Hey everyone, For somereason all of my trains are derailing in just a few spots. I have been trying all kinds of stuff and nothing is working. Can anyone give me some help??? Let me know. Matt M
Matt, Give us a clue as to what spots are causing the derailments. Is it right before a turnout (swtich) or curves or straights?? Sometimes the track gauge can cause derailments, sometimes it can be turnouts that the points might not align just right. Is it your rolling stock that derails or your locomotives? Are all the cars wheels in gauge? Sometimes trucks that are too tight or too loose can cause derailments too. Hope this helps some. Shaummy
Watch to see if it's always the same cars or loco that derail. Check to make sure there arn't any bits of ballast stuck to the rail in the spots that derail. Look out for kinks in rail joints. Hope that's not the problem cuz it's hard to fix
Check out The Feb 02 edition of Modelrailroader, !Banish derailments, the 12 ways to smoother operations.
There are lots of things that can cause derailing. If you don't have a NMRA Standards Gauge, I suggest you buy one. It will be helpful to find those pesky derailing gremlins. But here are some things you can do, and some of them don't require a gauge: 1. Run your finger along the track near the spot you are derailing. What you are doing is feeling for uneven track joints, you know where one end of the track may not completely be in the joiner. If you did any soldering you are also checking for any excess soldering. Also check on the inside of the rail. If you find any burs etc, file them smooth with a flat file and then be sure to wipe up all the filings. 2. Check your rolling stock, are you mixing truck mounted couplers with body mounted couplers? This can cause problems. Try to keep your truck mounted couplers in one section of the train and body mounted couplers in the other section. 3. How tight are your curves? If you are running 18 inch radius or smaller, some of your longer freight cars (auto-racks, 50ft+ boxcars) and passenger cars may not be able to make it through these tight curves. This is especially true if you have 3 axle trucks. 4. Did you ballast your track? Sometimes glue and ballast will collect and harden to the inside of the rail, causing the car wheels to ride up and then off the track. Remove the excess glue and ballast and file smooth. 5. Check the weight of your freight cars. The NMRA recommends 1 oz plus 1/2 oz per inch for the length of your freight cars. Cars that are too light have a tendency to derail. When you add weight make sure you can put it in the lowest part of the car. 6. Check your coupler height, it should be uniform. Some couplers, especially the plastic horn-hook couplers, have a tendency to flop around and sometimes that little pin will catch a tie, or pick a switch. If you are using kadee couplers, I suggest you go out and buy a kadee coupler gauge. The gauge also works good with the kadee "clones". These can be done without a standards gauge. If you get a standards gauge (about $7-10), you can then do the following. 7. Check the spacing width of your wheels. If you have the plastic wheels you can twist them on the axle to get the right spacing. 8. Check the width of your track. If you have commercial track, they may be in gauge already. However, the track gauge will help you find any out of gauge track. What the problem may be is that the rail may have separated from the plastic ties. Press the rail back into place and check with gauge again. This should help you find your problems. If it turns out to be the wheels of your rolling stock, you may want to consider upgrading them with kadee or jay-bee wheels as time goes along. I hope this helps. [ 30 January 2002, 17:48: Message edited by: ajy6b ]
These are all good tips. One thing I'd like to add is that, if you find that the track gauge is too narrow, this is sometimes caused by the nails put through the ties to secure the track. If you drive one too far in, they will pull the tie down with them, drawing the rails together. (Assuming you nailed your track down in the first place, duh!)
A little narrowness on the track can be a good thing, as usually the track is a bit on the wide side. A good check for this is to put a car on the track and see if the car can still slide side-to-side between the rails. That "slop" is usually excessive and can allow the trucks to get "cocked" between the rails, getting the wheels out of alignment with the track and point off to some other location besides down the rails. Another thing to look for is a twisting in the track. The track can be in gauge, but still throw the cars off because there is a small twist in the track. It doesn't take much to derail something, especially a larger 6 axle locomotive or a long steamer. A twist of as little as .030 inch in 12" can potentially cause you problems of stiffer cars and locomotives. Adjust the trucks on your cars so one is just tight enough to turn, but not wobble, and the other one having plenty of slack to allow the truck to wobble. That will help the car to negotiate the twisting track. I know I've fought twists in my track and ended up shimming some sections so that everything tracks perfectly. I used 22 gauge wire for my shims. Good luck Faulty track can take all the fun out of running those trains! Mark
