I am the proud owner of a new K-Line B&O Pacific #5217! I love the new engine, and my daughter is extremely excited over the new sounds this one makes that my other set does not make.
However I do have a couple of questions. I see that the engine is designed to run on O-31 track, but all I have right now is Fastrack O-27. The engine ran, albeit pretty tight around the corners. I’d like to maybe get some shadow rail track for it, since I like the looks of it.
Anyway, I set up a simple oval just to test it on. The first thing I noticed is that it seemed to run ok, but sometimes it did slow down quite a bit around the turns. I was wondering what might be causing this. Could it be because the Lionel CW-80 transformer I have is not powerful enough for it? It is a lot bigger than my other engine. Or could it be because of the tight turns on the O-27 track?
The other thing I noticed was the bell and whistle buttons were reversed. When I hit the bell button, the whistle sounded. When I hit the whistle button, the bell sounded. Not sure why this is happening, unless I (intelligently [#wstupid]) have the wires on the track backwards?
Pacific ya say, them locomotives have a long wheel base and (depending on the particular model) have the POTENTIAL to run on 0-27 curves. Now if it is slowing down on your curves, chances are that 0-27 is just a tad (and a half at the most) too tight for this loco. Probably the best thing to do here is just break down and by some 0-31 curves. No need in doing something that might damage a good engine.
Also, slowing down on curves is typical of long engines on sharp curves. Also, it sounds like you need to reverse the wires at the transformer if you want to get correct bell and whistle.
I can help a little .FasTrack curves are 036 not 027 so that takes care of that,. If you reverse the wires to the track the bell/whistle buttons will work in the correct order. Hopes this helps some.
I’m pretty new here but according to the Lionel information FasTrack is a 36" curve so there shouldn’t be any problems navigating the curves if you’re using FasTrack unless the engine requires a larger radius. If it is the engine on page 7 of the K-Line by Lionel 2007 v1 catalog then it should be able to run on anything from 31" and larger (according to the intro by Jerry Calabrese). I don’t think that would have anything to do with the slowing down issue. As for the other issues I’ll leave them to the resident experts.
Just thinking out loud, depending on the size of the oval and at what points the engine slows down you might just need some power feeders to get equal power to the four quadrants of the oval (this is what I do with tubular track so I do not know if it would be the same for FasTrack) by dividing the oval by 4 and running power to each point. I can’t think out loud about the whistle/horn issue because I would not know where to start.
Thank you guys for all the replies. I’m always amazed at how quickly folks help out here.
First off thanks for the tip on the Fastrack. I am not using tubular, I am using Fastrack from my Lionel North Pole Central set and expansions. I don’t know why, but I just assumed it was O-27. I still get a little confused with track sizes.
I will definitely pick up some new track for this. Being a higher quality engine I certainly dont want anything to ruin it. Does the K-Line shadow rail come as O-31? I’ve seen some on “gasp!” Ebay recently that was not too expensive.
Thanks also for the tip with reversing the wires. I had a 50/50 shot of getting it right, clearly I got it wrong [banghead]
How about some opinions on the CW-80? Should I look into getting a slightly more powerful transformer? It seemed to move the engine pretty fast, so I dont know if it is really encessary or not.
If you do get some more track you want a larger radius track. I do not think you need it though, given that you said the engine is rated for 031. It is very common for trains to slow on the curves as there is a bit more friction then on straights (that is why people pay big bucks for speed control). Adding a power drop in the curves might help some. You will not hurt an 031 train running on any track that has road bed built in as they start at 031 and go up from there (K-line superstreets excepted).
Again, just thinking out loud. Unless you have another reason to switch to K-Line’s shadow track, the FasTrack should be fine for anything you run. If anyone out there disagrees feel free to set the record straight.
As for the transformer, that depends on where you are going with this. If you’re expanding, looking to run more than one train and incorporate accessories into a layout then you’ll need a larger transformer. Again, if anyone disagrees let us know.
Skullie, don’t blame yourself about the transformer wires. They had a problem with the internal wiring of the CW80 transformer, and the fix was to reverse the wires as you have found out. As others have mentioned, the fastrack should be plenty wide enough for the pacific. One thing you can do to open up the curves a little is in between the curve sections, add a straight section. Also, the availability of K-Line track may be an issue. For me, the Fastrack is the way to go, some would call anything beyond tubular track to be a bad thing. Fastrack does have several size curves so you would be able to make your layout capable of handling any engine. As for transformers, the CW80 will handle a simple loop, but does have it’s limits. Once you decide to expand to a layout beyond a simple loop, I would look into more power.
Dennis
Thanks again for the advice. I’m confused again though. If Fastrack is 36, and the engine says it is made for 31, shouldnt that mean that Fastrack is actually larger than O-31? If thats the case it still looked kid of cramped around the turns. I did in fact add a straight section between curves too. I may look for some larger track anyway.
Maybe from what I read I didnt cross up the wires. I took the oval down. Darn wife wanted her living room floor back. Next time I set it up I’ll see if it happens again if i switch the wires.
Slowdowns on curves aren’t anything to worry about–it’s flying off curves that causes a problem. Another thing you can do is get some wider curves and use them to transition into the O36s. Go O54-O36-O54 instead of O36-O36 around a corner, and you’ll get less slowdown and better operation. Be aware that O48s don’t work for this, but the wider curves do (due to the track geometry).
Skullie, FS comes in 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84 inch diameters. I’d avoid K-Line track until Lionel decides if they are going to continue the line. Otherwise, stock is limited to what dealers have in inventory.
Thanks again for the info. I’ll check my LHS and see what size Fastrack they have in stock. I’ll stay away from the other types for now.
I did not lube or oil it yet. I only ran it about 10 minutes to make sure it worked ok, then it went back in its box. Once I get the right track and plan on using it more, I’ll definitely do that first.
It might be useful to know that Fast Track diameters are measured to the center rail, while the diameter of tubular track is measured to the ends of the ties. So the tubular measurement is 2 1/4 inches greater for O31-profile track and 2 inches greater for O27-profile. The Fast Track numbers are exact; but the tubular numbers are rounded to the nearest inch. For example, O31 is actually O30.534, which is why you will occasionally see it referred to as “O30”. Neither designation was used by Lionel until modern times.
Your engine is probably slowing down on the curves because you need a few more power drops to you track. I place a power drop every 4 feet on my layout. This way you are assured equal power all the way around track. You can either purchase a power section and place it across from the one you have this would give that section of track more power. Or you could solder right to the section of fast track ( the underside has metal tabs to accept sold one on the middle rail and one on the either outside rail ) . Hope this helps.