Grrrrrrrinding!

[Anonymous]

My BRAN NEW IHC Premier series consolidation loco recently fell 4 feet (real feet, not Ho scale) off of the edge of the layout and onto some hard concrete. I should have made sure my track nails were lower...but anyway, sometimes when I run it slowly backwards up the slight grade on my layout, it buzzes and grinds. A lot of my older engines do this, and some of the newer ones, but usually the newer ones only do it at areas with bad electrical contact. Did it knock a piece out of alignment when it fell? Or is it just the engine? The noise diminishes somewhat if I spin the flywheel in the cab with my finger before hand, but only for a few seconds. The flywheel is not ot of alignment because I checked it as I ran it and spun it and it's not buzzing or grinding. Any help here would be hot. Thanx.

[Anonymous]

Adam Sounds like one heck of a train wreck! Your guess that something is out of alignment sounds right to me. Try checking the clearance between the flywheel and the rear bushing on the can motor. There is usually quite a bit of end clearance in the armature and if the flywheel slipped toward the bushing on impact it may be contacting. The same thing holds true for the worm gear on the front of the motor. The thrust load on the armature from the worm gear changes with the direction of rotation of the motor which may be why it only makes noise when backing. You didn't say whether the noise was pulsating or steady but it wouldn't hurt to check for binding in the drive rods. the best way I know of to do this is to remove the motor and gently roll the drivers. If they are bent or out of alignment they can bind in one direction but not the other. Best of luck, Ed P.S. May I suggest that you keep your track at least 3" from the edge of your layout? If you can't move the track how about adding a filler strip to the edge of the benchwork? It might avoid another crunched loco (OUCH)

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I would have built the layout with the track farther back, but it's only 4 feet across and I wanted as big of a curve as possible. Space in the garage in my house is hotly contested, so I'm moving to the shed, where at least my suggestions for my dad's stuff are a possibility! We have a debate over every square inch of space. If you can elabrate any with this information I'm giving you about my engine, it wuld be appreciated: It's not really pulsating or steady when the engine grinds, it's almost rythmic (.....bzzzz.............bzzz.....bzzzzzzzzzzzz...............bzz..............bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) if that helps. When you say a filler strip, are you talking about adding a little 3" strip of plywood to the edge with brackets or whatever? That's a great idea, and it would work, but I have spots on the layout that range from 7" to 14" that are cut into the actual roadbed and/or subroadbed and/or benchwork. These include a canyon that will soon be fully scenicked and is the showpiece of the layout's scenery, a dropoff that I want to put in by the track (it will be about 3" from the edge anyway) that will have a cutout removing a large part of the visible benchwork, and numerous access/wiring/maintenance holes at random locations arou nd the perimeter. My layout is built in three layers-the plywood top, where the track and most of the scenery will be or is, a level of lumber about 6" tall to allow for the bottom of the canyon and the dropoff, and a final plywood sheet attached to the framework that allows it to be mounted (for now) on either the old tablesaw or sawhorses---

track and buildings, etc.
-----------plywood---- -
IIII IIIlumberIIIII I
-----------plywood--------
=========framework========
/\ sawhorses /\ } 3
/ \ / \ } feet
----------concrete--------



The holes represent all the stuff I mentioned earlier. Any ideas on how to mount the strip without compromising the scenery or blocking the access holes (they're really hard to maneuver in as it is)?

[Anonymous]

Adam,

I'm not sure this will work for you but here is what I did for my son. He has a 4 x 8 ish layout which must be taken down after we use it for a week or so. We don't realy have 'Right-of-Way' for the railroad, it's more like an easement. I notched a piece of 2 x 4 to the depth of the plywood and screwed/glued it to the edge of his tabletop. This makes the 4 ft dimension 4 ft - 5 in. I also hinged the board in the middle of the 8 ft dimension to make it easier to store. Later, after we buy a home with a full basement, we will build off of this area to make my railroad.

Anyway, this may be a method of addind width to your layout where you need it.

Good Luck - Ed

[Anonymous]

Adam, from what you said it's possible that
something has gotten jambed together. Check
drive rods worm gears and check to see if your
motor is out of alignment. It seems to me that
you need to add a eding to your layout. You could
try quater round or 1/4inch luan cut to small
strips and yoou could senic it right into your
layout. I have a fear of engines falling. If
you have to build them close to the edge you have
to have a safety measure. Even being real close
to the area when running your trains sometimes
is not good enough, things can happen fast.
Good luck on your engine. Ross

[Anonymous]

Ok, I'm going to elaborate EVEN MORE to see what you gurus think on the subject. I think I stated before that it usually only does this on grades (the only grade on the layout shouldn't be there because it happened as a result of the layout being semi-dismantled for a time and the whole 8x4 structure bowed in the 8 dimension) and this grade should soon be gone as my dad and I are going to straighten the framework with a special clamp and some angle iron. Most of my engines do this buzzing noise at the same spots that the Consolidation does. It almost sounds like an electrical buzzing.....Do you think it's possible that the grade or electrical problems could be causing my locos to do this? Also, I've found that about 75% of the time they only do it at low speeds. I am already planning to replace a large part of my sectional track with some more flex-track for electrical reasons and I will try to not only add wood to the sides as you guys suggested but where possible I will redo the roadbed and track to make the layout safer for engines and my wallet.