Two days ago I bought an MRC Railpower 1300 powerpack. As soon as I plugged it in, I noticed that my locomotives moved very jerkily along the track. Is the problem in the power pack, the rail, the locomotives, or a combination of the three?
Thanks.
Dirty track and dirty locomotive wheels is the most likely cause of jerky operation. Clean your track and wheels and it will probably run much smoother. A faulty power pack would not be likely to cause jerky movement of the locomotive. If you’re using sectional track such as Atlas Snap Track, Bachmann, or others, your rail joiners may be loose, too, and causing poor electrical conductivity. The way to determine if this is the problem is to jiggle the track joint where the locomotive stops. If it takes off again, you have a bad rail joint and need to replace or solder the rail joiners.
Did you check the terminals to the new power pack and down through the connections to the track. Not likely, but if something is lose, jiggling may cause intermitatance. Dirty track and wheels is much more likely. If a good cleaning does not solve the problem, lets talk more. Very weird things do occassionally happen.
If your locos operated well immediately prior to the use of the new power pack, I would suspect the pack or your seveal connections from it to the track. If you had not operated your locos for quite some time, and the new pack was the item needed to get you running again, then the locos are likely the problem as mentioned, including dirty pickups.
Weak track connections in sectional track is also a possibility, as already pointed out. Locos may break weak connections as they impose their weight on them.
Simple test: re-install the old power pack. If the problem disappears, it’s the new pack, if not, clean the tracks and wheels. If you still have the problem,start checking the wiring and track joints.
One of those areas will be the problem-causing spot. Do the easy stuff first, then progress to the harder stuff. It’s a lot harder to fix loose rail joiners than it is to change packs or clean track.
Darrell, quiet…for now
Well…thanks for suggesting an older power pack, but this is my first one.
Also, I noticed that the train seemed to re-start if I touched the track. Could this be because of bent and/or dirty rail joiners?
Oh, also, do you think it could actually be the brand of Locomotive? I’ve got a Life-Like GP-38(not Proto 2000) and F40PH. I know there not the best locos, so could the problem be in the locos and not just the wheels?
Thanks again.
If just pushing down on the track gets the train running again, you probably have a faulty electrical connection in the track, either the wire running to the track or the rail joiners connecting the track. Reconnect the wire to the track and check all track joints for a tight fit.
If you are pushing down on the loco and it starts to run, then the problem is dirty or oxidized loco wheels or bad track connections under the loco. Cleaning the wheels should clear up the engine problem. Cleaning and inspecting the track should fix a problem there.
If you bought the pack at a LHS, take the pack and one or more of your locos down to the LHS and see if they will run your loco on their test track using your power pack. I suspect that everything will work fine at the LHS, indicating a problem in your trackwork.
If you understand that the power is delivered from your power pack, through wires to your trackwork, along the trackwork and through the rail joiners, up the wheels of the loco and into the motor inside, then you can check each of these areas where power is transferred from one area to the next and locate the source of an electrical problem. Any point where power is transferred is a potential problem spot. For example, you have one connection from each terminal on your powerpack to each wire, another connection from each wire to the each rail of the track, one connection from each piece of track to the next piece (in BOTH rails!), and so on. Finding the problem is a simple matter of tracking down which area is responsible for the problem.
It can be a tedious chore to track down the problem, but it is not difficult to do.
Good luck.
Darrell, quiet…for now
Cutter,
Questions to ask you:
- Am I right that this is the first time you have run this particular locomotive on your layout?
- What locomotive (i.e. manufacturer/type) are you running on your layout?
- Did you get this locomotive as part of a train set?
- If you pull apart any two sections of track, do they slide apart really easy? Or does it take a litle bit effort (moderate resistance) to get them to separate?
- If you rub your finger on top of the rail at the joints, do you feel any unevenness?
Cutter, you could have dirty track, or your rail joiners may be too loose. Anyhow, if answer the above questions, that will help all of us narrow down what the problem might be. BTW, good choice on your power pack selection. MRC makes a good brand.
Tom
Tstage,
1.Yes.
2.See my last post.
3.These locos were bought individually.
4.They slip apart really easily. Hmm…
5.The track seems to be relatively even.
Does this help?
If the track is second-hand and/or many times assembled and disassembled, the chances are very good that the joiners have become splayed…and your fourth response above suggests that it must be the case. New joiners cost pennies, but you can salvage the old one by using a fine punch or flat-tipped screwdriver to tap the flanges of the joiners flush against the rail bases. You can even use needle-nosed pliers. If doing that solves the problem, you are on your way after 6 minutes of work.
You would be well advised to consider soldering as many joins as you can to ensure continuity over the long run.
If you don’t like to solder joints [I never do], put a drop of Rail Zip on each joint to improve electrical continuity. I treat each joint about 3-4 time a year, and I seldom have electrical contact problems.
Cutter,
Pick up a new package of rail joiners - about $2-3 at your LHS. That should take care of your problem you’re having. After you’ve done that, clean your track and the wheels on both your locomotives.
Cutter, in the future, whenever your track slides apart easily, it’s time o replace the rail joiner at that junction. There should be not too much but a slight amount of resistance when you pu***he track sections together or pull them apart. Keep us posted whether that takes care of the problem for you or not. [:)]
Tom