I have several of the older Locomotive type engines and they run and pull great. I decided that I wanted to get a couple diesel type engines because I just like the look better. I actually have three of them now. One Rock Island and two Santa Fe engines complete with the dummy engines and even some lighted passenger cars. One thing I have found is that these diesels do NOT like pulling a lot of weight around. My biggest issue right now though is when I pull the two lighted passenger cars. Not one of the diesel engines will even make it up my elevated trestle section of track without out running out of power and they run very slow on the flat sections of track when pulling these. That is without the dummy engine attached too. I have cleaned and oiled the engines so they run great and I have cleaned the track too. Any ideas here? I like the look of the elevated sections of track but honestly, it just causes problems so I am thinking of removing them and going strictly with flat track. That is going to require that I tear the whole thing apart again. Arghh!!! Anyways, any advice would be great.
First take a look at this video. One of the first shots shows a Santa Fe F-3 (7) in AA form effortlessly pulling 4 passengers. It appears only 1 of the passengers is lit, hence eliminating the drag that the electrical contacts create on the other 3 cars. Power provided by a ZW.
Also, what wattage of transformer are you using? How far appart are the track feeders?
<<<Michael, We clipped together a few shots of driving trains on this year’s layout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJjNax6Bmmk
We ran Marx diesels for over 10 hours and they performed very well. Bill Lantz>>>
Mike Spanier
Thanks for the reply. Mine pulls like that if I only have one lighted car behind it. It’s that second car that just seems to drag it down. The Dummy units seem to really slow things down due to their weight too.I’m not wanting the trains to fly or anything but something more than a crawl is definitely what I expect.
I have a 50 watt transformer and three lock-ons on that track which overall is probably 35’-40’ in overall length. I switched it to a 10’ section with two lock-ons and it did not change anything. Removing the lighted cars is the only thing that helps. These engine fly without them
There are MANY toy train enthusiasts on this board, BUT, in addition to proper oiling of the wheels I would DEFINITELY suggest a much larger transformer. I will let those who are much better at this provide their explanation.
Mike Spanier
Thanks Mike. I’ve seen 100 watt transformers but they are seemingly hard to come by. At least on E-Bay they are…
If someone can direct me towards a good source for these that would be great. I have plenty of transformers and I wish I could just hook more than one up to the same track…
A larger transformer will help along with oiled car wheels. But they were never designed to pull long trains. A few cars on level track and they run great, put a load on them and they will not respond very well. I did not watch all of that video but what I saw was short forward runs and a lot of reverse. All engines do better pushing a train than they do pulling one.
Depends if you are pulling passenger cars or freight cars. Big difference as the passenger cars have much more drag. Be sure to check out the video I posted of Marx engines pulling power.
Mike Spanier
I checked the video out. Looks like his lighted car is having contact issues and maybe that’s making it easier to pull. I don’t know. With my standard passenger cars it works just fine too. With the Dummy engine and only two lighted passenger cars I am having this issue and it is happening regardless of which track or which engine I use. I am thinking that it must just need more power from a larger transformer as was suggested already.
I know one thing, there is no such thing as just “Playing” with these trains for long periods of time. It requires constant maintenance.
Thanks for the replies and I will mess with it some more tonight after work…
A couple of suggestions…
100W Marx transformers are hard to come by, but larger Lionel and American Flyer transformers will work fine, and are inexpensive. Particularly the Flyers. You should be able to pick up a 100W Flyer transformer for 25 bucks. Bigger is always better. Flyer transformers are less expensive and their voltage range is a good match for Marx. Lionel’s range tends to run a little high.
The Rock Island diesels are actually made by Unique Art, not Marx, so I can’t really speak to those since I don’t have any firsthand experience with them. They look just like Marx, but the motors probably are a bit different.
My Santa Fe diesels are good pullers, but I’ve never tried them on an elevated section.
Make sure the pickup rollers on your cars are lubed, and that your pickup wheels and shoe on the diesel are as clean as possible. I flip the locomotive over, run a wire from the frame to one terminal, and a wire from the pickup shoe to the other terminal of a transformer, get the motor running, and then soak cotton swabs in alcohol and press them to the driver wheels while they spin. Replace when the swabs get dirty, and keep repeating until the swabs stay clean. A clean wheel should be pretty shiny and bright.
Look inside the motor and make sure the copper wiper that rubs against the axles is making good contact. I’ve gone so far as to apply a single drop of Rail-Zip (a conductive oil) to the wiper to improve conductivity a bit. Hobby shops that sell HO and N scale trains and/or slot cars will have Rail-Zip. A bottle costs about $7 and will probably last decades. Barring Rail-Zip, you could polish the wipers with a brass cleaner on a cotton swab to get them nice and clean and shiny, but applying a drop of Rail-Zip and letting it sit for 24 hours accomplishes pretty much the same thing with virtually no effort.
One final thing. Just letting the
I doubt that Rail-Zip is actually conductive, and the manufacturer does not claim it to be. Rather, they say that it “removes oxide and prevents oxide formation”. This is not to say that it is not a good thing to use.
I will keep my eyes open for a deal Lionel or AF transformer. There are plenty of the higher wattage ones out there. That is for sure! Can you do any harm with a high wattage unit? I see some of the Lionel ones are 275 watts!
The transformer will supply only as much current as the train demands from it. The only caution is that your wiring should be able to handle as much current as the transformer can put out, which means 14 AWG as a minimum for a 275-watt transformer.
By the way, the American Flyer 30B is rated at 300 watts, more than its Lionel contemporaries.
Fair enough. I used some last night to revive a Marx 490 steamer. I swabbed down all exposed copper with mineral spirits on a cotton swab, including the commutator. Spin the wheels to expose more of the commutator. Then I waited 30 minutes or so and applied some Rail-Zip to the copper surfaces near the axles. Don’t put any on the commutator–I figured that would lead to bad things and it does, but I had to try it once to see. I tried to apply as little as possible. I let it sit overnight, used a dry cotton swab to mop up any excess Rail-Zip, then lubed it as usual, and put it on the track. It was a little herky-jerky at first but after a few minutes it loosened up. At my son’s insistence (he’s 2), it’s running around the Christmas tree right now and has been for about an hour.
I think my biggest Marx problem for the next month or so is going to be wearing through pickup shoes. But that’s another thing entirely.
Well, for what it’s worth, I switched my whole layout around and wiped each piece of track down before reassembling. The engines are pulling the lighted units around just fine now even with three other non-lighted passenger cars hooked up too. With this many cars behind it I do have to start out slow and let it build up speed or it will just spin the wheels when it hits the first turn. Once it gets going it works perfectly fine. On another happy note I was able to find an awesome deal on a 100 watt MARX transformer on e-bay. The seller actually got it as part of an estate sale and he didn’t even really care how much he got for it. I made an offer and he accepted. It works great and I will keep it as my backup in case any of my others go south on me. Man! I love getting a great deal…
Oh, and the engine pulling the lighted cars around is still hooked up to one of my 50 watt transformers. I did not even have to hook the 100 watt unit up to it yet…