Ok…How many times does your Train derail?? Few times a day? None at all…Or all the time?? And if so…why do you think this is happening? Just asking…[:)][:p][8]
Every now and then but it’s mostly operator error.
Same as “Heartland Flyer” but it’s 3/4 operator error and 1/4 crappy track laying.
So, lesson learned for me.
None (or very very little). Always operator error or broken equipment. Track work is smooth as silk.
Many years ago when Linn Westcott was editor at MR he suggested a system for derailments that was excellent. Every time something derailed you put a tag or little piece of paper at the location with the car or engine info and left it. After several weeks of running you checked to see if it was predominantly one car or many. Then you could determine if it was a track problem or a rolling stock problem. I still find that I automatically assume it is the track.
I only get a few, mainly due to operator error (running over switches that are set the wrong way). I do have one car that always derails in a certain place (an old Rail Power Products 56ft well car kit) though that’s probably because it’s too light - running it empty means there’s nowhere for the ballast.
I cannot give an honest answer. I installed re-railers in the trackwork as the layout was built. The scenery now hides all of them. I also installed re-railers in the staging yards in the same manner as shown in the article on page 78 of the July MR. I am certain there have been derailments in the past year, but they are so infrequent that I can not remember any specific event.
A solid track support system and well laid and anchored track coupled with aftermarket metal wheelsets will work wonders in the fight against derailments. I believe if you hurry now, you pay forever.
Tom
One good rule of thumb:
If various pieces of rolling stock derail at the same place, suspect the track.
If the same piece of rolling stock derails at various places, suspect the rolling stock.
I derail about once every other day that I run trains. One place is due to screwy track but as long as I go slow and smooth, I’m fine. I also have a hopper that, thankfully, won’t run a lot on the completed layout. Some of my BethGons from Walthers derail over switches and crossings because of low trip pins. Otherwise, not much.
Reed
Derails are due to switches being closed when they should be open.
Low trip pins on the couplers, poor plastic wheels and a kink in the track. I use those long pins with the colored bead on top, three beads at one spot earns the track a VERY thorough inspection, Rolling stock is pulled until it passes the test track.
Not very often, and mostly because my sectional track is still lying on the table without being “nailed” down.
Andrew
most of mine are operational errors…but i do have a couple of cars that need new trucks on them that constantly derail…they usually stay on the bad order track in the yard until i get time to repair them…I had a curved switch that caused a lot of derailments too…solution?..replace it with a new one…Chuck
I experience a derailment every so often. My real troublemaker is a LL SD7 (in N-scale). It’s a great runner, but it sometimes has trouble negotiating a certain turnout. No other loco or rolling stock has a problem with the same turnout, and I’ve even check the wheel gauge on the loco and it is fine. It just seems to have a love/hate relationship with that one turnout… [:p]
I am now building my 4th HO layout and have learned the hardway to spend lots of extra time in the planning and trackwork stages to ensure that the track is not the source of derailments (except for running into the points which happens to everybody now and then. This time, I’m adding re-railers in my hidden and off-stage yards, tunnels and hidden track sections. Why? Why Not! They are cheap and save time climbing through hatches or duck-unders. Switches can be adjusted to work smoother. I’ve spent hours making sure that all the rough edges were filed down on my switches and that the rails are in guage. I also never believe that my passenger cars or big articulated will pass through an 18 or 22" radius curve without a problem. #1 it looks awfull and #2 it’s a derailment waiting to happen. Stick to #8 switches and 30" mainline curves with easements. Freight yards can use the #4,5, and 6’s because the speeds are slow.
Since my rolling stock varies from cheap kits and RTR all the way up to craftsman kits, I spend a few bucks per car adding properly guaged wheelsets and/or trucks, and kadee type couplers with their pins properly adjusted.
Buy yourself a NMRA standards book, a track guage, a small scale, a coupler height gauge and some train-only tools. The religously check and test each and every car and loco. 90+% of RTR and car kits today don’t come with enough weight to be within the NMRA recommendations. Those that fail stay on the workbench until fixed or replaced.
Don’t go cheap on the benchwork either. If you live in a climate where the humidity changes dramatically from season to season, you’ll be sorry if you use cheap wood. Go with oversize L-girder bench work. Most of my previous trackwork problems popped up 6 months later when the wood base moved (schrunk) and caused just enough track deflection to cause a problem. I’m going for overkill this time by pre-priming my benchwork to prevent this even though my trainroom is climate and humidity controlled t
If your trackwork and benchwork are well built, and your locomotives and rolling stock are up to par as far as the quality of their wheels and weight are concerned, you should have no derailments. At the Cochise & Western Model Railroad Club we have trains running all day long during our open houses, and the only derailments we have are usually caused by “operator headspace” when someone leaves a turnout set wrong or isn’t paying attention to where their train is and runs into someone else’s train.