I have a number of Kato RS's and they all run smooth as silk......no noise what so ever......they will even coast after truning off power, they run so freely. That said....You say You checked and gauged the wheels......how about the track? By chance when You used the track nails, did You put them in too far in the center of the ties so they changed the gauge of the track spacing.....it is easy to do. That would make your engines, even rolling stock bind in some spots of the curves and bind just enough that your engines seem to grind from too much friction on the drive train. Pick up a three point track gauge and run it around your track, that will tell you if you have tight spots. The gauge has two grooves on one side and one groove on the other, you lay that on your track and with a little pressure on it you slide it around the track, if you hit a tight spot it will bind trying to push it around. It will also show you if you have rail joints producing a kink or one rail too high or not. Take a look at the link for the gauge:
http://www.activepowersports.com/kadee-qualtiy-ho-track-gauge-code-83-code-100-343/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwguDeBRDCARIsAGxuU8bx9PRrgKrh_AjL-CoTEws4KWFBT_wDEXjvLnbIF33RWMQxyh8pWbIaAhaNEALw_wcB
I use these in the video......I used to hand lay My track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qdirlrbvNs
Good Luck!
Frank
Could be as simple as slop (or lack thereof) in the gears.
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
Hi there. Many factors to review here to isolate the problem. For one, changing the wheel size may not have been a good idea. Unless they are broken in some way, i would put the originals back on.
Does the loco make noise on other layouts? If not, the problem could be your temporary test track.
When you changed the motor, did you change the u-joints? New ones can be noisy on tight curves.
Has the loco been lubricated?...
Hopefully, others will bring other test ideas to find the problem.
Simon
I have a Kato RS1 that has recently been updated from DC (it was an 1985 production in mint condition; bought it from eBay) to DCC with an ESU loksound decoder. When I run it on my layout it makes a low grinding noise when running through the curves on my track. (I also have had trouble with some rolling stock from Walther's doing this as well, a lot of friction from the wheels) so I replaced the wheels with a bit smaller diameter high quality metal wheel and it helped some. I have a new Kato GP35 and it runs smoothly in the radiuses; which has a slightly longer wheel base! I have checked the wheels with the NMRA gauge and they check out fine. I used code 83 Atlas sectional track; it seems to dislike some types of locomotives.
I had tested the RS1 locomotive out on a DC layout before it was converted to DCC by Tony's Train Xchange and it was very loud sounding (motor wise). I wasn't happy with it so I had it upgraded.I checked my track just now with the NMRA gauge and it checks out fine. The only thing I can think of is maybe when I laid the track I manipulated the radius (pushed it inboard) just a hair when trying to make it lay concentric to the road bed (that I had already glued in place on my table top).The way I laid my road bed was: connect the entire loop of track together, temporarily tack it to the foam board by using a push pin through the predrilled hole in the center of the ties.Using a fine sharpie marker I precisely traced around the entire layout; then I used a measuring scale and found the exact center of the parallel lines I had made and put a center line down the middle of the entire track layout. Using two piece roadbed that was pre-cut down the center, I laid the inboard edge straight down the center line I had made and then preceded laying down the outboard side of the roadbed. After everything was set I put the track on the road bed with track nails, trying to keep the center of the ties directly in the center of the line that the roadbed had made when the two pieces were butted up against each other.