That one certain car...

[jacon12]

I have one boxcar, I believe its a Walthers Trainline, that I cannot keep on the tracks. I've replace the trucks with Kaydees but not the couplers yet. For some reason I don't think it is the couplers. Its always the rear trucks that derail when every other car, even some of the cheapest stuff around.. muddle right on through, but not this one. I've checked everything I know to check so if anyone has an idea what may be causing this I'd appreciate it.
I guess we all have to have one wayward troublemaker in the group.
Jarrell

[Texas Zepher]

If you replaced the entire truck it probably isn't gauge or tread width.
Check the pivot and tightness of the truck. The car should be able to rock back and forth just a little bit.

[Medina1128]

I found out the hard way, that just because you've replaced the entire truck that the wheels are necessarily in gauge. The track could also be out of gauge, compounding the problem..[:(!]

[selector]

It is probably a wheel/axle guage problem (too wide, so it jumps out of curves), or the affected truck cannot swivel as much as it needs to. Look for an angle measurement compared to the other on that car. Are the left-to-right arcs of the coupler the same for each truck?

One last thing: place it elsewhere in the train to see if its weight is a problem. Some of my cars don't do well between others, but are fine near the loco or nearest the caboose. If you add some weight, it might behave better...although it makes your loco work harder and wear that much more.

[Anonymous]

Measure the length and weigh the car, it may be underweight, and thus subject to all sorts of problems from irregularities in track guage or other gremlins. Check the NMRA standards, which as I recall is a base of 1.5 oz plus .5 oz per inch of length. If the car is light I would add the required additional weight until it is at least up to the minimum. I suspect that the increased drag of all of our cars being the proper weight will ever have a noticeable increase in wear to our other equipment!
Will

[cheese3]

I would also make sure it has the right wieght, I have an Athearn RTR diner that will not stay on because it is too light, I am actually going to be adding wieghts in it today.

[jacon12]

I thank you for the help. I'll do more checking and this time I'll pay attention to the weight of it.
Jarrell

[MisterBeasley]

Turn the car upside down and rotate the trucks. Make sure they clear any obstructions, and rotate freely. I've been doing horn-to-Kadee conversions, and I find that a lot of the trucks bump into the little "ears" on the side of the Kadee draft gear boxes. Mr. Dremel quickly cures that. Look for any near-misses with parts of the undercarriage, or ladder rungs. Also look for any burrs around the mount point for the trucks.

[ndbprr]

While that car is upside down see if the one truck is sitting level on the bolster. I've gotten cars from all manufactirers that came out of the mold with some distortions particularly the bearing surface for the truck. If the truck runs downhill in one direction you will nee to file it flat and add some shim washers from Kadee to bring it back up to snuff.

[bn7026]

You might also wan't to check that the car itself isn't warped which could cause the problem.

[bogp40]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ndbprr

While that car is upside down see if the one truck is sitting level on the bolster. I've gotten cars from all manufactirers that came out of the mold with some distortions particularly the bearing surface for the truck. If the truck runs downhill in one direction you will nee to file it flat and add some shim washers from Kadee to bring it back up to snuff.

QUOTE: Originally posted by timbowa

You might also wan't to check that the car itself isn't warped which could cause the problem.

If the bolster/ bearing surface is flat and both trucks level as mentioned by ndbrr, a possible problem could be the truck screw itself. Have found screws cocked in the threads that affected the rocking of the truck. MDC die cast frames are more likely to do this. A twisted frame/body ,as mentioned by timbowa, will react the same as cocked screws but should show up when sighting the trucks for level.
When setting truck screws, especially on a tempermental piece, I will set one truck to swivel freely with no side play, the other truck is set loose to allow the wheelsets to have a suspension to follow the irregularities of the track. At times I have had to reverse which truck was the looser one. This seems to be the most critical on cars with removable loads.
Hope all the input has helped keep this piece on the rails.
Bob K.

[jacon12]

Bob and all, much obliged for the information. I haven't been able to get back to it today, its relegated to a corner spur line right now. Maybe I oughta model a 'shop' on that spur for cars such as this. Hopefully tomorrow night I can check it closer. It's a nice little car and I hate to lose it to the sidelines.
Jarrell

[jacon12]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TA462

I had an Athearn RTR that had the same problem. The truck was fine side to side but had very little play front to back because of a very small piece of flash on the bottom of the car where the screw goes in. I guy at my club figured it out and it has been fine ever since.

I've checked everything everyone has mentioned and I now have it where it only derails at one particular turnout, a trailing point turnout. Every other car in the train goes through it fine, but not this one.
Maybe its haunted?
Jarrell

[selector]

More likely you need to extend your 'fix', whatever you did, just that much more in the same direction, and that may solve it. For example, if you reduced the distance between wheels on one axle, then reduce it a itsy-bit more and see what happens.