[soapbox]I Hate it when Trains jump the track!!![soapbox]
um… OK
Do they also DERAIL?
YES!
I never seen jumping trains before! But seriously, do you put weights over the axels inside the cars ? It will help keep the cars on the track better if you put a little weight over the wheel trucks inside the car. You can use pennies(2 or 3 over each axel) or small split-shot or other weights made for that use. Also look at your track to make sure you have no bad spots that could cause a derailment. Turnouts(switches) are also trouble spots to look at too. Good luck!!![:D]
Its not my place to run the train, the whistle I can’t blow.
Its not my to say how far the trains allowed to go.
Its not my place to blow off steam, or even clang the bell.
But let the damn thing jump the track, and see who catches hell [:D]!!!
So, well but…anyway, I had this layout that Bill Shoppe designed, You’d call it “Layout Doctor.” Dec. 1970 RMC. The initials T.K. are at the bottom left hand corner, so It’s safe. I came up with a couple of GP38-2’s my trucking roommate had wanted me to detail as SBD units. (He had the 3 Athearn units, and wished them renumbered). When Ole’ 8 ball, went to California, on a citrus tanker truck, out of Dade City, FL… I had found a new set of Micro Scale Decals, w/Floquil CSX paint. We had sixteen MDC 3-bay hoppers in various CSX and SBD paint schemes, and…so I (of course) styled the two remaining Geeps in CSX yellow nose 2, which I figured everyone would like, CSX2534, and CSX2663, which switched the Miller Dist. at my area, in Carters, FL. And so. I checked the flanges, by NMRA gauge, on each truck, and set, the truck screw to allow the truck to pivot, but not drop, (just allowing the tilt of the car), and lubricated the KD#5’s with graphite, to pivot and couple, and experienced no derailments. And this was on a supper-elevated layout! Boy, was eight-ball hot, whenhe came back! Add to this NMRA waited cars, and see the results, the ony other item, shall be the quality of the trackwork, which is your research, will figure. Don’t use anything that won’t work, 'cause it will kill your motivation. Enjoy Your Hobby! ACJ.
It’s called lack of maintenance,ok!
BNSFrailfan.
What are the top two reasons real trains “jump the track” (not to get to the other side) but because the trucks are screwed up or the track is screwed up. Putting more weight in the cars is a cheeters solution. If the track is laid to scale prototype curves and grades then the only thing left to check is to see if the track is in gauge and if the wheels of the offending rolling stock or locomotives are in gauge.
A cheaters solution?
A light car may derail in a consist, especially on curves and trunouts, regardless how perfect your track may be.
Somethings we need to know. What radius of track are you using? What type of Loco’s and cars. Type of surface and roadbed would also be nice. True good track laying skills and weighting cars is a good practice but if you try to cram a Proto 200 E8 thru a 15" radius curve something has to give. Tell what you are using.
RMax
SLOW DOWN!
Theres an old model railroader mag that talked about how to prevent this. You know, filing switches and stuff into the right shape. It’s a bit of an older mag so if your subscription doesn’t go back that far check your library. Also one reason I can think of that would actually cause the train to jump would be if the rails got to close and popped the car into the air. (its happened on my layout)
Just a thought about the weighting - real RRs tend to run empty cars at the end of the train for precisely this reason - without the weight of a load they tend to get pulled off the rails on bends. Other things to check include whether the trucks have some lateral movement - they should be able to rock slightly fore and aft and side to side to take up minor track imperfections. The wheels may also be causing trouble - does the car “wobble” when running? if so, the wheels are probably out of true and need replacing with metal wheelsets. Hope this helps!
Ditto to Railroading Brit on the protype thing. Case in point, I heard a few days ago on the scanner, the conductor asking the engineer if cars kick well on a siding where they were sorting cars, as he doesn’t usually run this route. The engineer said usually yeah, but with the light weight unloaded center beam he had next to the cab he couldn’t do it. Moral? weight really isn’t cheating, it’s something the Real railroads use every day, only they call it a load…
Also, try the techniques in this most recent MR mag on your layout. I plan on starting that in the next few weeks.
Noah
Like Noah says read the article in MR, its got some really useful advice to novices and old hand alike. Then go buy a NMRA track gauge if you don’t have one already.
Look to see what derails and where - as a rule of thumb - if more than one car derails at one spot on your layout - suspect the track work. Check it thoroughly. If one car or engince derails at several spots on your layout then its suspect - check everything about the car, weight, coupler height, wheelsets (are they in guage, do they “wobble”?), check the trucks for a little latteral movement, etc etc
Finally as RMax has already said know the limits of your layout. Tight curves and big rolling stock don’t go well together. For example: my layout has tight cuves (22" minumum on the main and 18" in the sidings) an unfortunate legacy of my limited layout space. There are certain items I just won’t run on it as I know they will just fall of at the tight curves, some of my 80’ passenger cars for example.
Did you try looking at the coupler contacts??
I would imagine you could get away with fast speeds if you use code 100 flex track, have it tilt slightly into the curve as long as the curve is at lease 36 inch radius. That is works if you are modeling say TGV or Eurostars but I would have to say for freights, if you are trying to model those BNSF or UP hot shot intermodals that go 70mph at times, you may want to keep the radius over 36 inches…that is of course if that is why your trains jump your tracks.