259 e pre war engine.. problem handling curves

[ron123]

I have had this pre war locomotive which was restored.. looks great.  I also took it to local train store to to adjust.

Although it runs great forward and reverse.. it is not that great around curves.. it seems to loose the connection since the wheels are large.

 

The rollers that are in contact with the middle raise, I think raise up a little around the curves which kills it.. When I compare to other post war locomotives, the contact wheel is lower than the traction wheels to ensure continuous contact with center rail even as the engine takes the curves

The contact wheels on this engine are not that low... so maybe that is the problem??  Anyone have pics of the bottom of this engine so i can compare to mine.  Maybe the guy that I bought it from and who restored it made a minor error.

 

Anyway.. it is a nice engine but it doesn't handlethe curves.. you can manage through the curves but it is hard.  the engine seems to wobble a little with those big wheels and then as itmakes the turn, it must break the contact with the center rail

 

any thoughts?
ron

 

[Penny Trains]

I have a 259, manual though no E-unit.  Looking from the side, the rollers only hang down just past the flat part of the wheels, not past the flange.  When I pull on them with my finger, they don't go down any farther.  I think mine has the original pick-up although someone soldered one of the rollers on in lieu of a rivet.  That roller is slightly twisted out of kilter, so maybe they had the same problem and solved it by bending the spring steel?

The engine runs well except it needs new wheels and therefore likes to slip and slide on pre-war style tubular O-gauge track.  It runs better on O27 and best of all on MTH RealTrax with it's T-shaped rails.

BTW this is one of my top 10 favorite engines of all time!  Why?  Because it looks a lot like my #1 fav, the 392E!

Becky

[ron123]

Thanks... I am somewhat new to collecting trains and have focused on post war.. but have a couple of great passenger cars - excellant.. 600,601,602,, so I bought the 259 for those cars.

 

Anyway, it runs nice.  But seems to shake a little and then it may break the connection around the curve.  Based on your explanation, it sounds like my contact wheels are ok.  I just noticed that the plate for the front wheels was a little bent.. so I fixed that and the train does a little better around turns... but still not consistent.

 

So. not sure what to do..it would be nice to see a diagram of the bottom of this engine just to see if things look ok..Also, the engine shakes a little like it is not balanced which may be a reason for it to loose connectively around turns.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Ron

[Penny Trains]

Try here:

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/searchcd31.htm?itm=778

It's side view only but it may help.

Just out of curiosity, what tender did your engine come with? Mine has a 258T which I can't find any info on.

Becky

[ron123]

I have a 259t tendor

 

 

ron