I seem to have problems with dummy engines derailing on switches, I have gauged the wheels to the same as the powered locos and tried all sorts of spacing variations, I have also checked the track and it is smooth, any soulutions?
I’ve had the same problems, esp on Athearn dummies. The problem might be the plastic wheels and the trucks being too light for the weight of the loco (which is lighter than a powered loco but still a little heavier than a piece of rolling stock). Try to change them to insulated metal wheels.
In my old HO days I never owned a dummy loke that I didn’t eventually grow to hate. No matter what I did they just loved switches and insisted on going off the rails at that point. I eventually concluded that the real dummy in “dummy locomotive” was at the throttle and not on the track and I stopped buying them!!!
(Now I know that fwright - we used to call them “Airplane Weenies”) - is going to come up and launch into a diatribe outlining that I had trouble with dummy locomotives at switches because I don’t know how to gauge correctly but I have had very little trouble over the years with powered units!
Today - as opposed to a quarter century ago - dummy locomotives are rare in N-Scale; I have never owned one (not even a B-Unit) but I have seen other N-Scalers who have owned them and they invariably give the same trouble in the same place as their HO brothers!!!
Dummy lokes are not for me; dummy lokes are like pets - they go along for the ride without doing any work (and I have two calicos and a Bichon Frise, all three of which I enjoy immensely) so, please, lets not turn this into a topic on pets.
I have two Dummy Athearn engines and both had major derailing problems. I added a bit of weight to each one and swapped the crappy plastic wheels for some Proto wheels that had cracked gears on them. I haven’t had a problem since.
The derailing problem as been around for years…My suggestion is to try NWSL for replacement wheels.
You don’t mention what number turnouts you are using and if the engines are four or six wheel. It is very difficult if not impossible to get six wheel trucks through a #4 crossover due to the reverse curves. The same idea as an SUV hitting a VW applies. The lighter engine loses and derails. Adding weigt can help but #6’s or larger turnouts are called for as the solution.
I don’t install my own decoders (I know my limits…at least for now), but I asked the fellow who does to dummy a P2K FA2-FB2 set for me and to add sound to the B set. He did, and I have never had a derailment except when you-know-who does you-know-what.
I’m in HO scale, and have several FB unit dummies, mostly Genesis, also some P1Ks and I think an Intermountain or two. I have no trouble with them at all, although all are fairly heavy and don’t often go through #4 turnouts, as the ones I have are mostly in yards.
But I think the previous advice is correct: Metal wheels, in gauge, and sufficient weight are probably the main thing.
My layout has dummy problems all of the time, but I try not talk about my operators that way very often. [:P][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Ron
I have 2 F7B dummies. One came with a metal frame with metal wheels and other came with a plastic frame and plastic wheels. The metal framed unit never gives me a problem but the plastic framed unit was a derailomatic. I eventually puitched the pitched the plastic chassis and put the shell on a gutted F7A chassis with metal wheels. It has performed admirably thus far.
RT
I’m sorry some of my past comments still bother you. They were not intended to, and I apologize. As far as names go, my wife’s previous boyfriend used to derisively call us “flyboys”. Another good friend’s favorite joke was that the only difference between the engines on a jet aircraft and the pilots was that the engines quit whining when the aircraft landed!
I do appreciate your posts and the humor with which they are written. And I certainly have no reason to dispute your experience with dummies. I don’t use them either, because my sidings are too short as it stands. I don’t need to waste what little train length I have on dummies. And early model steam dummies don’t come that way, I have to create them with meticulous attention to bending side rods when installing, or other not so bright stunts.
This is from the person I believe to be the originator of the untraceable short circuit caused by leaving the Kadee coupler height gauge on the track in plain sight.
yours in training
Fred W
I haven’t had problems with my Athearn dummy units. I have an SW1500, paired with a Baldwin S12, and an F7B that usually runs with an F7A. Both run without problems, even on the switches. When I built my current layout, I set my minimum size to #6. Usually, when anything derails, at least at my place, it’s because the switch isn’t thrown right.
The only thing I can think of, is maybe your track is slightly out of gauge?
I mount an old burned out athearn motor in the dummy with the regular mounting pads as weight, this works good and it give a reason to hold on junk motors.
