Well, here's another fine mess I've gotten into. When I built my "J" shaped layout, using 3' nickel silver track for most of it, I inserted 3 power leads to make sure everything was getting power. Before running any engines, I tested the track every foot or so with a voltmeter. I connected my new Model Rectifier Corporation Railpower 1370 power pack and tested the track at 50% and 100% power. 50% returned 7.5V every where, and 100% returned 15+V every where. I tried four different engines and they all stutter and then die at the same place, the middle of a 3' long section of track. Any idea what's happening? Will I need to relay all the track? Thank you.
Hey RealGomer,
My first guess would be that you need to clean that part of the track.
If you've already done that, check for a slight twisting in the track that may be lifting you electrical pickup wheels on one side of the loco or the other off the rails in that area. That can happen when you can't even see the twist just by looking at it.
What engines are you running that show this problem? Do they have all-wheel pickup, or just a few wheels on each side? The fewer pickup wheels, the easier it is for them all to be lifted off the rail on one side or the other.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
I highly doubt that you will need to relay all of the track.
Do the locos move again if you push them far enough along the track? Or do they stop for the entire rest of the layout after passing that spot?
- Douglas
Often where the problem seems to be is not where it actually is. For larger steamers, it might be the light tender isn't making good contact, or the long boiler frame is lifting some pickup tires off of a low rail. What you need to do is to get a straightedge atop the rails and slide it back and forth, and look for daylight between the rail tops and the bottom surface of the straightedge. You might find a rise or a dip, but maybe not on both rails.
If this happens and your rails and tires are clean, and no pickup strips/wipers are missing or bent, then it has to be the tracks. My bet is on a dip or a rise large enough to cause problems.
RealGomer Well, here's another fine mess I've gotten into. When I built my "J" shaped layout, using 3' nickel silver track for most of it, I inserted 3 power leads to make sure everything was getting power. Before running any engines, I tested the track every foot or so with a voltmeter. I connected my new Model Rectifier Corporation Railpower 1370 power pack and tested the track at 50% and 100% power. 50% returned 7.5V every where, and 100% returned 15+V every where. I tried four different engines and they all stutter and then die at the same place, the middle of a 3' long section of track. Any idea what's happening? Will I need to relay all the track? Thank you.
You didn’t say if your voltage test were under load, if not under load they are useless. You need to have current flow to insure the track wiring is OK. A 1156 12 volt automotive bulb would work. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Did you ever see a movie called "A Thousand Clowns" with Jason Robards Jr.? He says to his son, "You can never have too many Eagles." That holds for feeders, too.
If you have even a moderate sized layout, you need way more than 3 power feeders. Rail joiners don't cut it for reliable power distribution, and turnouts are often causes of power discontinuities, too.
Look into running a power bus beneath your entire layout, and run short feeders from there every six feet of track or so, with more feeders where you have short track sections and turnouts. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but it's really the only way to get reliable power to the whole layout.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley Rail joiners don't cut it for reliable power distribution, and turnouts are often causes of power discontinuities, too.
Rail joiners don't cut it for reliable power distribution, and turnouts are often causes of power discontinuities, too.
This can not be overstated. If you are relying on rail joiners to conduct power from one rail to the next, it's only a matter of time until it will give you fits. Even soldered joints can work loose because it might have been a "cold joint" where the solder didn't flow to both rails. But especially, unsoldered ones will fail because of even light corrosion and micro dirt buildup. That's why some modelers will solder a feeder wire to each and every separate piece of rail in their layouts.
One little trick model trains love to pull is when they're going over a piece of track where the joint is just starting to go bad, they'll move the track microscopically just enough to make or break a continuity in a joint. Those can be tough to find!
As Mel points out, a meter can give a voltage reading on an unloaded circuit, and that circuit still not be able to pass enough current (amps) through a bad joint to run a locomotive.
If cleaning the track as has been mentioned doesn't solve the problem the next time a loco stalls on a section of track, try energizing each immediate rail that it's on with a jumper wire to it's respective polarity on the power pack. If it moves, you have bad rail joints or wire joints. The wires under the layout can suffer poor conductivity too, especially at electrical switches or wire jounts getting weak.
You can also try this when a loco stalls: poke a metal needle or awl between the rail it's on and the next rail contacting both rails, at the rail joiners from the direction the train just came. If the loco now moves that's a bad rail joint connection. That will mean the next rail joint could also be bad, if the next rail has a power wire going to it.
One other long shot possibility. If you're using "nickle steel" track, (if a magnet sticks to it) that stuff is notorious for horrible wheel to rail conductivity, joiner conductivity, everything.
I think it was mentioned, make sure there isn't something physically lifting the wheels off the rails at that point. The flanges on the wheels could contact a shallow flangeway and lift it up.
About turnouts: It's a good idea to solder a separate feeder wire to each of the rails between every turnout. They can have internal continuity issues. Especially "power routing" turnouts that are supposed to use contact of the switch points to the rail they're contacting to power the continuing rails.
Hope this helps. Dan
RealGomerThank you one and all. My soldering skills stink and I have a bit of the palsy which is why joiners were used in many spots. When I laid the track I'd put a couple bricks on top to make sure they'd seat into the adhesive i applied to the ties at the joints. I will check every thing as suggested and try to add some feeds. Would something like this make adding additional feeds easier instead of having a rat's nest of wires and connectors? https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lighting-and-electrical/boxes-fittings-and-conduit/lugs/3427747
Would something like this make adding additional feeds easier instead of having a rat's nest of wires and connectors?
Do you know what "suitcase connectors" are? Google "Suitcase connector electrical" and you will see a very easy, clean, reliable alternative to soldering wires to bus feeders. The terminal strip probably isn't your best solution, and you can get 50 suitcases for about the price of 1 T-strip you show from ACE. Dan
RealGomerMy soldering skills stink and I have a bit of the palsy which is why joiners were used in many spots. .... I will check every thing as suggested and try to add some feeds.
Well, while your soldering skills might stink, you're sorta up you-know-who's-creek, as soldering feeders is pretty much the same as soldering rail joiners.In fact, perhaps your soldering skills (or lack there-of) may explain the stopping of the locomotives. It's pretty easy to solder rail joiners (at least you can see what you're doing, and not worrying about being spattered with molten solder while lying under the layout), and the more you do, the better you'll become at soldering.
The irregular track or loose rail joiners may be the culprit, but it might also be tenders that are too light, or dirt on the track.I have over 300' of track, all of it soldered together, and all of it supplied by one pair of feeders...
Wayne