I have six athearn n gauge bombadier coaches and an atlas GP 40 in GO livery. Because there is so much resistance in the coach wheelsets, I have found that the GP 40 struggles to pull even four of these coaches up a 2% grade and stalls with 5. Has anyone found this problem and if so have you been able to sort it out? The only option I can think of is to double head. Any other suggestions out there. Many thanks.
Here’s the solution they are using at the N Scale club that I am a member of…They are changing the wheels out to either Atlas or MTs.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try.
I’ve gotten the GP40 to pull 10 of them. What I did was take out the wheel set, make sure they are in gauge and that the black plastic tube that holds them is centered I then put a drop of CA on each side to hold the axle from moving again. I then use a very, very fine grit of sand paper and take any edges or imperfection off of that black tube. Then on the truck side clean out any material where the tube rides. I’ve pulled small pieces of plastic and other crap out of that area that would cause nothing but drag. Once that is done I use a little dry graphite grease, pop the axle back in and spin it a few times to allow the graphite to coat the black tube and the truck. And then the final test is to put the car on a 1% slope and see if it will roll. If it does then you are done, if not you may need to add a little more graphite or running it around the layout a bit to seat the graphite a little more.
Now if someone would come out with a mount for doing body mounted couplers I’d be more inclinded to run these with the control cab forward everyonce in a while.
Well, I’ve tried both suggestions and it still won’t make it up a 2% grade with 5 or more coaches. It will pull them no trouble on the flat or 1% but not on 2%! The only thing to work so far is to rest a pair of pliers on the top of the loco then it runs up without difficulty! There are a few spaces in the body I can squeeze in a little lead but I don’t think that I can manage as much weight as is in the pliers!
Have you tried a different engine. Some of the Atlas engines are underweight.
Gary
Great ideas for the fix but there is nothing wrong with doubleheading - they do it all the time in real life.
Have you tried a different engine. Some of the Atlas engines are underweight.
I had a couple of Kato units custom painted in the GO livery -greatly improving the pull - and looks too.
My six axle CP / CN units like SD40 and AC4400 have no trouble whatsoever. I’ve tried a GP 9 and C424 but they also struggle. Double heading is fine but it will cost another loco and chip - mind you, so will geting a different loco! Is there anything out there to kitbash an F59? It looks like the body could hold a bit more weight.
Athearn makes a F59phi in N, but not in GO paint. Haven’t heard too much about Athearn N. I would hope it would be good equipment.
Gary
Well. I finally went for the F59phi and it was an improvement but still would not haul all six coaches. There was a lot of space inside so I filled it with lead (pity as it could have taken a speaker and sound chip at a push). It now pulls all six but the Sounder paint scheme doesn’t quite fit. I’ll need to repaint it but does anyone know where I can get GO decals? They are listed on PWRS website but are sold out.
You say you are trying to pull them up a 2 percent grade, I am an N scaler and can vouch that many locos, Atlas included, aren’t good with grades. My layout has a slight raise on one end, not originally planned just went that way. I need several engines to pull a good size train up, and i do sometimes tend to wheelsets so my cars are not too bad at being freewheeling. I agree that some N scale locos are underweighted, they are certainly powerful enough to move the train. I don’t think it will be a problem if you double the locos on your train. Good luck.
P.S. I know weird stuff happens here sometimes, but I responded to a post that totally disappeared, about renewing suscriptions. I don’t want to open a can of worms if something went wrong, just wondering if anyone knows what happened…seemed like a civilized little talk was going on.