Two nights ago I was running my trains and everything went well, no derainments, no stopping for no reason. Everything went perfectly. Night before last I went to run my trains and nothing went right. I wiped the track down with alchol as I always do, started the two diesels and it moved about 3 foot and some of the cars derailed, I put the cars back on track and it moved a little futher and another derailment! Not the same cars and not the same place. The diesels would stop and slow down at various places on the track, I cleaned the tracks again and again but nothing seemed to work. I was sure there was something on the tracks that the alchol was not cleaning.
After about 1/2 hour of derailments and the diesels stopping for no reason, I finally parked the diesel train and put old faithful (A 2-6-2 steam train) on the tracks and started to run it, It was doing the same thing, I cleaned the tracks some more and the same thing, stopping and sluggish movement, derailments, and cars comming un-coupled. After a while, I simple gave up as I was getting frustrated.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the train room and installed some fuse blacks and a few more streetlights. I thought I would not even bother to try the trains. After a couple of beers I decided to try the trains again, I wiped the tracks down with more alchol as I always do and started running the twin diesels, You guessed it, Nothing went wrong. I ran the diesels for a couple of hours and everything went perfectly. I decided I would try the steam train, Everything went perfectly all night long, I really had an enjoyable evening in the train room.
What makes things like this happen? Any of you ever experence things like this? I do feel that the track was dirty but how come I couldn't clean it? And why all of a sudden was I having de-railments and un-couplings, I have never had this happen. Just wanted your thoughts on the matter. Thanks, sorry for such a long post. Mike
PS...I am running DC and HO scale
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Thanks all, I really doubt it was the beer, I hope I can have 2 beers and still run the trains, it hasn't stopped me yet.
I was thinking the Gremlins or the track was warping, (The weather here has been cold/windy one day and warm/still the next.) Although that has never been a problem in the past. Maybe the gremlins are attacking the track and trying to put the blame on something elece.
I think what I am going to do is get on the enternet and do some looking and scratching my head and invent a Gremlin Trap. Anyone ever seen one? (a trap or a Gremlin) Now that I think about it, I bet it was the Gremlin, I have a red AMC Gremlin on the layout, maybe it comes to life when I am not there. Just a thought. Mike
mikesmowers wrote: my head and invent a Gremlin Trap. Anyone ever seen one? (a trap or a Gremlin) Now that I think about it, I bet it was the Gremlin, I have a red AMC Gremlin on the layout, maybe it comes to life when I am not there. Just a thought. Mike
my head and invent a Gremlin Trap. Anyone ever seen one? (a trap or a Gremlin) Now that I think about it, I bet it was the Gremlin, I have a red AMC Gremlin on the layout, maybe it comes to life when I am not there. Just a thought. Mike
I heard they like swimming, fried chicken after midnight, and Phoebe Kates. BTW: Be sure to leave an engine light on if you go looking for them.
Gremlins: disgusting little trolls which left undisturbed can lay dormant for months. However they will come out of hibernation prematurely when exposed to vapours such as those given off by alcohol such rubbing or fermented hops
depending on what you used to tack down your track the rubbing alcohol may have caused some swelling if you used it liberally, or there was a lot of humidity in the room. I normally let the M.E.S.S. go dormant in the summer months as some track can be problematic despite the use of a dehumidier. Check your rail joints for bad connections and most ballasts are made from painted crushed nut shells making them hydroscopic (mini sponges).
Fergie
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5959
If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007
Fergmiester.. I used good 'ol Elmers white glue to hold down the tracks and real fine granet rocks I got from the local Quarry for the ballast, I doubt the granet will swell like a spoung when wet. I did try using a very wet alchol paper towel directly in front of the slowly moving train, in hopes the loco wheels would pick it up and do some cleaning on the wheels as well.
Last night when I cleaned the track I used a store bought track cleaner, (LifeLike) and the towel got a huge amount of black on from the dirty rails, I assume it was there from all the arching, Doesn't arcing cause the black on the rail heads? I have heard the black is not a problem as it will conduct electricity. Am I correct on this? Last night when I cleaned the rails I used the LifeLike cleaning fluid and a paper towel and wiped the rails until there was no black on the towel.
All of my rolling stock have metal wheels, I might do a major cleaning on the rolling stock this weekend as it has been almost a year since I have done it. I take each and every car and remove the wheel sets and clean them with alchol and when I re-install them onto the trucks, I use a Q tip and some graphit and put a very small dab on the axle bearing. Last year when I did this it made a remarkable difference in the rolling effort, some of the cars would roll down hill on a place on the layout that was supposed to be level track. My Atlas caboose (The only Atlas car I have) I really think it will roll by itself on perfectly level track, It rolls that freely.
Have any of you ever used graphet on the rolling stock wheel bearings? I wanted to lub them but grese will attract a lot of dust and in a short time they will be in worse shape that before, I only use a little on each bearing so it will not get on the rail heads, That would be bad. Mike
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Did you clean the wheels of the locomotives?
Whenever I have derailments, it's the visitors I have looking at the layout. When I'm by myself, nothing ever goes wrong.
