I'm requesting some advise. I purchased a dozen of these cars. They look great. I'm having trouble with them derailing around a bend and into a turnout. I checked the wheels for correct width. I checked the coupler height and the trip pin clearance. Other than a fes minor adjustments to the trip pin clearance, everything looks fine Does anyone have a suggestion ? I know with body mounted couplers, it can be a challenge with longer cars. I have no issues running long consists of Kato maxi stack IV's or BLMA Spine cars. I was wondering if some loosening of the coupler boxes might help. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Keith
Keith, I do not have an answer for you, but do have a question. What type of couplers are working adjacent to the body mounts? Are they truck mounted or body mounted as well. If truck mounted that may be the problem, or part of it anyway. I don't think it is unusual, for body mounts and coupler mounts, to not play well together. Carl
I can almost bet it's the width of the wheels. If you wave a low profile MTL wheels laying around try it out on a couple of them and see if that helps. I know it did on the previous run.
Another possibility is that the trucks are stiff, which I have seen with these cars. Are they free to swivel about the bolster pin? Do they have a little bit of freedom to rotate laterally (i.e. so the car can tip to the side a bit)? Both are important.
I think Gary's got it. Any of the BLMA cars I check the truck mounts before they go on the layout. Out of say, ten cars I might have to loosen three or four trucks. I believe BLMA has used the newer tread width wheels on these cars, I had a bit of a problem on the first reefer run because of the narrow treads, but a minor bit of trackwork fixed that. Keep at it, you'll find it!
I think the first question is; what is the curve radius, and what brand/size turnout? Then; coupler body mount to truck mount. Brand of track and finer scale wheels could be presenting a problem, there are a few factors that could be contributing to the overall problem. Ted (Teditor) Freeman From the Land Down Under.
The whole consist is BLMA reefers, so no truck mounted couplers. I took Gary's suggestion and loosened up the trucks. The extra play did the trick. I ran all 12 cars through the curve and turnout, with no derailments. Thanks Gary and thanks to the other responders for your suggestions ! Keith.
