IHC Lcomotive Erratic running

[Anonymous]

Hi, my name is Jerry Bohn,new to model railroading. I have two IHC engines 1-Mountain 2-Consolodation. The problem is when they both come to a curve on Atlas 15" radius track, 90 degree turn,they slow down noticably. I have cleaned the track,engine wheels and tender wheels and wheel contacts, even checked continuity from power to wheels. Any ideas why the slow down?

[Anonymous]

Hello Jerry, Since you don't seem to have any electrical problems I would venture to say that your locos are just too large for a 15" curve. That's an awful tight curve in HO scale and about the best you could really hope to operate on it would be an 0-4-0 or a small diesel switcher. What's happening is that the wheelbase of the locos is just to long to negociate that sharp of a curve and its putting the driving wheels in a bind. There's really nothing that you can do to locos of that size to make them operate on a 15" curve. Perhaps you could redesign your track layout to incoporate a minimum of 22" radius curves and your large locos will operate well on them. Take Care and Have Fun....Vic

[Anonymous]

I think the problem may be the 15" radius curve rather than the locomotives. 15" is very tight,even for a 2-8-0. If you can, set up a test curve of larger radius, say 22", and see how they perform through it. If the curve is too sharp, the loco's drivers will bind against the rails and slow down, stop or derail. With the IHC locomotives' deep flanges on the wheels, they are unlikely to derail, just bind and slow way down.
Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

HI JERRY: THE OTHER WRITERS ARE RIGHT. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR CURVES ARE TO TIGHT. I WOULD FURTHER RECOMMEND YOU PURCHASE A BOOK WITH THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR MODEL TRAINS. I ASSUME YOU ARE DEALING WITH HO GUAGE, BUT THEY HAVE BOOKS WITH ALL THE GAUGE STANDARDS. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ROOM TO MAKE YOUR CURVES WIDER, THEN YOU SHOULD CONSIDER GOING TO A SMALLER GAUGE OR GETTING SMALLER ENGINES. GOOD LUCK

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the knowlege men.
Bob, I made a HO test track out of 4 peices of flex track with a 22" curve, problem went away. Think I'll save the 4-8-2 an 2-8 engines till I can run another track using the 22", I do have room on the board that I was going to use for an independant passanger line. Thanks again, Jerry