Was there something else in your house drawing a lot of power, particularly if it was cycling on and off a lot? I'm thinking an air conditioner, refrigerator or an electric iron. I've got the bad luck to have my train room outlets on the same circuit as the A/C in the bedroom. Usually, they're not on at the same time, but when they are I have intermittent DCC dropouts every time the A/C kicks in.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Have any of you ever used graphite on the rolling stock wheel bearings?
I know I'll get jumped on for this, but that's all I use on my rolling stock. Squirt some in the axle journals, press the side frames together and spin the wheels a bit to work the graphite in. Then take an air compressor or can-o air and blow the excess off. Works GREAT and I've had ZERO problems with it getting my track dirty. My cars will roll 4 times further down a grade as opposed to using Labell oil or Dexron. (and it won't pick up dirt)Heat, cold, humidity will all affect running from one day to the next. You can glue your ties down all you want, but your rails will still move with weather changes. This will cause gauge problems. Check your track and wheels with a gauge next time it gives you problems. If you smoke, cigarette smoke WILL settle on your rails overnight causing problems too.
(Let the graphite bashing begin!)
Sounds like you're running a bunch of bachman crap with plastic wheels.
Trash it all and by some quality equipment and you will be much happier!
cf7
Mike,
I'd bet on either a change in temperature, humidity, or both. Either will play hob with your track. The derailments make it sound like either heat or humidity playing with track alignment and perhaps some electrical connectivity issues.
Good luck!
Steve Barkley
mikesmowers wrote: Two nights ago I was running my trains and everything went well, no derainments, no stopping for no reason. Everything went perfectly. Night before last I went to run my trains and nothing went right. I wiped the track down with alchol as I always do, started the two diesels and it moved about 3 foot and some of the cars derailed, I put the cars back on track and it moved a little futher and another derailment! Not the same cars and not the same place. The diesels would stop and slow down at various places on the track, I cleaned the tracks again and again but nothing seemed to work. I was sure there was something on the tracks that the alchol was not cleaning. After about 1/2 hour of derailments and the diesels stopping for no reason, I finally parked the diesel train and put old faithful (A 2-6-2 steam train) on the tracks and started to run it, It was doing the same thing, I cleaned the tracks some more and the same thing, stopping and sluggish movement, derailments, and cars comming un-coupled. After a while, I simple gave up as I was getting frustrated. Yesterday afternoon I went to the train room and installed some fuse blacks and a few more streetlights. I thought I would not even bother to try the trains. After a couple of beers I decided to try the trains again, I wiped the tracks down with more alchol as I always do and started running the twin diesels, You guessed it, Nothing went wrong. I ran the diesels for a couple of hours and everything went perfectly. I decided I would try the steam train, Everything went perfectly all night long, I really had an enjoyable evening in the train room. What makes things like this happen? Any of you ever experence things like this? I do feel that the track was dirty but how come I couldn't clean it? And why all of a sudden was I having de-railments and un-couplings, I have never had this happen. Just wanted your thoughts on the matter. Thanks, sorry for such a long post. Mike PS...I am running DC and HO scale
Why not try taking a multimeter or voltmeter, and making power checks at the places you are having problems?Start at your power source and move outward around the layout.Perhaps you are getting some bad connections due to expansion and contrcation of your layout, which could be causing warping,etc.Do have good wiring connections all around the layout?Could your power pack or one of your power generators be intermittent?Put your voltmeter at the power terminals and run a train, and watch what happens.I would try and disconnect them,(power source) remove them from the layout room, put them somewhere warm and dry for awhile, then reconnect them and see what happens.This could indicate that humidity is causing a power drop or a short inside your power source.Is it sealed up good around the edges, or are there any noticeable gaps where possibly moisture or even dust is getting in, and causing havoc.Basically troubleshoot by process of elimination.What it sounds like to me is you are getting a voltage drop or power drop somewhere, causing this problem.It's just a matter of finding it.Make notes of the temperature and humidity when it happens also, and make a note of it in case it happens again.Because it's happening to more than one loco, I doubt the wheels are dirty enough to cause the same problem on each loco.My guess is a pwer supply problem from the power source and outward from there.
Ed
Operating night on Mike's layout...
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Hi Mike,
just wondering you wrote that you soldered all of the rail joiners together. If the temperature varies from the time you installed the track then that could be a problem. All materials have different coefficients of expansion. This means that as temperature changes all the materials expand or contract at different rates which could cause items to get pulled or pushed out of shape. Maybe if you take the Dremel and cut some gaps into your rails so that they can "move" the problem might go away.
Just a thought, hope it helps.
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
da_kraut wrote: Hi Mike,just wondering you wrote that you soldered all of the rail joiners together. If the temperature varies from the time you installed the track then that could be a problem. All materials have different coefficients of expansion. This means that as temperature changes all the materials expand or contract at different rates which could cause items to get pulled or pushed out of shape. Maybe if you take the Dremel and cut some gaps into your rails so that they can "move" the problem might go away.Just a thought, hope it helps.Frank
Expansion?? Contraction?? Gaps?? I have NO idea what your talking about...