All-
I picked up a Proto 2000 SD60 and in both DC and then in DCC mode, it doesn't run quickly. I have another Proto 2000 SD60M and the 60M accelerates much more quickly and has a much higher top end speed - the SD60 moves very slowly.
Keep in mind the engine ran slowly in DC mode before I converted it to DCC so the decoder has been eliminated as the source of the problem. Regardless of this I had reset both decoders - same results. The "bad" engine does not make a ny unknown noises and does not rock back and forth, etc.
Does anyone have any thoughts as I'd love to fix this problem and be able to consist the engine (or at the least be able to run it faster)?
Thanks in advance,
The slow locomotive is probably geared for a more prototypically correct speed. Too many of our models are geared too fast. If you had an accurate way of calculating the scale speed you might find that the fast locomotive is running way beyond what the real engine could achieve.
With DCC it would be much easier to slow down the faster locomotive by adjusting the speed curve than it would be to make the other loco run faster. In may in fact be impossible to make the slow one run faster because it's gearing is different.
I have a couple of P2K SD45's that run very slowly also. They also will probably pull all 1800 cars on my layout if I had enough track. I ended up setting them up in a fixed DCC consist together, as I restrict my consists to two powered units and sometimes a dummy added into the mix. They do just fine. However, as already mentioned, if you operate with DCC they can be adjusted with the speed curve.
Bob
I encountered this with a pair of P2K SD-50 's ,one was a lot faster than the other,same gearing , Make sure the gears are not dry.Sometimes the locos just seem tight, Give the mechanisms time to "run in". You should be able to tweak the speed range using it's decoder settings though. After the SD50's had run a little while I was able to dial them in.Those SD60"s are incredible pullers once they're broke in. Good luck to 'Ya......
The P2K SD60s used a different gear ratio (18:1) than most engines (12:1 or 14:1). The later ones might have a faster motor to compensate. You might be able to match it up in the slower speeds, but the top end is just not there. Not really safe to pull that many cars at high speeds anyways. I think the P2K SD45 was geared 9:1, so they move right along. I have heard you could put a SD60 worm gear into the SD45 to slow it down to SD60 speed.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
I'd just be impressed if you had a layout big enough to run an 1800 car train
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
WSOR 3801I have heard you could put a SD60 worm gear into the SD45 to slow it down to SD60 speed.
I have heard you could put a SD60 worm gear into the SD45 to slow it down to SD60 speed.
You can't change the worm gear without also changing all the other gears in the truck if the SD60 worm gear is not exactly the same pitch as the SD45's, and if they are the same you'll get no difference in operation.
Right, worms and worm gears are matched. The thing most people call the worm gear is actually the worm. The normal-looking gear that the worm meshes with is the worm gear. It might be possible to change both and still have the proper mesh with the idler gears to the axles.
rrinker I'd just be impressed if you had a layout big enough to run an 1800 car train --Randy
So would I, but as I can only have about a fourth of those 1800 on the railroad at a given time. I do switch cars out of storage areas onto the railroad between sessions.
I was told that the internal gearing was the same in SD60 and SD45 trucks, and the SD45 worm was changed, to spin the gears below twice as fast, giving in effect 9:1 gearing. Placing a SD60 worm in a SD45 truck would make it 18:1.