I have five Rapido passenger cars that I would like to operate on a match set passenger train. However they are very touchy to use, they derail easily and uncouple with the slightest issue in the track. I realize my layout doesn't have the best track, but I do have 30" and 32" radius curves on my mainline. The track feeding into the passenger station is 27" R and the Rapido cars derail every time. Is there somethings I can do to improve the cars operations?
Derailing AND a problem with staying coupled makes me wonder about the frame and trucks/wheels. But what exactly do you mean by "doesn't have the best track"? These are scale cars with rather delicate standards and yes rough track will cause issues with such cars.
There can be flaws in the cars themselves - for years the old Athearn blue box four bay hopper (B&O prototype, presumably) was known for poor tracking due to just some oddity in the overall design. So we can't rule that out, or rule out flaws in the frame/truck combination. But that was a problem with every such Athearn car and I have heard no such problem with Rapido cars.
There might be something about your particular cars - a twist in the frame, a flaw in the trucks. But again not likely with every Rapido car.
Do the cars derail when rolled by themselves through that track? Do they derail when pushed with a finger from the back car; do they derail if pulled from the front car with a finger on the car? Does adding a bit of weight with a finger change things? Sometimes the problem is the matchup between locomotive and car
Assuming the Rapido cars are free rolling and that there are no "hitches" in the coupler swing, then I'd look very closely at the track for pinch points that might not be obvious to the eye and might not derail other cars or locomotives. But these are somewhat delicate because very accurate cars
Dave Nelson
Try spending some time and effort on you trackwork. It will pay off down the line when you not only have those cars running but you get closer to perfect operations.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have thirteen of them and while they do not ever derail they come uncoupled and that is because four of the thirteen cars have droopy couplers that I need to give attention to. On two of the cars, one coupler goes right under the other ones. The other two they hold by a whisker.
They don't all roll that great even after using the truck tuner on them and giving them some lube.
They are a work in progress that I feel quite confident about being able to make perfect when I get the time.
The closer to prototype the models are, the closer to prototype your trackwork needs to be. That's the trade-off.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Further to the above, I would also check the wheel gauge with an NMRA Standards gauge. A wide or narrow wheel out of gauge couild certainly cause problems. Check each wheel in a number of spots to be sure. A bent axle, something that is rare, can cause lots of problems.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I have more than a dozen Rapido passenger cars on my layout. The cars are beautiful replicas of the real thing, but in my experience two factors lead to derailments.
One isssue is the close coupling out of the box. On my 32" radius curves, as well as through #6 turnouts, the close coupling can result in derailments. My solution is to replace the short shank coupler on one end of each car with a medium shank coupler.
The other issue is the extreme amount of underbody detail. Some of this tiny detail tends to come loose and drag on ties. That can present a problem running through turnouts and can result in derailments as the wheelsets come off the rails. My solution is to trim off that loose detail when it occurs.
Rich
Alton Junction
NILE I realize my layout doesn't have the best track, but I do have 30" and 32" radius curves on my mainline. The track feeding into the passenger station is 27" R and the Rapido cars derail every time. Is there somethings I can do to improve the cars operations?
I realize my layout doesn't have the best track, but I do have 30" and 32" radius curves on my mainline. The track feeding into the passenger station is 27" R and the Rapido cars derail every time. Is there somethings I can do to improve the cars operations?
One thing you don't mention is which passenger cars you own. The first set of 'Continental' passenger cars they came out with derailed like crazy on the curves, and that was due to the underbody design. I had to do some surgery on the coupler pocket area as well as around the trucks. You couldn't tell by looking at them; only by turning them over.
Like others mentioned, trackwork is key. With the details on some cars (besides Rapido), the slightest flaw in trackwork could be hampering your cars.
One thing I did to alleviate this on my railroad is to put a long shank coupler on one end and a standard on the other. While it might not look the best or prototypical, they don't derail and I have 24" and 26" radius in some spots.
Good luck...
Neal
Somebody says a Hurricane is coming, so since I live on high ground in the up state of South Carolina, I can play and run trains in peace and quiet while the wind blows.
I have many Rapido coaches, but before they go into service I have to do a few things first, learned from experience. Now Jason and his crew make a beautiful passenger coach and they need to come out with more, please, so that I can fill the room. Currently my layout is 12 X 12 but a new building is going to be built for trains, 18 X 25 and those Rapido"s gotta be in top shape.
The first thing I do is prep the couplers and make sure each one is level with the next using the Kadee coupler gizmo and literally lining cars up and looking at the couplers, also checking out the distance between diaphgrams, if a coupler is out of align then I match them up, most of the time all it takes is a #5 and make sure it doesn't sag or drop, They have to match!
Next we work on the trucks, check with NMRA guage, coupler height and make sure the wheels are in guage. Loosen the screw that holds the trucks to the body, sometimes they are too tight. The trucks should swivel and turn easily, if they are too tight they bind up and de-rail. Loser trucks track better. Speaking of track, you gotta work on that. Now, that said, I have devised a way for the track to ever so slightly ride up and down just like the proto-types. When you glue the track down it can't do that and the track has no give and is stiff and the trucks just jump. By allowing the track to give just a hare riding up and down on the tacks/nails the cars seem to track better, and with the give and take of the trucks the coaches, for me, track better. But you may have to experiment, it took me almost 8 months to get my track right.
