Hello! I am new to the forum and modeling trains. Hope I can reach out to the more seasoned hobbyists here.
Currently I am having trouble with keeping my passenger cars on the rails. It seems to only occur when the train is going around a curve. Can anyone offer some advise to resolve this issue?
Back ground on my layout. First of all they are new cars. I suspect I might need to lube the wheels.
They are Walthers Milwaukee Road-Hiawathia cars. I have the Bachmann EZ track.
The real issue with the Walthers cars is the close coupling and the diaphragms rubbing each other on tighter radius curves. Alternate the medium shank couplers with long shank couplers, so that there is some separation between cars to keep the diaphragms from rubbing on one another. In other words, replace the rear coupler on each car with a longer coupler.
If these are six axle cars and you are running them around their minnimin radius curves, they will be very likely to derail. I thought I had laid decent track until I bought six axle locos and passenger cars. They will find any defect.
What curve radii are you using? As someone else mentioned long passenger cars don’t work well on tight curves. These days 24-inch would be considered an absolute minimum by many.
Diaphragm stiffness and making hard contact on tight curves OR…snagging on each other on tight curves
Trucks not swivelling properly due to contact with parts of the undercarriage or with screw-contacts for lit interiors
The easiest cure that is the most reliable on these passenger cars is to lengthen the curve radius out to 66 cm at a minimum. I won’t alter cars with after-market diaphragms, or by changing couplers, or by replacing trucks, so I just go with wider curves. Works for me.
I’m not familiar with these particular cars. Are they properly weighted? If they are light and on tight curves you have two problems that gladly help each other to send your cars off the rails.
My first thought would be the weight or lack of it. Per NMRA standards, a 70 to 80 foot car should weigh around 6 oz. The next thing is your E-Z track, it probably is too tight a radius for these cars, as mentioned by a few others above. I have a Walthers heavyweight sleeper that does not like anything below 22" radius. I had to pull up and relay a couple of curves on my layout that were too tight so this car would run. I am using flexitrack, so it was not that big a deal.
There you crazy Canucks go with your whacky metric system. (I know I know, your BC, not French Canadian, but I couldn’t resist.)
Walthers list the curve at 24" minimum. But in all honesty when I get a really long consist going (6+ cars) sometimes even 30"R will give me fits.
Try loosing the screw on the trucks underneath so they swing more freely. Also replace the couplers with longer shank ones. Reduce your train down to one of two cars and pick out the best runners.
You got that right. It’s almost like a Russian coming in and speaking Russian. All the American readers would go like … “huh”??? Yeah, metric is like greek to folks south of the great white northern border. Please translate for us so it is meaningful!
That said, Selector did bring up somethine people from the olden days woud have already checked, but maybe noobies haven’t. Get an NMRA wheel gauge and check your wheels. Get a KD coupler height gauage and check couplers and trip pins. Check weight. Check interference of body details with truck swing. How loose or tight are the trucks screwed in? Those are all “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvy used to say.
Curve radi is basic. If you go with those train set curves, the usualy suspects being 18 and 22 inch curves, those are going to be like anathama to passenger cars. The bigger the better.
It’s also good to be aware that when min radius is specified, it may vary somewhat fro what’s listed. My experience with Walthers passenger cars is that 24" min radius is close, but often a few inches more is required to operate without some slight modification. Usually, trimming the frame to increase truck swing a little as the recommend for below 24" min radius actually is needed for below 26" min radius. Tolerances are tight enough under today’s detailed passenger cars that they don’t quite do 24" even when listed as a minimum.
Yes. Appears that is extactly on the box on each of the passenger cars.
That is very dissapointing, as my curves on my layout are 18" radius. Seems as if I spent a lot of money on track that I can’t use, or cars that I can run. I imagine that I would need a lot of area for running my cars on curves that are 24" radius.
Crandell pretty much nailed all of the issues. I have about 50 of the Walther’s cars, and have developed a procedure for dealing with each of the problem areas. This process gets done to every car before it even sees the layout:
Disassemble each truck, then ream out the journals using a truck tuning tool. It is a good idea to have two of these, one for plastic trucks, one for metal. Make sure to clean out the metal filings. Put one drop of oil on a Q-tip, and then apply it to each journal. Wipe the journals with the clean end of the Q-tip to remove the excess oil.
Check the wheel gauge before reassembling the truck. After reassembly, make sure each axle has some play and rotates freely. Gently file the top of the screws that hold the truck together, as noted by others, there are burrs that must be removed.
Check the wheel gauge before reassembling the truck. After reassembly, make sure each axle has some play and rotates freely. Gently file the top of the screws that hold the truck together, as noted by others, there are burrs that must be removed.
Make sure the truck sits flat and level, if not, shim using washers until it does.
For the bottoms of the cars, as I have no interest in lighting, I remove the metal strip and replace it with strips of styrene of whatever thickness is needed to achieve the required truck/coupler height. Some experimentation is needed, no one size fits all. File the styrene flat and make sure the edges are smooth.
Reinstall the truck and make sure it rotates freely; on some of the cars, the brake cylinders on the trucks would hang up on the skirting. If that the case, file either the skirting or the brake cylinder unti
It’s not just us crazy Canucks. A few others think Metric makes more sense.[(-D]
Countries not using the Metric system
I am fine using either. I find millimetres so much easier when building scratch built things in our tiny scales. I also will try to answer a persons question using their system, I just think it is a polite thing to at least try and do. Our OP has a German name (Devil Dog) and does not say where he is from, so I think Crandell using Metric measurements was quite appropriate.
(I know I know, your BC, not French Canadian, but I couldn’t resist.)