Gaps in switches cause wheel bounce., which exaserbates other problems: weight too light, out of gauge wheels, coupler dynamics - just like any other car being pulled. 1. Dummy B’s (or A’s) can be too closely coupled (for looks) when the diverging turnout curveture needs more spacing (Snap Switches?). 2. Athearn ‘B’ units often had plastic wheels / trucks to reduce costs. Proto 2000 'B’s had plastic wheels, trucks, and frames. FIXES: NMRA Weight, Metal wheels, Longer & better couplers such as KD#36, #46, #26. Just like any other (pulled) car; AND better Turnouts I think you need metal wheels & more weight - and possibly better switches.
Easy solution would be to replace any plastic wheels with metal sets. Then put in some additional weight and you should be fine.
Guys, don’t forget that dummy locomotives have another use that can really add enjoment to the hobby:
DCC SOUND…[:)][8D][tup]
Look at all of the space a dummy unit has! It’s much easier to add one or two “robust” speakers inside of an E or F unit. Even dummy hood units offer some very good potential. Plus, if it’s an “A” unit one can still install the special lighting effects as well.
A sound equipped dummy in a multi-unit locomotive consist would really add some good flavor to the effect[dinner]. Even at low volume, with proper baffling and the correct speakers you can have as much “ooommph!” as a BLI locomotive! (A close friend of mine, who has been installing sound in HO units for his customers, strongly recommends that speakers be pointed downward to maximize low frequency responses)
Tony: Sadly - it just aint so.
A Speaker is a ‘push-pull’ device. In open air they tend to cancel lows.
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Separation of backwave from frontwave - like using the BODY of a ‘B’ unit - allows more mid & lower freqencies via Baffling (aka front/back separation).
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A 1" Speaker speaker producing lows cannot move enough air to vibrate the membrane in our eardrums, even if lows are present. - In headphones - yes!
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Pointing the speakers downwards to the roadbed, disburses the sound in all directions. When the speakers backwaves exit through open grills (such as IM, Genesis 'B’s) the soundwaves use the sides for separation (Good). That ‘Sound Car’ can be added to any consist.
For 'Hood units, upward firing speakers through open fans provide the best results because the backwave exits the wheel wells and uses the top and sides for baffling. I like those rectangular speakers. CAVEATE: Seal off any other open fans so all backwave is forced to travel out the bottom and back up the sides to cancel
REMEMBER separating front and backwaves is what you are after for BEST results.
Ditto. Forget that it’s a Dummy Locomotive; treat it like another freight car.
I have a variety of dummy locomotives and have had a lot of experience with derailments. Here’s my list:
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Proper weight is a must, especially with heavy trains trailing, way switching, backup moves, and crossovers.
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Metal wheels in proper gauge clean things up a lot.
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Most of my turnouts are PECO, which I have found to be pretty reliable (though not perfect) in the derailment department. Their streamline small radius turnout has a 22-inch equivalent radius, and it goes up from there. [Humorous downside: PECO flangeways are tight, so plan on doing a bit of filing. One time when I was switching cars I joked that PECO might be building passive hump retarders into their trackwork. Stopped 2 loaded coal hoppers, if you’ll pardon the expression, dead in their tracks.]
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Oddities include the newer 1960s Athearn B trucks where plastic sideframes, metal axles, and plastic wheels worked just fine. I have a few ROCO, AHM, and Model Power units with added weight, cheesey trucks, metal wheels, and deep flanges that also hug the rails.
I still use dummies for picture taking, for visually rounding out consists, for adding ‘multiple units’ to engines that do not double head (in DC), and for absorbing my output of decorated body shells–“I came, I saw, I painted a model of it.”
Rich
Yes Don,
I’m not an expert but am familiar with the principles involved. I over simplified my response above and didn’t detail it with the procedures that my friend ( owner of a computer technology business) uses as it would take up a page. He could give Tony’s Trains and Litchfield Station a very serious run for their money (and he may eventually). But in a nutshell he’s been experimenting with a wide variety of baffling/chambering methods and in most cases QSI’s method of good baffling and pointing the speakers downward have worked excpetionally well. Yes, you’re correct as he told me that the separation of the front and back waves is one of the critical factors for quality sound.
He hasn’t posted here in a long while (CMarchand). He’s been performing some very impressive work for the Suncoast Model Railroader’s Club as far as DCC sound and computer electronics. http://www.suncoastmrrc.com
Well, you have got a couple of options… 1. add some weight over the trucks and go to metal wheels to improve performance. OR… 2. if you are going to go to DCC, use power decoders in the power units and fill the dummy with sound! It’s great! jc5729