Derailments

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in feedback from other garden railroaders on how much trouble you have with derailments and what types of cars/engines cause the most trouble. I thought I'd share my experiences as a starting point for the discussion.

It's been my experience that the longer cars and engines cause the most trouble particularly on grades involving curves. I have spent countless hours leveling and making minor bank and grade change adjustments to get a car or engine to run. I use a mixture of 8 ft. and 10 ft. curves and found the problems occur equally on both. Shorter cars and engines operate flawlessly on this layout.

As an example, I just received my new Aristo Dash-9 (what a beautiful engine). I couldn't wait to run it, so out I went eager to see this thing in action. I have about 300 ft. of track down and during the course of 1 lap (by itself no cars attached) it derailed THREE TIMES. I checked the trucks and couldn't find anything wrong. I repeated the test with the same results. This is the same track on which I just ran my SD-45s with no problems.

I believe the biggest problem with these long cars and engines (particularly Aristocraft) is the limited amount of lateral rolling movement. By this I mean that when these long engines/cars experience a grade change on a curve, there is not enough give in the trucks to keep all the wheels on the rails and thus derailments occur. I bought and quickly sold a RDC-1 because I was experiencing these same problems and couldn't get it to operate consistently without derailing.

Switches (LGB 8-ft, Aristo 10-ft, Aristo No. 6) are my second leading cause of derailments. I have found with experience that the best switch is "no switch". The No. 6s are by far the best and cause the least problems. I have simplified my layout to minimize the number switches to help reduce derailments.

My question for the manufacturers is: "Do you test these engines, cars and switches on REAL layouts or just a perfectly flat oval at the facility?"

I'm really curious to see if it's just me or do others experience these same problems.

Thanks

[cacole]

Your guess about lack of lateral movement in the trucks is probably as close to being the cause of derailments as anything else. I avoid diesel engines in G for this very reason. I have quite a few in HO, and have similar problems with the newer SD-70 Athearn Genesis models because there is not enough loose play in the trucks to negotiate any rises or dips in the track without derailing. The longer the locomotive, the better your trackwork must be.

[Anonymous]

I only have derailment problems on aristocraft R1 points with LGB stock on my line..
I run mostly LGB. but have one live steamer I had to build up the frog with take away
container shims my line floats in ballast.
Why can't the manufactures agree on track and wheel standards to save a lot of hassle
not much hope though since they cannot agree on scale.

[BudSteinhoff]

BRETSTER,
You are right in what you have said, but I will add a little.
The biggest problem that I have found when running long loco's or cars is when the track level leans from one side to the other especially on curves or switches. Smooth grade change is as important.
Also leave the trucks loose so they can float.
I have 1000 ft. 8' ,10' dia. curves and 30 8'dia. switches and have very few derails.
My heavyweights all have 3 axles trucks but I give the center axle more side clearance and my Evans box cars I just leave the trucks loose and they all run the entire track without any problem.
The Dash 9 is beautiful and runs the entire track without any problems.
Maybe I am just lucky
Bud[8D]

[Marty Cozad]

I have 10' dia in my shop storage tracks. i ran 10 dia as min for years. what I found to help stop derailments was to go to all body mounted couplers ( which freeded the trucks up) and to all steel wheels for more weight holding to the track. My Even cars i did file down alittle the bollster so the truck hand more play. (or you can loosen the screw)
i have all #6 switches on the main. And as of 3 years ago upgraded to all 20 ' dia curves just so I can run larger trains. Some cars (personally) just should not be run on smaller curves even if they say they will.
My RDC I filed down to make it run better and now it runs on some of the worst RRs in the club. ( track work wise).
I don't have a -9 yet, we'll see how it runs.
i do have a high hood SD45 that I had to work on one truck cause it was tight.
keep us posted .

[JoeMascitti]

I have 4 USA engines....2 GP-9's and 2 GP-38...they do not give me any problems at all....I have 2 Aristo U-25B and they derail as easily as the wind blows....USA seem to have superior trucks and allows for easier movement without derailing the engine...I run diameters ranging from 5 foot to 12 foot curves....I agree with Marty....metal wheels are the way to go....I have even add some weight to my gondola fleet to simulate "real" loads to keep them on the tracks....Though...I have converted 95% of my couplers to Aristo...

Joe

[bman36]

Hey guys,
Each year I set up a temporary layout on the grass at our Church. Part of a big display for Father's Day. Even though they almost scalp the grass for me in preparation I bring along a box full of short 2x6 pieces. All are painted a dark green so they blend in with the grass. While my track was not completely level it had to be firm. Anywhere the track was allowed to sink into a dip my Aristo FA1 would derail the lead truck. Very annoying to say the least. Got it all working in short order but each year will require different tweaking. Much like our lines at home. Level and ballast as needed! Then again that is half the fun of being outdoors! REAL CONDITIONS!!! Enjoy everyones' input here so keep postin'! Later eh...Brian.
[:D] [tup]