Hi Everyone,
I'm having an issue with one of my locomotives making unwanted stops along my layout. It is a Walthers Mainline HO scale DCC w/sound F7 A - B set that's making these sudden stops. It stops at the half centre area of my modular layout where it splits into two tables. Once it goes up to full speed, the sudden stops become few in between, but it still happens. There's a clear voltage flow since those areas of tracks are soldered and have rail joiners and I cleaned the tracks and the engine's wheels. It cannot be a voltage issue because all my other trains are running through those areas smoothly without any issues. The F7 A-B set is brand new from Walther's straight out from the box, and I don't want to see my engines getting their runs interrupted. I'm using Atlas Code 100 tracks for my layout and no turnouts are involved with this running interuption. Do anyone of you believe it's something wrong with the engines or the tracks actually? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.
Vuk
The fact that it apparently is only stopping at one spot would indicate there's a problem with the track.
When the engine stops, does the engine's sound stop? If the sound stops, or stops and immediately restarts, that would mean the engine has lost power for at least a split second. A thorough cleaning of the track and engine wheels might do the trick.
If the sound doesn't stop, just the engine stops, it could mean a physical (rather than electrical) problem with the track, like the pilot of the engine catching something. If it stops where two sections of the layout come together, it could be there's a slight rise from one section to another, just enough for the pilot to hit the rails or some other obstruction (like a track nail or spike sticking up a bit).
I bet it is physical, something like a droopy front coupler(hose?)
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
If it was a physical barrier, the loco would keep pushing, it would not stop. My bet is on a bad electrical contact. Track needs to be flat and clean.
Simon
Well, since the OP mentions that it's only occurring with one particular locomotive combination, I'd guess that the problem is likely within one or both of those locomotives.Time to remove the body shells to see what might be amiss.
Wayne
Have you run the engines with their lights on to see if they go out or flicker? Can you put another loco on another nearby track idling but with its lights on? If the additional loco's light flicker, you may have a momentary short and not a power loss.
Are both of the engines powered? Can you run them individually over the same spot? How about in reverse, or facing the other way?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm not familiar with Walthers Mainline locos, do they use the pick-up bar at the ends of the axles, like Athearn, and Kato?
I'd take the shell off, and watch what happens as it attempts to go over the troubled area.
Mike.
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