Hello. I am in the UK and very new to model railroads. I decided to build a small N Scale layout to run operations. Well that was a mistake! Months later, and significantly poorer, I still can't get everything to work properly. But I am getting close after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. So I am asking for help here... but... I dont speak the model railroad language, so I need my advice simple and understandable, I am a technical imbecile. Its built using Kato Unitrack, and runs from a White Z21. it appears to have power everywhere, thats what the little track tester tells me. I have an old Kato SD40-2 that I bought cheap off Ebay. I had someone install a Digitrax sound decoder and give it a tune up, and apart from the engine sound being very quiet it runs like a dream, in fact it will crawl to the most remote places on my railroad, smooth as silk, ie no jolting or stopping on turnouts. Happy Days! I've set the motor control CV's for acceleration, deceleration, starting, mid and top speeds, it all work a treat, isnt this hobby great, I am amazing at this. So I splashed out on a BLI NW2 switcher, lovely little thing, when it runs it runs like a dream, but when it crosses a double crossover, or some turnouts at slow speed it stalls. So I cant get to the cars in the spurs without a huge amount of prodding, and I didnt spend all that money to prod my expensive loco. I also bought a Rapido GMD-1, and ran it in as instructed and after a couple of hours it was running beautifully on my loop. As soon as I ran it into the yard it stalls and stops every few inches, on normal track, turnouts and crossovers, even worse than the BLI. I have cleaned my track to within an inch of its life. So why does one (old) loco run perfectly and other (new) locos run like drunken dogs? Any advice would be welcome. Thx.
Welcome! I don't do DCC but you want to be sure the wheels on the locos are absolutely clean. The blackening on the wheels, in spite of it supposedly being conductive, isn't, necessarily. You may even want to try to remove it on the treads. You could try different ways, like using a metal bristled brush in a rotary drill type tool or even a small screwdriver on the treads as the wheels rotate with the loco upside down and powered. Doug
It may have something to do with the frogs (the part where the rails cross each other in the middle of the switch). I am not a N scale modeler, so I don't have any Kato track to test, but those frogs may be unpowered. If the points (the moving rails) are unpowered or do not have good contact with the stock rails (outer rails), you will have a very large dead spot. A large locomotive like an SD40-2 has lots of wheels to span that gap. A small switcher like the NW2 may get stuck on that dead zone that seemed nonexistent to the SD40. Hopefully someone with more experience with Kato track will reply to confirm on deny this. Some other brands of track will have solder contacts on the underside to wire a 'frog juicer' circuit to power the frog. Again, I'm not sure how Unitrack handles any of this in their mechanism.
Thx Mr Trainiac, it could be dead spots, but I did loads of research on Unitrack and this was not an issue I came across, it would be very disappointing if it were.
Don't get me started on Millennials... The SD does better across frogs because it has a long wheelbase and six axles. I'm sure we all agree that it's awfully inconvenient that real railroads use their shortest locomotives with their fewest axles at slow speeds and across the majority of their frogs. But they have problems of their own, and extracting electricity from the track is seldom one of them. Doug's right about the blackening. It does conduct--just not a lot. Real rail wheels tend to shine where they polish the rails (and vice versa) anyway. And breaking a switcher in can lead to better conductivity, provided you keep the wheels clean. But don't expect miracles. Many of us have become accustomed to running switchers through switches a little faster than we'd like.
Thx acptulsa. Ive am quickly falling out of love with my sweet little (and rather pointless ) switchers.
I don't have/am not familiar with the GMD-1, but I do have the BLI NW2. Unfortunately it is not a very good runner, at least mine isn't. I (foolishly) purchased more than one and have had similar results, they are very stall prone. I have been so disappointed that I have likely purchased my last BLI product. I am using unitrack on a small switching layout and generally most locomotives have no problem with the frogs/stalling. If you are looking for switchers, try Atlas's model of the S-2. These run great for me, they are among my favorite locomotives. The Atlas model of the Baldwin VO-1000 is also a good choice - I only have one of these but it is one of my best running locomotives - it is the ONLY n-scale locomotive I have that will handle an unpowered frog with no issues. Also, if you can find one, the Kato version of the NW2 is a good choice, although the road names this is available in are not plentiful.