Weight, that's right, although the Rapido's are weighted pretty good, some of my other cars, Rivorossi, I had to weight them, change the wheels to metal wheels and really work on the diaphgrams, I like mine close. I have explained on another post how I use the Walthers pleated diaphgrams, cutting off one section then attaching the striker plate and attaching it to the car/coach itself.
My Broadway limited coaches are wonderful, some coupler adjustment had to be made otherwise no problems.
One other thing about the Rapido coaches, the under body detail is quite remarkable but sometimes the ends of those little pieces get in the way and make it difficult for the trucks to rotate or they grab on to things like switch points or track and even ties. They have to be moved or even clipped off.
My coaches seem to travel nicely now but I had to work on the coaches and the track, like I said it took awhile, but well worth it.
Robert Sylvester
richhotrain One isssue is the close coupling out of the box. On my 32" radius curves, as well as through #6 turnouts, the close coupling can result in derailments. My solution is to replace the short shank coupler on one end of each car with a medium shank coupler.
Both Rich and Robert had the best advise for these beautiful but finicky cars. I fought with a couple of cars for days until I relaxed the bolster screw holding the trucks in place. On my worst offender, everything seemed fine, but one screw was significantly tighter than the other one. Relaxing that did wonders. My current theory is that the tight clearance on ends with diaphrams makes the tightness of the truck an issue....just need more play when things bind on our WAY not prototypical curves.
A lot of it has to do with what cars you own. We've got progressively better at making passenger cars over the last 12 years. The first run cars from 2006 were awful for tracking because the way we designed them was flawed. The chassis went all wibbly in the production process.
The Budd cars are much more reliable, and the New Haven cars have been the most solid.
The new dome cars are much more solidly built than our earlier runs of the same car. We had to redo the tooling, which was worn out. In the process, we improved how they went together.
-Jason
Jason Shron - President - Rapido Trains Inc. - RapidoTrains.comMy HO scale Kingston Sub layout: Facebook.com/KingstonSub
I have four of the early "Continental" cars in Erie-Lackawanna. I recently decided to see what I could do to get them to track better so I did a little surgery on some of the piping around the truck-swing area, placed a few small dabs of cement where the floor meets the side sheets and, from what I can tell is the biggest improvement, replaced the trucks with the newer Rapido trucks:
https://www.rapidotrains.com/the-finest-rtr-ho-scale-passenger-car-trucks-ever-produced/
These trucks also give me current pickup for lighting through track rather than the battery light strips.
For me it was a big improvement. Hope that helps,
P.S. My wife says I have a wibbly chassis! I always thought it was a compliment
Ed
Jason: [LHS name and location removed by moderator] have your new busses on display and for sale. They have both versions, with or without lights. They are beautiful. For me it actually was a moment of memory, remembering the days when I lived near Washington, D.C. and riding one of those busses to and from work in the city. I loved the way they rode and sounded. Sometimes I would just sit at the bus stop and watch them stop and roll by.
I am going to buy several for my new layout. I have two small cities and they will look great on the busy streets, especially at night with the lights on. Now if I could get someone to build some old Greyhound Scenic Cruisers and Trailways with light I'll be happy.
My passenger coaches are close to when you first produced them. As I said, with a little tinkering they run great and the New Haven Coaches do just fine. I am now in the prcess of populating my coaches with people and that will improve the looks tremendously.
Appreciate your products.
South Carolina
robert sylvesterNow if I could get someone to build some old Greyhound Scenic Cruisers and Trailways with light I'll be happy.
Have you looked at some of the offerings from Classic Metal Works?
IMG_8938_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
IMG_8939_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
These could be opened up and your own LED lighting installed...
Good Luck, Ed
I owned some earlier Rapido cars...even the Budd domes; well I didn't like the couplers. Sometimes they would rub against, if I recall correctly, the end diaphragms just barely, but enough to cause a derailment especially if there was a vertical kink in the trackwork. I replaced the couplers with Kadee medium shank, on at least one end of each car, similar to what someone else said above, and if I recall correctly, they then ran much better after that. I subsequently sold them because I just wanted something else...
Now, the new run of mid train dome cars is simply fantastic. They are very free rolling, and the one I have so far operates just fine for me. I just ordered another mid train dome and am contemplating more. The interior and lighting, and finishing, is just simply beautiful on these cars. Most of all, I think they are indeed better than earlier efforts, so far as running on a real world layout.
I do wish they were just a bit shinier. I like the gleam of Walthers plated finish cars a little bit better, but in all other respects, I prefer the Rapido cars. It is worth noting the Rapido mid train domes outroll anything from Walthers that I ever tried, indeed any other passenger car I ever tried, including the brass ones with modified or replaced trucks (aftermarket sprung trucks).
My minimum radius is Kato 26.375" equivalent.
John