesn't allow enough swing on  tighter curves.  I have this with a cheapie tank car, Santa's Best Eggnog", with plastic trucks and fixed coupler that I have on the Christmas layout.  At the end of the consist no problem, anywhere else it causes the cars front and rear to derail.

I had the same thing happen with a Williams and Lionel combo, had to put the Williams at the rear of the train.

Lee F.

[brianel027]

Paul, I have posted on this topic many times before. You can make the fixes as mentioned above but they will not eliminate derailments. Speed doesn't matter once you make my fixes and neither does tight track curves but I use 027 track exclusively!!

The main reasons for derailments are:

- Loosely attached trucks to the body of the car. The rivets, c-clamps and plastic rivets used to attach trucks allow for quite a bit of "play" in the truck. This wobble will cause derailments when backing up the train or running in reverse, especially on 027 curves. I have remounted the trucks on virtually every single car I own and have ZERO derailments. Nada. None.

To Lionel's credit, they have recently tightened up the loose rivets on the trucks of their starter set cars and there is now NO need to remove and remount the trucks. Good job Lionel!!! Maybe my many postings on this and letters to Lionel have made a difference?!!!

- Differing tolerances in coupler opening size. This is easy to see on the UMD Industrial Rail cars, but not limited to just those. Every train maker has slightly differing couplers, with slightly different sized knuckles and main armatures. The open space in the closed coupler is the key factor here. Place two IR cars together off the track and move the car bodies and you can feel the the couplers come to a point where they will not go any tigher. On 027 track, especially "S" curves, this will cause a derailment due to the binding of the couplers. The key is to use a Dremel tool with a grinding bit and open up the space in the closed coupler.

-Differing wheel gauge on fast angle wheels or loose wheel wobble from worn axles on postwar cars. When buying used modern cars (made after 1970) with fast angle wheel sets, you have no idea whether these have been replaced or not. The knock-off Korean made wheel sets have differing wheel guages within a same bagged lot of 25 or 50.... I've seen this for myself. When you put two wheel sets on the same truck, where those wheel sets have differing widths, you are going to have problems. 

I realize I have not gone into any great detail on making the fixes as I have posted it before. Speed has little to do with it and won't affect it once you make my fixes. You do not need to add weights to the cars once my fixes are ulilized, and you can run your lightest short MPC car pulling your heaviest postwar cars and have ZERO derailments.

I know if I can do this and have no derailments (other than from my own mistakes like forgetting to change a switch) then I know others can do it. My derailments have dropped to almost zero, even on 027 track with postwar and MPC Lionel 027 switches. And I have broken every single rule of layout track design (which begs for derailments) and still don't have any.

I have run 25 car trains backwards through an "S" curve, into a switch and leading through a reverse loop, and have had NOT one car derail, even with cheap MPC 8 inch cars in the train. I have no magical power. I've just made all the revsions I've mentioned other times and they DO WORK.

It's no mystery to me. Go ahead and add weights (you don't need to, outside of cars with roller pickup assemblies) or run short trains slow with heavy cars up front, but you don't have to. I absolutely guarantee my fixes to work. At least they have for me.