I also use Kato Unitrack and while my Kato locomotives run great on them but some of my Atlas and Arnold locomotives get hung on the switches because the pilots set closer to the rails. This does not happen on all of them just a few. Instead of taking a chance of damaging a switch, I find it best to file a small amount of plastic off the bottom of the pilots. But even before I do that I try taking off the shell and reseting it on the chassis and that has worked a few times, (I guess the mounting areas inside the shell can get wore over time). Also on a new locomotive the wheels can sometimes have issues due to the plating use to blacken them and cleaning this off or running it over a period of time will also help. I think sometimes wheels can also have a coating of oil from being handeled at the factory during assembly. Also someone complained that they had stalling issues with their BLI NW2 because the gears came overlubed and got lube on the contract strips above the trucks and after cleaning off the lube it ran fine. I really hope things work out for you with this locomotive as they are really a great looking switcher. Ralph
So... The Kato turnouts are what is referred to as "power routing" This means that they will send power through whichever leg is selected. This will allow you to park locomotives on a siding in DC and it will stay stopped, until one of the switches is thrown to the siding. That being said, you will need to feed both sides of the switch with feeders if you do not want them to stop the flow of power, and make sure the polarity is the same from all angles. If you are unsure, take a box car and put a piece of masking tape on one side. That is the "A" or #1 rail, and push it around the layout making sure that the feeders are all the "A" or #1 feeder. If you are using the Kato wiring system this will be easy to fix as you can just move the rail joiner to the other side, or flip the feeder track as needed. As for the locomotive. Most new engines need some time to "break in" or "run in" which ever you call it. Set the loco out of the yard, and run it with 3 or 4 cars in tow around the track in a continuous loop for a few hours at a medium speed. I usually give my engines about a 20% throttle for this. Just sit back and enjoy the clikitty clack of the wheels on the rail joiners. This will help seat the brushes in the motor, and allow the gears to imprint on their neighbor a bit. I found that after an hour or so the engines will usually run a bit faster than when I started, and also pull a bit better. That better running will help prevent the stalls. Of course there are still going to be times when the gaps in the turnouts are just too much but a broken in loco will handle it much better than a green one will. Also the Kato double slip set is hard on most locos. It is split down the middle to keep the top and bottom track from electrically crossing each other. Coupled with that a set of frogs and a large diamond in the middle. 4 axle short wheel base locos are going to struggle no matter what on it. I have to get my Centram's going at full speed to cross mine.
As an alternate test, try a Volt/Ohm Meter and touch the leads to both rails in troublesome stall spots to see if voltage is carrying through. It's puzzling that neither the Rapido Trains or BLI run well through turnouts.
A few things to add to what others have said. If your SD40-2 runs wells on the tracks then it's not your tracks. Two things can be happening here. Your NW2 is a switcher and have a shorter wheel base so it spans less tracks when crossing a switch and may hit dead spots in the crossover as someone said above. Your SD40-2 is much longer. BUT, having said that, unfortunately put a gun to my head and I would have to say it's your BLI engine. Although you'll get a few "I've had no issues with them", you'll get more of "This will be the LAST BLI engine I'll ever buy", as said above by someone. People have sent back their BLI locos three times (not particularly the NW2) and BLI still can not correct the issues. They have great details but their Paragon decoders and their QC is pretty much a hit or miss, mostly miss. As for the black coating on the wheels, that could also be your problem and may clear things up once your loco is worn in and the coating comes off. BUT(!), never never ever use a wire brush or screwdriver to take the coating off!!!!!! Doing that will put minute/microscopic scratches on the wheels and they will just end up picking up dirt and embedding it into the scratches, putting you on a forever never ending cleaning cycle. Just like Massey said, just let them run at low speed in one direction and then in the other direction until the coating comes off. It may take a while but it eventually will.
That's part of it. The brand may be another. The SD40 also has half again as many wheels picking up power. But perhaps the real difference is, a longer wheelbase leaves room for heavier flywheels, and when you're trying to coast over a spot where it has lost contact, flywheels are glorious things.
The Kato switch frogs are powered as per the direction the points are set. There's no dead spots that I've been able to find. They are also hard wired internally but don't take one apart to prove me wrong or right. The exception here is: Unless you bought them used and someone messed with them. Can they short out? Not likely but if the wheels aren't properly gauged that might happen. Your NW2 may have some internal problems. The brass pick-ups or contacts with the wheels may touch intermittently. The same may be the problem with the contacts to the electric motor. Your little switcher may need a cleaning. Lot's of luck and keep us posted.
