Hello everybody,
my collection of freight cars consist of Atlas, Walthers, Athearn, Accurail and Intermountain. If there are plastic wheels, they get replaced with P2K steel wheels/axles. Unfortunately it seems that for every 6 Intermountain freight car there is one that always derails, until the axles are exchanged. Does anyone else on this forum have the same issues? This trouble does not exist with any of the other manufacturers, but still I find it rather frustrating.
Frank
I’ve never had any trouble with Intermountain cars derailing, although I don’t bother replacing the plastic wheels. Are you using wheels with the proper axle length?
One thing that may cause trouble is the wheels (plastic or metal) rubbing on the brake rods on curves - if your curves are tight, check for interference. You can reposition the rods (best done when building the kit) or cut them off. I replace mine with metal ones and position them well clear of the truck swing - it’s not prototypical when viewed from beneath, but looks fine from trackside.
This is a Red Caboose car, but the principle is the same for most cars:
Wayne
Make sure the trucks arn’t too tight. One should swivel freely back and forth the other should swivel in all three dimentions.
On the Glendale (CA) Model RR Club, we have found that allowing some tilt in both trucks, instead of only one, solved a great many of our derail problems. It also helps to have the cars at least at the minimum weight per NMRA; it seems to add steadiness when the truck wheel raises slighhtly due to track imperfections. And of course there is nothing like track maintenance, leveling it when first installed, and gauging.
Hi,
thank you for the replies so far. The track is leveled and checked with the track gauge. Also both trucks get their respective screws backed off so that the trucks swivel freely. Any brake lines that could interfere with the operation of the trucks get cut, unfortunately some still jump the tracks. So I change the axles out then they run fine. I was wondering if I were the only one with these issues? Intermountain axles are the only ones that give me these issues.
Frank
There may be another cause re: Intermountain axles. Not all axle lengths are the same, and the Intermountain axles may be either too long or too short for the distance between the sideframes. If you have a Vernier caliper, measure the axle lengths of the Intermountain wheel sets and those of your replacements. If there is a difference, it will tell you which may contribute to the derailments. Re-Box, for instance, sells different axle-lengths.
Thank you. I will definitely look into that.
Frank