I was watching a string of cars slowly going through a double crossover, from one track to the other. ( Wathers code 83 double crossover ) I noticed a couple of cars would really wobble when going through the center of the crossover. Later one of the wobblers derailed for no apparent reason. I found one of the wheels slightly out of gauge. I took the opportunity to upgrade the trucks. Now the car does not wobble going through the crossover. I began watching the wobble cars closely to see if they derailed. Sure enough, the wobblers eventually derailed.
So now any cars that come out of my fiddle yard that haven’t been run in a while and all new cars make a pass through the crossover. The wobblers are then repaired. I have noticed a big drop in derailments that make you scratch your head.
Wayne’s comment brings to mind my favourite way to find a car that needs work, or a turnout, or just trackwork in general…show your layout to visitors. Works every time for me.
Actually that seems scientific to me because you are using a “test track” to test the wheels and trucks. The ones which fail get repaired. The reasons they fail your test are the same reasons they derail.
On the other side, I you want to find track that causes derails try running any 3 axle - two truck diesel. I was shocked at what other locos made it through. Be prepared to rip up some track.[:#]
When I really began to accumulate cars in the late 90s (almost all were kit built), I did basic checks before they hit the layout. That included “rollability” down a minimum grade, coupler height and clearance of the “air hose”, and wheel gauge. Couplers were KDs, except where compatible ones were included with the cars.
For the most part, this worked out fairly well, but it didn’t take long before problems arose. The main culprit was “KD compatible” couplers, and I ended up replacing all of them with KDs. Wheelsets were not a real problem, but for rollability and lack of “gunk pick up”, I changed them all out to Intermountains.
Since then, rolling stock derailments - that can be blamed on the cars themselves - are very few, and those that happen are because of loosened (dragging) couplers and a couple instances of binding trucks.
IMO, the trick is to determine if the car or trackage is the culprit when derailments occur. Sometimes its a combination of the two, but mostly its one or the other.
Since I moved to Intermountain wheels, no derailments to speak of unless it is human error. I had one caboose that would derail for no reason that I could find out untill I replaced the wheels, cause most have been them but all the normal checks worked fine on them.
Back in the day some kits had poor wheels I guess because they were meant to be replaced with aftermarket wheels. I have a Mckean centerbeam flatcar which had the worst wheels I’ve even seen. They wobbled badly. They didn’t even look close to being round. I replaced the wheels and trucks with Walthers roller bearing trucks with metal wheels. It was a huge improvement.
Probably less of a head scratcher than it might appear! What types of wheelsets are under the cars that wobble? Were they checked for gauge before going into service on the layout? If they were plastic wheels that were getting worn, or were otherwise of low quality to start, you’re just weeding out the poor performers that are just waiting to cause trouble anyway.
Some of the cars had some really sad looking trucks on them and plastic wheels. A lot of my rolling stock is 1990’s vintage. So I took the opportunity to upgrade the entire truck and the wheels.
The “blue box” Athearn kits of my earlier years almost always produced a smooth rolling car. For the money, they just could not be beat. They still make up a big chunk of my rolling stock inventory, many of them 40 plus years old. Yes, I had to put KDs on all, and later switched out the wheelsets (mainly because the plastic wheels picked up gunk).
Kind of ironic, but the more problematic cars I’ve had over the years tended to be “Ready to Run” and somewhat costly. Go figure…
One way I find derailments is pushing or pulling cars. Many of them do wobble. That might happen from the cars being under NMRA weight suggestions. Liquid nails and flattened fishing sinkers solves that problem.
I have some of these old cars in service too. The original plastic wheelsets tended to wobble even when new, and that didn’t improve with age. With good quality metal wheelsets and Kadee couplers they perform as well as anything.