Hi all-
I have one each of the Bachmann 44 Tonner (DC) and 70 Tonner (DCC) as my motive power for my layout. I'm having a TERRIBLE time trying to get my short axle engines to run smoothly through my turnouts (Atlas Cline Code 83 #4's and Peco #5's).
Ideally I would just go ahead and power the frogs on my turnouts, but I made the really dumb beginner mistake of caulking things down before more thorough testing. I'm going to do a heavy cleaning of my track this weekend, but I did notice that the locomotives seem to stall with the same sets of wheels over each frog leading me to believe that there isn't power picked up from all 8 wheels.
Apologies for the dumb question, but how can I figure out which wheels are picking up power? I pulled off the shell to example things but it's pretty clear to me that the wiring is in the trucks themselves, so before I go and break something I thought i would defer to those who know more than I!
Many thanks in advance for your assistance!
~Rich
I too have a DCC 70 tonner and mine operates fine through Atlas Customline #4 & #6 turnouts at the club. We use it as the 'depot' switcher and it crawls through the switches with 2-3 passenger cars with no problems. I believe both the old(twin motor) & the nw(single motor) engines have 'all wheel' pickup.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Thanks for the reply Jim.
I'm about to "go nuclear" on ym track and clean it until my back breaks. I'm hoping that resolves my issues but I'm skeptical that will help. I have feeders on each side of every turnout, so I'm confident I have good power to each turnout.
Are your frogs powered at your club? I'm suspicious that is my ultimate solution, but since I've (stupidly) caulked my turnouts down, I'm dreading that job!
Thanks again for the insight!
~rich
Rich,
That Atlas frogs at the club and on my home layout are not powered. Make sure your switch points are making good contact as well. A multimeteter works good to verify that you have a solid electrical connection all the way through the turnout.
rfbranch Thanks for the reply Jim. I'm about to "go nuclear" on ym track and clean it until my back breaks. I'm hoping that resolves my issues but I'm skeptical that will help. I have feeders on each side of every turnout, so I'm confident I have good power to each turnout. Are your frogs powered at your club? I'm suspicious that is my ultimate solution, but since I've (stupidly) caulked my turnouts down, I'm dreading that job! Thanks again for the insight! ~rich
You asked about how to check the power pickup ability of your locomotive. I am assuming you have a multimeter. If so, set the meter for a conductivity test. Set you locomotive on the track with the shell off. Place one multimeter probe on one rail and the other on either of the motor terminals. You should hear a beep if there is power from the rail, through the truck pickup to the motor. If not, move the track probe to the other rail. The idea is that the right side of the motor should have a good power path from the right side rail. The same holds true for the left side.
In doing this be sure of two things: 1. that the track you set the loco on is clean, and 2. that the loco wheels are clean. A little rubbing alcohol to clean the track and the wheels (with a pipe cleaner) will ensure that you have eliminated dirtiness as a condition. When I have done this in the past and found no power flow, I found that either I had a broken wire somewhere, a weak solder job, or, more likely, the track-to-loco motor path was dirty.
Thanks to all for the advice, I will apply all of it over the next few evenings. I've started the heavy duty cleaning with 91% alcohol, which immedatiely seems to show some results when running through my yard ladders; I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come once I get through with my cleaning.
The lesson learned is that new track still needs to be cleaning before it's laid!
I'm still suspicious that I need to power my frogs or I will be spending most of my waking hours cleaning track, but once I've cleaned up and done some testing (I should be able to do this tonight) I'll report back!
Thanks again to all for the help!
~rb
Well, I've gone over the entire layout and put some serious elbow grease behind my alcohol, and while things are defintely better, they aren't totally up to snuff. I'm going to get my hands on some pipe cleaners tonight and see if it isn't an issue with the wheels, but after that I'm going to try some rail zip.
After that, I'm destined to power the frogs I guess...ugh.
I had the same problem even with clean track. Then I discovered the conducting tabs under the points and the sides of the points against the rail weren't conducting very well. I cleaned the connecting tabs and the sides of the points and stock rail where they contact one another with denatured alcohol . It made a world of difference. I learned a neat trick from a guy here in Michigan -- take a single strand of 20 gauge wire and solder it to the points and it's connecting tab or to the stock rail right at the swivel point. That single strand is flexible enough not to break from the limited amount of movement and small enough to be overlooked, and it will power your point rails. Works like a charm. One word of caution -- you need to be very good at soldering! Just my two cents
Modeling the Motor City
It is very easy to check continuity. Get an inexpensive multimeter. I have three that i picked up for about $10.00 each. No model railroader should ever be without a multimeter. Many times I have seen in these forums, some people go for days trying to troubleshoot without a multimeter and get very frustrated.
I have the 44 ton and all the wheels pickup.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90899
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I actaually have a multimeter and haven't yet checked continuity on all of these yet, but it's a great point you mention. Given the short wheelbase of the loco, then I have a set of wheels on a frog, the others are inevitably on the point rails...might be the issue.
Now that i think about it, I rarely if ever have had an issue with the locos once wheelset is past the frog. I'll try that this week. I didn't get give the rail zip a go only becuase I've heard mixed things about it; I didn't want to end up gunking things up more than they already were.
Again, thanks to both for the insight!
Hold on, folks! There is a lot of assumption that dirty track and unpowered frogs are to blame. I, too, have a 70 tonner which has this difficulty. After extensive dissection (of the engine, not the frog) I've discovered that the flimsy electrical pick up plate on the sides of the trucks either wears away or sits a hair too high. Thus the axle fails to make contact in one direction, but may work fine in the other as the axle shifts in the truck. Yep, that's right, the electrical pick up gathers power from the axle instead of the wheel.
The solution appears to be to remove the wheels, extract the plate, and carefully solder a small diameter wire in place where it will rub the back of each wheel.
The Cedar Branch & Western--The Hillbilly Line!
After cleaning track, it's always time to clean the wheels on your entire fleet of rolling stock. Otherwise dirt comes off the wheels onto the track and you are right back where you started. I clean wheels with a paper towel. Soak the towel in GooGone, lay it on a piece of track and run the cars over the towel by hand. Big black streaks on the towel mean you are getting dirt off the wheels. For locomotives, put the damp towel under some of the wheels, apply juice to the track and let the wheels go round and round and clean themselves.
The older two motor Bachmann 44 tonners came from the factory with truck cover plates molded too thick. The cover plate would rub on turnout rails and Kadee uncoupler ramps and lift the wheels off the track, just enough to break contact. Bachmann has improved cover plates for the 44 tonner and they kindly mailed me a pair free of charge. That fixed my 44 tonner which was getting stuck on one specific turnout.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com