Can someone please offer me some advice on things to check for on my fleet of locos with almost constant eletrical issues regarding erratic operation/stalling. My track is clean, its unitrack layout. I run Kato & Atlas diesel locos , but the problem is constantly with Atlas and not a problem 1 one with a Kato even though most of the Kato's are much older SD's than the Atlas. I am not knocking Atlas in favor of kato just saying what is happening. I like Atlas locos and the quality with what I thought were vast improvements got me back into the hobby after getting fed up in the mid 1980's. As a example my main unit is the Atlas GP-38-, of which I have 12. Of those I have 4 that are decent running currently. I am spending more time trying to keep 3 or so of the others going that its getting to me. I don't expect them all to be without problems, but.... Of the 2 new ones I bought from the HH NS release both went back to Atlas 2 times, and 1 made a 3rd trip for repair when brand new. In contrast I bought a used Atlas (kato ?) GP35 made I guess in the mid 1990's. This GP35 is not only heavy but when I hit the throttle it runs strong. Many of my Atlas units are great, but they seem to die out after about a year to where they are not worth the trouble. I guess like everything else we are supposed to throw these toys away and start over unless we are gifted with skills to repair them? Its almost always the same problem but I never have success in fixing it once a new unit gets some hours under it they just go haywire and refuse to run worth a Cleaning of the wheels and contacts are done, including but I don't take the trucks apart because I will never get them back together. However I do pull the trucks out of the frame and check for lint or hairs wrapped around gears. Its removed and I inspect the motor. Its the damn contact strips that seem like they are the major problem with all of these locos be they 2 or 3 axle. They are very cheap and never seem to make good contact with the trucks. I think there are a lot of issue with the trucks themselves, I want to say they are fragile but looking at them they are outdated and cheap looking like they are made to have trouble. Testing the motors in the frame or outside of the frame almost all the motors operate fine until you install the trucks and try to run them. My locos look clean even under my 10x mag but damn if they will run worth a hoot. Frustrating because the ones I am dealing with were great when new, however a lot of the units I have purchased in the last year are not running worth a squat and a few of the Geeps have been returned up to 3 times with little satisfaction when returned. Currently its another SD24. When MU'd with SD35 all slow motor it sounded like it needed a upshift if it was a standard in a car it was some kind of whining. When ran solo, it as typical wouldn't move on its own very well indicating poor electrical contact. Take apart and things look good, clean it up, check it for lube and things look good except it doesn't want to run. If this keeps up I am going to dead line almost my entire fleet of Atlas loco's and just keep the few Kato old SD's going. Opinions on why in the world a better more durable way of providing a better connection other than the old contact strips can't be made for 21st century N scale locos? I am thinking that it is more of a quality control problem at the factory than a problem I am having in doing things correctly maintenance wise. My head is getting ready to explode. Thank you, take Care
Amen brother!!! I got back into the hobby after about ten years off in November, and this is my first try at N scale. My first engine was a used Atlas SD60. Ran ok for a while, then started running really bad jerky, if at all. The motor itself went bad. No big deal, it was a used engine. My second loco was a brand new Atlas SF B40-8. It ran just like the SD 60 when the engine was bad. I took it apart, cleaned the trucks, contact strips, absoutely everything, and put it back together. Ran just as bad as before I took it apart. I got this engine to run good once, for about two hours, and in that time, it didn't skip a beat. After that, it ran just like it did before and after that two hour period. It runs like a V8 engine with five plug wires pulled off. I have two Katos, both 6 axle units, and both are brand new. These engines purr like kittens, and will run at any speed, from a crawl so slow that you can't even tell if they're moving, to full speed. My Atlas locos wouldn't run at full throttle, much less crawl around the track. Some members here have also had these smae problems, but other members will tell you that you're insane and that your track is horribly dirty. i have even had offers from memebrs to fix these locos, and for that, I thank you, but to me, it's really not worth screwing with. I'm going to buy one more Atlas loco. It will be a four axle, but if this one is bad, I'm done. I will not buy another one. I'm not going to continue to throw good money after bad, or repeatedly send a brand new engine to the factory or to members here to get fixed. The solution to my problems was to pull the driveshafts out and run them as dummy units. That's all they're good for, and it took every bit of restraint I have to not throw them across the garage and watch them bust into a million tiny pieces. I don't know what the problem is with some of these locos. Maybe I just got a couple bad ones. But the idea that I shoudl have to send back a brand new loco to anyone to get fixed doesn't sit well with me.
