My BS 4-4-0 is the first to detect dirty track situations. As soon as I clean the track it started to sputter on, the problem goes away. I had a friend with an old time high railer panel van and it was always the first to suffer from dirty track while his heavyweight loco's never blinked.
Has anyone noticed the same thing with their lighter equipment or am I imagining things?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Brent,
I had the same problem with a BLI SW7......It would even hic-up with clean track and wheels. I did everything possible...no room to add weight. Re-did truck pick-ups, took all black off wheels....You name it. The only way to get it to run consistantly, is with two bean bags layed over the top of the engine. I finally got tired of it and took out all the DCC parts, including speaker, added 6 oz of fishing sinker lead to it and it runs like a charm. Didn't need the DCC or sound anyway. The other BLI's I have with sound run fine on My DC layout....with MRC CM 20's.
Take Care!
Frank
Yup. I considder the dirty track problem to be Public Enemy Number One to model railroading. Light locomotives will always be the first to suffer. There have been countless discussions on how to deal with it.
I pack as much weight in my locos as I can. I quit bothering with such lightweights as Rivarossi 4-4-0s.
Bottom line: Clean the track and locomotive wheels when it acts up, and the heavier the better. Anything you can do to add to the number of current pick-up wheels helps too.
Dan
It isn't just the lightness of model 4-4-0s and such that make them so sensitive to dirty track. They are also the most prone to inadequate drive wheel to rail contact due to frames that are even the tiniest bit bent or distorted. The old Mantua/Tyco "General" 4-4-0 was particularly known for that problem, as was an imported brass PRR D16 4-4-0. And both of them were all metal engines at that.
Dave Nelson
Unfortunately, I have quite a few of those locos. Since I have a collection of vintage steam, many are prone to stall on dirty track. I have some with brass wheels, and quite a few with limited power pickup wheels. Clean track is a must. I installed my first stay-alive decoder a few weeks ago on my brass climax and I was very pleased with the result. Not cheap, but it took me 15 minutes...I had plans to add extra power pick-ups on a few of my engines, but installing a new stay alive decoder on these will be so much easier. Once again, procastination has paid off!
Simon
My club suffers from dirty track, their current "solution" is to remove ALL rolling stock and ALL motive power, clean ALL the wheels on rolling stock and motive power, and then clean ALL the track, it's been a month long process that we finally are done with... Hopefully!
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Since my late '30s layout is DC powered, I don't have to cede any empty space inside locomotives or tenders to much in the way of circuit boards or sound equipment, and with headlights not in use in daytime (and no night operations), nothing to worry about for access to such frivolities, either.
I add weight to all of my locomotives and their tenders, and several have all-wheel pick-up installed, too. Not only does this allow for more reliable operation, but the locomotives pull better, too.I vacuum my track occasionally, but clean it only after ballasting.
Wayne
Thanks for the responses guys, it is nice to know that my train of thought was on the right track. I had never cleaned my track for the first few years I had my layout and never even had the slightest issue. It wasn't long after I got the 4-4-0 that the dirt issue reared its ugly head.
The BS 4-4-0 has become my favourite loco. It goes around my little layout at a slower speed than a large steam or diesel engine would and this makes the layout seem larger than it is.
I am hoping to have numerous small steam engines, so I guess I will have to break down and spring for a track cleaning car.
Brent, I don't think it's just the dirty track thing. I feel it is a combination of the two factors, poor contact due to weight/design and poor contact due to uneven track work and/or oxidation or that organic crud that turns up wrapped over the odd plastic tire still left on four or five of my boxcars.
If the track is dirty, but operation resumes upon pressing harder on the item to get better contact, then it's a weight problem...or a poor design of the wipers for the weight/tire-print of the vehicle.
If the track is clean, but operation is spotty, and it improves with pressure on the shell downard, then it's still a weight problem....or faulty wipers/bad design.
Unfortunately, this becomes a 'both necessary AND sufficient' problem where each is critical in its own way, and improving one isn't necessarily going to result in improved operation...in fact probably not.
All that aside, my Walthers first-run-after-Life-Like Proto 2000 SW-8 was a thud when I first got it. It wouldn't run over any turnout frog. I asked Walthers about it, and they admitted that the unit has that problem and said they'd ship me out a non-rubber-tired axle to swap the one installed out. The idea was to improve pickup. Happily, about ten days later, I did swap out the two and have never looked back...it was that dramatic an improvement. Even today, it trundles along all my #8 Fast Tracks turnouts with their dead frogs and doesn't even hiccup. I take pains to ensure my tracks are clean, but I have larger steamers that will object to a stretch of track before the SW8 will.
It's not either/or in my experience...both have to be available in abundance in order to enjoy reliable operations.
It's not a bad idea to have a "canary" to tell you something needs attention. On my layout, that's always been the subways, so when they start stalling out, I know it's time to wait for a nice day, open the windows and run the CMX car.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I eliminated a lot of problems by putting graphite on the rails.
You can start here for information. And here.
Those links don't appear to work for me.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/267715/3030510.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/243303/2710038.aspx
You could also Google: graphite on model railroad track
For some reason, the 'insert link' button doesn't work. Sorry.
BATMAN My BS 4-4-0 is the first to detect dirty track situations. As soon as I clean the track it started to sputter on, the problem goes away. I had a friend with an old time high railer panel van and it was always the first to suffer from dirty track while his heavyweight loco's never blinked. Has anyone noticed the same thing with their lighter equipment or am I imagining things?
I have the exact same problem with my HO scale Bachmann 4-4-0 Jupiter. I just had to clean my tracks this morning because of this problem. It's a good little locomotive except for the fact that it's a feather weight and too tiny to add any weight to it.