I’ve just laid a wye track/yard area but no power to it yet. I’d like to check my larger steam locos and have been able to hand push them through feeling for any tight spots on the drivers in their present radii. Things have been adjusted and they seem to slide through without any binding or derailment.
Is this a realistic test vs. running them through (once I get it temporarily wired up) under power? (Probably not for a few more days) I will run them before gluing track in place but wondering for now:
Will the movement/action of the drivers make a significant difference and reveal much that the hand pushing isn’t? I’ve been hand pushing a Paragon 2 (BLI) Cab Forward with success so far and wanted to ask about this before moving on to an Athearn Big Boy and Challenger. These are my most finicky locos.
Interesting question. I would think that, unless for some reason the wheels had more or less sideplay when running, you should get similar results pushing or running the loco through. You certainly are right not to attach the track until you havr run them through under power.
I think to do a quick powered run through I would use a couple of wires with aligator clips on them. Since you are doing a wye, it will be a bit more complicated, but should give you a quick power run through test.
I can’t say whether running them through under power is going to be any different, but I would never push a locomotive like that, especially not a Bachmann steam engine – this is a sure-fire way of stripping the drive axle gears or breaking a gear loose from the axle.
Not really sure if this would be the best way to check the trackwork. I have only pushed my locos through dead blocks or to move from a derailment. I generally run diesel and not had trouble doing this. Occasionally a 6 axle will derail when hits a turnout.
I’m sort of “gliding” them through the curves, no heavy handed weight or excessive speeds. i think the gear teeth haven’t been stressed more than a “tich” as I’m feeling for that/excessive forcing, but good reminder for the more heavy handed among us., cacole. Thanks.
I thought I"d read in the past, somewhere that pushing them (especially steam) wouldn’t reveal the “whole story” but haven’t been able to find anything in back issues or the net, so just started gliding so that I could go to bed and sleep last night once I finished laying that track to be sure the redii were broad enough.
I’m going to run some long alligator clipped leads from the powered section (DCC) of the layout on Monday to see if I"m truly good to go. I’m a little short on wye leg length into the room corner’s coved backdrop tunnel (upcoming) but I’m pretty sure a cab forward will fit. Maybe not a Big Boy, but I can start a session with the B.B. on the longer legs and just not turn it on the wye.
Once I get power to that section, I’ll start getting up the courage to cut into the coved backdrop corner. Hopefully the curve (arch) will be strong enough to stay curved after I cut the tunnel hole. I’m thinking with 1/8" masonite it should.
I appreciate the feedback. Maybe it was the gear strain issue that I was dimly recalling from that long lost article/paragraph and it had nothing to do with the driver/friction/radii. Been too long.
I think pulling the loco through using some string on the coupler would be a good way to feel for tight spots without risking heavy handed results of stripped gears or such. At that point the loco drives isn’t getting any more load than it would if it was slipping trying to pull a cut of cars.
The only other problem is if you’re making “Choo choo” noises while doing this with a diesel. But you’re talking steam so it’s ok.
Pushing the loco through will check for the basics. Actually running the train through might still show problems though. When the wheels are turning they can sometimes grab an imperfection and ride over it and off the track. Also the torque of the motor can shift wheels and trucks a little bit, especially with steamer push rods.
Not a silly question, but I don’t think pulling and/or pushing a non powered loco will give you the answers. Look at it this way, when the loco’s powered it’s wheels are turning and whatever free play exists in the drive axles are “loaded” to the sides of that freeplay. In the case of skewed (helical) drive gears the position of the components under load in one direction is not the same as their position in an unloaded state or in the opposing direction. Not only that, but a wheel that turns has a different reaction to an obstacle than one that’s merely sliding. Just get yourself a long set of jumper wires and lay in some temporary power. If you can I’d add some freight cars just to add some pull on the engine. Some engines will crab slightly under load and that would change the equation.
I agree with Lou. You really can’t tell without the torque from the drivers. I know that if I fix a bad spot on the mainline, hand running a car over it will give me an idea of how smooth it will be, but the jury’s out until I run some locos over it. We have a BLI Reading 4-8-4 that among all other things, tests the track on mainline and enginehouse lead repairs or realignments. Her large wheelbase is fickle, and if there is an issue, she finds it. I’d at least temporarily tack on some power and give your locos a run over it.
I have use that method to check 6 axle locomotives on #4 and “snap” switches and find it does show where there may be problems.I then power the track using a power pack and leads with alligator clips and run a six axle engine through the possible trouble spot at very slow speed while watching the probable trouble area…
Pushing a steamer thru by hand. It’s one of those things. If the locomotive derails when pushed by hand, you have a trackwork problem, assuming the locomotive is known to run properly on good track. If/when to locomotive gets thru under hand power, you still have to check the running under power, 'cause there is a moderate chance that other problems will reveal themselves. Your hand may be guiding the locomotive in ways that the wheels don’t.
This is not a step that I do. I lay the track and check it with gauges. Then I run a few cars thru it by hand. Then when track power is available I run a known good diesel thru it. Only after everything looks good do I try long and cranky steamers.
Alligator clips are what I use. I haven’t done reversing tracks but since you don’t need continuous operation to test, you can just stop the engine and move the clips as needed. You could do a little more elaborate mockup with some Atlas components.