I just recieved a Rivarossi Allegheny and I am having problems with it. It is the new version with sound. The sound works fine, but the engine stalls on some curves and switches. It acts like it is not getting power. I don’t have DCC, I am using plain DC. I have ver generous curves of 33 inches and all my other engines work fine and don’t stall. I ordered an Allegheny, had the same problem and sent it back to the hobby shop and they shipped me a new one. Has any one else experienced the same problem or does anyone have a fix?
maybe well, no, this is a very puzzling problem, with the curves i dont know why i would be do that, my advice, get a amp meter and put it at the trouble spots and see what the amps are.
I haven’t tried the amp meter yet, but I have tried the cleaning of the track. The weird part is that all my other engines, from a PCM Y6b to a Sunset Pennsy A4 0-4-0 work fine through the cruves and switches.
I don’t have the new Hornby Allegheny, but I do have the original Rivarossi from several years back, and I never experienced that problem. Is the plug connection between the loco and tender tight? Reason I asked, is that if the pins are not setting tight in the receptors, there might be a pulling motion that is causing the pins to pull slightly, stalling the loco when it goes into either a curve or the curved part of the turnout. Just a thought. The connector REALLY needs to be set in tight. I’ve experienced this on several BLI locos I have, and this could be the same with the new Allegheny.
doublehead it with another engine. If the 2nd engine keeps running while the allghenny cuts out, its the connector. If all die, theres a short.
I have the older model also, I’ll pop it on sometime, no DCC. Could be poor connector connection to a frayed wire. The only other idea is to look at the running gear and look for any places wheels move around and potential spots it might hit to cause a short.
I got that engine about three weeks ago now, and noticed the same problem right away. Odd, because it has pickups under the rear truck as well as the usual ones.
The is actually my second Allegheny with sound. I sent the first one back because of the same problem. I tried the usual solution such as
Cleaning track
Check to make sure pins are in tender
Check power to track
All my other engine work fine on the track from picky brass ones to BLI and Proto 2000 steam. I have reached the end of the line in terms of finding a solution.
It’s not the connector. My new engine stops at the same place on the layout every time in the one direction, and runs fine until it eventually gets there again. All my other engines, steam or diesel, small or long, run everywhere on the layout without so much as a hitch.
I have the first release of the new Allegheny (the one with no sound but DCC ready) and it runs just fine, however I have noticed on the club layout that if I’m running the locomotive in a certain direction the block detection system stalls it (in the same three places every time) because the engine is sitting on both blocks when the system trips and in turn shuts down both.
FYI: The way the system works is that it detects amps/volts in one block and turns of the previous block as the train moves along.
If you don’t have one of these then it sounds like a short in the pick ups on the drives…
A short on the pickups is still a short, and the system would shut down entirely to protect all decoders and its own circuitry. It’s something else about the loco, but not shorting. Shorting causes immediate circuit collapse via breakers. That is not happening to us.