I operate trains every Sunday on an HO layout we have set up at a local Toy Mall (every scale represented there)
My question is... would it be ok for my trains to be left in the trunk of my car from week to week The vehicle is generally parked in a garage out of direct sunlight & the average temperature here (KY) lately has ranged from mid 20s to low 60s
or would you advise for the trains to be taken in every week between sessions?
I have stored some of my trains in my attic, which can become quite cold in winter. However, it´s dry up there, so I don´t worry too much. You should let your engines "warm up" before you run them, though.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Tinplate Toddler I have stored some of my trains in my attic, which can become quite cold in winter. However, it´s dry up there, so I don´t worry too much. You should let your engines "warm up" before you run them, though.
Since all of my locos are in separate boxes than the rolling stock I could move those to the back seat during the ride to the mall...that should help bring up their temperature
I would very seriously doubt it would hurt them. If they are very cold the plastic parts might become brittle, but should be fine when they return to room temperature.
.
On the other hand, leaving your trains in the car in Florida on a Summer day will be a disaster. Leaving them in the attic in Summer is guaranteed destruction.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I think I'd let them get to room temperature, the biggest problem would be condensation, but it would take a huge temperature swing/difference for that to happen.
Everything just runs better when it's warmed up.
Sometimes I leave my camera out in the truck overnight, in the winter, and when I remember it, and bring it in, everything fogs up, so I let warm up.
Not that cameras and locomotives are anywhere near the same, but condensation can still have an affect on a locomotive electronics as it does a camera.
I don't know how many locos you carry with you, but maybe a small cooler would help protect them, as your packing them after operations, and everything is at room temperature.
Mike.
My You Tube
The other responses are essentially good and right. Cold lubes will be stiff and need more voltage to get to typical speeds for a warmed drive mechanism. Cold lubes will have some moisture adhere to them, and if you persist and run the gears, the moisture will be absorbed in the interior of the lubes and begin a saponifying action, meaning turning them to wax. Same thing happens to bodies' sub-cutaneous fat left immersed in water too long, and car engines where they are driven to the corner store and back; their crankcases will soon have waxy oil that does a very poor job of lubrication due to condensation sliding down the cylinder walls and into the crankcase.
I would warm my locomotives. Cameras were mentioned. When we went through the Panama Canal last year this time, my camera lens instantly fogged when I walked out to the promenade deck from the air-conditioned interior.
The heat problem has been well covered. Melted plastic details and shells, lubes turned liquid that slide off the gears mostly and drip onto something where they do no good. What the heat tolerance is, I have no idea. Maybe 116-120 deg? More? I wouldn't want to find out except maybe from empirical data.
mbinsewi I don't know how many locos you carry with you, but maybe a small cooler would help protect them, as your packing them after operations, and everything is at room temperature. Mike.
I usually take 6-8 locos its a large 12 X 48 modular type layout with 3 mains DCC so there can be 6 or more trians running any given time. Depending on who shows up depends on how my of my locos will be in use at any given time. I try to prepare in case I am the only one to show up that particular day
I have always been very leery of exposing my locos (or trains in general) to extremes in temperature. I have had my trains stored in a climate controlled storage unit for almost a year-and-a-half, until my layout gets to that part of construction where I can bring them out of storage. The temperature in there ranges from about 62 to 75 degrees. I don't know if temperature extremes will hurt my locomotives, but I'm not really willing to find that out.
Cold environments can be dangerous in hybrid models. Plastic has a higher shrinkage than metal. There are examples of the problem with the freight car roof walks and F-unit side grilles. The photo is three covered hoppers made by Intermountain. See my (BN7023) comment on Trainorders.com three years ago.