Thanks , I will have to look into getting some of that style track and see. That would be great . Thanks for all your help.
I run my prewar sets, including the small hiawatha on gargraves track, which is not banked, and have no problems.
i've run everything you've mentioned without problem, but have always had the good fortune to run on hi-rail layouts where the min curves are O72. how tight are the curves you are having trouble with and it may sound like a dumb question, but when your train falls off the track, does it fall to the inside or to the outside?
They are the light weight cars and are the ones that have only one set of wheels and have an integral coupler that rest on the floor of the preceding car. I have 6 cars ,but have tried to run it with just 1 car and it derails on the corners . Even if I go slow. I read something a while back that magnets will help if you put them inside for weight. It almost seems that they arent designed to handle the curve of the corner track. Ive even tried to hand push the cars around the corner and they still want to derail. My marx m10005 does the same thing. When I run my lionel 1700e set it handles the track great.
I assume that by "cheaper" you mean the very lightweight tin cars. Are these the ones that only have one set of wheels per car and have an integral coupler that rests on the floor of the preceding car? They tend to be very light and may not track well. How many cars are you trying to pull with the tinplate engine? The cars might ride better with some added weight for traction.
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Thanks a lot for the information . I am going to have to look into the track some more. I also have a prewar marx m10005 that does the same thing . the engine alone will run fine,but when I put the cars on it ,it derails on the corners Im baffled as to why. I might have to get my hands on some different track. I have a lionel 1700e that runs great with all the cars and no issues.
I had a modular Christmas lay out that used Gar Graves track and never had an issue with any of my pre war Flyer to include the Hiawatha, City of Denver and Zephyr. However when I pick up a Lionel M10000 I got some new Lionel tubular O72 track to run it on. When I put my AF City of Denver set on it the locomotive had a tendency to ride up and over the rail and derail. Part of the problem may be the gauge of the wheels on my Flyer loco or that it has smaller flanges than Lionel. Back in the day American Flyer came out with four rail track with banked curves to run their trains at high speed but this track is rare and expensive. It may be possible that your track is not in gauge causing the wheels to fall between the rails or ride up and over the rail. The wheels on the cars may have too much play in them due to wear and not track well. Could be a combination of both!
Hello all, I was wondering if anyone might be able to tell me why my prewar american flyer hiawatha streamline passenger set (it is the cheaper set that was available )doesnt want to run on my lionel track. The engine will run fine on its own,but when I put the cars on it it doesnt want to go around corners. The cars fall off the track. The pickup on the engine is in the middle for three tail track . Do I need special curve track ? Any help would be appreciated .thanks
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