(This has been brought up before but I cant find the thread)
Yesterday I tested my mainline for the first time. 1% grade over all, but with superelevation at some places maybe 1.5%. The staging yard is designed for freights of 20 50ft cars + caboose.
A real bummer when it appeared the “Super Power” Berkshire (P2K) cannot get more than 15 cars (all steel wheels) up the hill, and even that not without occasional slippage! That’s a short local freight, not a fast manifest! Time to insert a ‘smiley’: [banghead].
So, how bad is it? Will I ruin the engine if it grinds its way uphill for 15 feet?
(More test results just in: the Spectrum 2-6-6-2 can do 20 cars (including caboose), the BLI Niagara 28, with a little grinding and grumbling, the Spectrum decapod 15 without slipping (better than the P2K berkshire!!!) , 17 with some slipping, and the trio of P1K C-liners will pull anything plus the chair I’m sitting on.)
Now for the good news: there was enough clearance on the west (downhill) side (where the staging loop has to duck under the kitchen block), I’ve just reduced the max. grade to slightly less than 1% (lifted the downhill side almost an inch, the whole stretcch being 5,5 meters, 15 feet), and NKP 738 just went up with 20 cars and caboose without slipping. YiiiiHah! (add two cars and it slips a little here and there, add two more and it goes uphill slowly, spinning like mad)
To answer an unanswered question here about damage to rhe engine if it slips going up that 15 feet of grade, I’ll give my opinion. No. But only if the amperage it draws isn’t exceeded, which it shouldn’t. It should draw the most amperage just before wheel slip then drop off once the wheels break traction. The only damage I can predict would be excesive wear on the drivers which would shorten the life of the nickel plating on the treads. Adding weight to the engine would give it more traction, thus a higher amperage load and many modelers do this without damage to the loco. Remember, amperage draw is an indicator to how much work that motor is doing and how much strain is on the drive line and gears in the loco. I maintain that wheel slippage is a good safety valve, if you will, to prevent damage. Ken
To get more traction, steam needs to be balanced over the center of the drivers.
Put a razor blade in a bench vise and level it. Put the center of the drivers over the razor blade (obviously without the tender) and see which way it swings. Add lead to the end that needs it to make it balance.
Also, you can try aftermarket rubber tires as seen in MR’s ads.
The most recent Riv. Berk comes with a traction tire (and a new motor)and it will pull 5 or 6 more cars up the 2% grade at the club I belong to than my P2K Berk. Most any HO scale diesel with decent weight will out pull just about every plastic HO scale steam locomotive on the market. But then again isn’t that part of why we see diesels out there in the real world instead of live steam?
modlerbob, desiels cost less money to run and man than steam in the real world.
In the past model desiels ran better than the crappy non-brass steam. A tyco 0-8-0 with a tender drive comes to mind. That is one engine that almost drove me out of the hobby for good as a young adult.
A bachmann GS-4 was really crappy. Not until Broadway Limited did Model HO steam work for me. Bachmann’s Spectrum’s 2-8-0 was celebrated as a fine little engine that can.
But sadly, proto Hertiage steam from Lifelike are wonderfully detailed models but will never be able to pull worth a *** unless weight is added. I own a Y3 2-8-8-2 that cannot put 20 cars over the hill and IT needs a helper.
Wait until you see the Allegheny from Riverossi (Hornby) 2-6-6-6 that is I think one of the strongest brutes in the model world.