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Locomotive Wheel Slippage on Tracks - Proto 1000s

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  • Member since
    September 2014
  • From: 10,430’ (3,179 m)
  • 2,311 posts
Posted by jjdamnit on Monday, December 27, 2021 3:58 PM

Hello All,

Shock Control
I've been told elsewhere to avoid 70%. I can't win. Sad

I use 91% Isopropyl alcohol for all my cleaning needs.

The only problem I've had with 91% alcohol, was the overspray of a cleaning car; fitted with the A-Line HO Scale Track Cleaning Add-On Kit- -that had been weathered with a Sharpie® marker.

I agree many use 91% as a paint striper on shells. I prefer the PineSol® method.

Hope this helps.

 

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, December 27, 2021 4:43 PM

Shock Control
 
maxman
 I wouldn't use 90% (99%?).  Use 70%.  Some use the 90% as a paint remover.  Affects some paints and not others.  You don't want to find out the hard way if some of the alcohol sloshes or spills on the model.  

I've been told elsewhere to avoid 70%.  I can't win.  Sad 

Try denatured alcohol. That's what I use.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 2,572 posts
Posted by John-NYBW on Monday, December 27, 2021 5:04 PM

Shock Control

 

 
John-NYBW
 My guess is you improved the performance of your A unit with the cleaning but it could use a bit more cleaning. Also you might still have a few dirty spots on your track. Either or both could cause a momentary stall but the B unit pushes the A unit throught the dirty spot and both engines run again. Dirty track, dirty wheels, and inadequate feeders can all contribute to stalling and if you have more than one of the three, your problems will be more frequent. I try to have one feeder to every other rail joiner. I solder the wire to the joiner and the joiner to the outside of the rail. That means ever section of track is getting electricity directly from a feeder wire rather than an adjacent section of track. 

 

Thanks.  The track and wheels have been thoroughly cleaned with 99% isopropyl.  

I need to run the two engines without their shells to look for any interior visual cues as to what may be the issue.

This is a temporary holiday layout, so a wire from the transformer to the terminal track is how it is powered.  I will be happy to try running two wires from the transformer to two terminal tracks, but as there is no way to visually differentiate the two wires in each pair, I wouldn't want to fry an engine if that is a possibility.

 

Are you running DC or DCC. DCC locos are much more sensitive but I think it's pretty standard for DCC systems to have auto shut off to prevent frying a decoder. If you have a loop, all you have to remember is to have all feeders to the outside track come from one terminal and all of the feeders to the inside track come from the other terminal. 

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