This weekend I finished the outer loop of my first layout (an 8x11 C shaped HO layout). The inaugural run of the locomotives was run around there, and all my cars made several trips in both directions at all speeds with no problems, save one.
This derail offender was a Athearn BB boxcar that would derail going through only an Atlas #4 (code 100) through the trailing point. I am assuming that since everyone else behaved themselves going through this points, it is something with the trucks on this car. Being fairly new to the actually doing something aspect in this hobby, I am unsure what is next. I know that I need an NMRA gauge and probably some new trucks, but before buying any new trucks, I was wondering if there were some ideas for tweaking the trucks.
Interestingly, this only occurs with one of the turnouts, not the other 2 on this line.
welcome to the club. It sounds great that you have issue with only one car, fantastic compared to my first trip around.
Yes the NMRA gauge is a very useful tool. As far as the offending freight car is concerned, I would check the trucks for how much play they have. I usually have one truck with a fair bit of play and the other so that it does not rock back and forth in all directions as much. Also exchange the wheels for different ones. It could be that they are out of gauge.
Just as a very useful pointer-go to the dollar store and purchase a cheap plastic sign like “no parking” or “apartment for rent”. They are made of styrene and come in very handy as shives under the track if it is not level.
Russ,First of all you don’t need new trucks…I been using Athearn trucks for years with zero problems.
Exercising bragging rights.
We had a open house at the club last Friday night and all day last Saturday…I had zero derailments in 10 hours(4 hours Friday night/6 hours Saturday) of run time all cars used was stock Athearn BB cars.
Here’s my suggestion…Check the wheel gauge on the problem car as I fully believe that is the problem.
you might want to start a derailment log. when i first started operating on my current layout, i kept a book with car or locomotive numbers that gave problems and indexed that information to the exact location where the problem occurred and the direction of travel when it happened.
i identified the potential problems spots in the track by marking them with tape. i noted which end of the car (a or b) and the nature of the problem.
before long a pattern will become obvious to you and you will know where your attention is needed.
often it is a combination of factors since perfect trackwork is forgiving of imperfect equipment and visa versa.
I have had few problems with Blue Box trucks. Few with high miles have worn out. To check to see if the trucks are worn out, hold it side ways and look at the wheel flanges. Are the flanges straight, or is one higher than the other? Then flip it over the other way and look again. If on one side the flanges are straight other not straight then the truck is worn out. If they are not straight on either side then they are out of gauge.
Funny I saw this post now, I just finished reading one of Kambachs special publications on TRACK. There are alot of really good ideas in there. You might want to check it out, definitly worth the $8.
I will definately look at the wheel gauge. It seems to happen on both trucks on that car. I will also be turning the remainder of the cars (luckily not that many at this time) to determine if any other has this issue in any other direction.
I also need to lay some more track (such as on the diverging leg of the turnouts) to see how that goes …
Brakie, it not the wheels that wore out but the boosters. Of late I only run the trains about 2 hours a day. I have been in this hobby for only 4 years now, for the first 3 1/2 years I ran the trains 40 to 60 hours a week. Plus it is a good sizes layout, around 300 feet of track.
The only problems I’ve ever had with wearing out trucks is extremely heavy loads allowing the axle/ needle to wear the truck side frame. Other than that, even my first BB cars are still going strong some 25 years later. Of coarse the wheelsets have been changed but the origional truck is still solid.
Russ welcome to the club of derailementmania. I have to agree with most even though I am not a gigantic fan of Athearn Blue box rolling stock you would never guess that being I have several hundred of them scattered around the layout they typically run pretty darned well with a few minor tweeks right out of the box.
If I may suggest you start off with a shopping trip to Micromark and Kadee for starters. Pick yourself up an NMRA gauge of course a wheel puller/installer to make the gauge adjustment that quite honestly will be few and far between but they will be necessary every now and then. A coupler height gauges to check each piece of rolling stock, a couple of packs of shim washers from Kadee to make the necessary height adjustments, a scale the check to see if your rolling stock is with in NMRA standards, some form of weight to add to the cars as necessary. You can get as creative as you want here, some guys use penny’s, washers, nuts, lead fishing weights, what ever once their out of sight no one will ever know. It was told to me a long time a go by one of the hobby’s senior statesmen that if one piece of rolling stock passes through a turnout without a problem then all your rolling stock should and there’s no excuse why it doesn’t.
I have found that if you do the simple things like check the weight & coupler height of every single cars as soon as you get it and make a list of your rolling stock inventory and record when you did such you will find that you will have little or no problems with rolling stock for as long as you have them.
I hope by Let the detailing begin you mean work on the cars and not the track work it self. If you check the video clip of the interview with Tony Koester from I think it was last month or the month before about his new layout he mentions that he has had the track work down and running for about two years now and is just starting to get into detailing etc. He stresses to make sure your track work is perfect before you start anything
All of the above are correct and are the common steps to follow. However, a short term quick test would be to remove the offending trucks, and run them one at a time through the turnout(s) with slight finger tip pressure on the bolster hole. you should be able to feel (if not see) the picking that is causing your dirt dives. Some times something as simple as rotating the trucks 180 degrees solves the problem. That has worked for me on occassion, but I’ll be danged if I could tell you why that works,