Rick, my eyes aren’t so good and I don’t see a screw do I have to remove the turn out, because that is a problem. This layout is a real pain to take apart. I know because I’ve had to do it a couple of times.
OK, never mind I found my magnifying glass and I see the screw, but I don’t think I have a screwdriver that small, but I will give it a try. Thanks.
First Unitrack is almost bullet proof - very reliable. Unless there is some physical damage to the Unitrack your problem is almost certainly with one or more cars. The guys suggesting adding a straight section have a point, but if you look at the geometry of the Unitrack there is maybe a half a car length of straight track built into the turnouts so lack of a straight section is probably not the problem. If that were the problem it most likely would be derailing the locomotive or the first car or two. In the photo the loco and four cars had passed the point before a car derailed. Since you have the same thing happening on the crossover and a turnout also says it is most likely a problem with one or more cars and not the track. You say the Atlas tankcars and Kato locomotive and your Kato passenger trains work okay That also tells me the track is fine - In general terms when you have a derailment you should make a note of which car (or cars) is involved. If you have another derailment if the same car (or cars) are involved, set that car aside and run the rest. Most of the time the train will run successfully because the problem is likely with the car you removed. From the picture it is hard to say for sure that the cars have Accu-mate or Micro-Trains trucks and couplers. If they have Micro-Trains trucks and couplers you were given some bad advice about removing the trip pin, MT couplers have to have the trip pin to hold the coupler together so that the train will stay coupled - they are not just for un-coupling!!! As for adding weight to the ModPow hoppers it will likely help - Model Power and Bachmann cars usually are too light to run without derailing. But still check the trucks and couplers that the truck pins are not too tight (or too loose) and check the coupler trip pins with the cars on the track you should be able to put a piece of thin card stock (about the thickness of three file cards - or business cards) on the tops of the rail and the trip pin should not touch the cardboard. Again unless the Unitrack is physically damaged it should be the most reliable track you can use!!!
I was thinking about what you said, so I took a closer look at the wheels with my magnifying glass and they look like pizza cutters compared to the Bachmann wheels. It plainly reads Micro Trains on the trucks. Do you think that maybe the wheels were swapped out with pizza cutters?
N O P E...not true!! I run all MT's I have N O trip pins in...never a derail or accidental uncoupling...ever !! :tb-mad: .
Johnny, I don't post much here, but I have been running a double crossover for a while with no problems..... except with pizza cutters. I think a lot of folks don't run #4 turnouts so they may not have run into this, but I have to switch all my rolling stock to low pros to get them to work with the Unitrack #4's. Before I made it a policy to switch out everything to low pros, I did have a few derails at the double X. Can't be positive from the pic, but if your cars have MTL trucks, they probably have pizza cutters, unless the previous owner swapped them out with low pros. I have had derails from low pins, but that is pretty easy to diagnose by running the car across the double X with your finger on it and feeling for a catch from the pin, but my money is on the pizza cutters. I would get a package of MTL low pros and swap a couple of cars out to see if that does the trick. The pizza cutters and the track geometry may be what are causing the derails, and the low pros may take care of it. Good luck, Todd
Thanks Tod I noticed that the photo I took looked a little different than what I saw so I put all 8 cars upside down in a row and discovered that I have two different set of trucks and one truck even has two different wheels. On one side the wheels are real wide and the other is narrow. I don’t know how that happened. Some of the wheels look like pizza cutters and some not. So I guess I’m going to buy new wheels because I don’t know what is what. Thanks everybody for all your help.
Go with Fox Valley Models metal wheels. Not only do they roll well, but they are always in gauge and they also add a little more weight to the cars......
I use Unitrack as well and have no problems. I do have to ask though... in your photo, there's a black stripe on the bottom of the hopper. I wonder if the flanges are rubbing against the car bottom. Maybe (I'm NOT an expert) the flanges are keeping the truck from swinging freely. This could keep the truck from centering like it should and it will cause the flange to pick the points. It's just a guess...
Nice observation John! My money goes on that as being the cause. From everything I've read, FVM wheelsets are the way to go. Happy modeling!
okay sorry to barge in here...but what exactly are "pizza cutters"? I mean I know what a normal pizza cutter is, but wheels come the same way? As in no base on them?
It's slang used to describe the "pizza cutter" sized flanges on certain wheel sets. It just means the flang is very large.
Hey, Mark; Have you used Fox Valley's wheels? Both Bob (PowersteamGuy) and Chuck from Feather River say they're the way to go.
They're kind of expensive, but if they work well, I guess I should start switching over while my collection is relatively small.
