Christmas is here, and my wife and I were eager to try out a new Rapido TurboTrain model – the basic 3-unit consist of a power car at each end and one intermediate car in the middle.
This model has MRC sound decoders that allow either DC or DCC operation, and we are running on DC using an MRC electronic power pack. The typical kind of DC operation, often described in reviews of such models in Model Railroader, is that you turn the powerpack “throttle” to about half way to get the lights to come on and to get sound going, and the last half of the throttle range regulates the speed range of the model.
Each power car has one power truck, and there are electrical connectors to share power throughout the consist. Dial up the DC powerpack, the lights come on, the turbine engine sound starts up, so far so good. Dial up some more, and the train jerks to a start. This is a bi-directional consist, and it works OK in one direction, in the other direction the lead power truck keeps jumping the track on straight sections. It seems like that one power truck is prone to stalling while the other power truck keeps going – this is OK when the balky power truck is trailing, apart from the less-than-smooth operation, but when that power truck is leading, it seems like it is getting pushed off the tracks when it stalls.
I have tried cleaning the track, cleaning the wheels, cleaning the between-car electrical connectors with electrical contact cleaner, but little improvement. I took the consist off the rails, supplied power to both power cars through the between-car connectors – the wheels on each power car seemed to spin OK at roughly the same throttle setting. But placed back on the rails, the same erratic running.
The train also slows through an insulated-frog turnout, even though the lights are not flickering to indicate any loss of electrical connection.
Do you suppose the problem is “consisting” in DC operation and the model would r
There is an issue with these units. Rapido says to check to make sure the grease has not gummed up in the trucks (by removing the bottom cover plate) and replace it with a suitable lubricant.
Also, a lengthy break-in period is required for slow speed performance. Take a look at the Rapido web site, there should be an artical about this issue.
I’m the owner of two of the Turbo’s, a CN and a VIA so I know exactly what your talking about with the erratic performance of them right out of the box. My first one was very poor running when it first come out of the box. After about 3-4 hours of run time it now runs great, like David said, it needs to be broken in. The slow speed was poor out of the box as well but after the break in it now crawls nice and slow. As for the derailing issue I don’t know. Have you checked to make sure the wheels are gauged correctly? They truly are beautiful models and with a little bit of run time your going to really enjoy it.
I guess I must’ve missed the details in earlier postings…
These turboliners have MRC decoders? Good grief; I wonder why Rapido owner, Jason, chose to go that route considering MRC’s reputation with their decoders.
Jason Shron, owner of Rapido Trains owns the CanModelTrains Yahoo Group, and has supplied a lot of info re the Turbo train and other projects of theirs. I think he mentioned they chose MRC for the sound decoders because they could be programmed with their own sounds rather than using MRC’s.
There have been several posts from owners of the Turbo train, with suggested fixes to some of their problems. One was to replace the wheels with traction tires with the supplied ones without. If I recall , several posters reported the train ran a whole lot better on the plain wheels, through turnouts and such.
They also offer phone in help, where they will guide you through steps to get them running right. Jason was a modeler and VIA Rail enthusiast before he started the company and he/they seem to be doing whatever they can to make sure things work.
O.K, I understand but MRC.is notorious for poor motor control. Plus do not the other sound decoder brands also offer that option, such as Lok Sound and Digitrax, via a programmer?
But, what’s done is done. I may be brash or mistaken for stating this opinion…but putting MRC decoders into these beautiful turbo trains is like installing lawn mower engine in Corvettes.
Yesterday, I went to the train room to get some more break-in time on the TurboTrain, and one of the power cars would not go at all.
After reading the suggestions about the bottom cover on the power truck and the grease, took that power car to the workbench, took off the bottom cover, grease seemed fluid enough, thought maybe the mechanism jammed – perhaps a stuck worm, couldn’t get at the worm to turn it. You know how this goes, pried loose the underbody “pan” from the shell, was able to check that the worm turned freely, but managed to break off a third-rail shoe detail (US TurboTrains were “dual modes”) in the process. The interesting thing is that the drive motor pretty much fits in the turbine bay area in prototypical fashion, and the Cardan shaft drive (double universals at the ends of a prop shaft) also follows the prototype mechanical drive.
Oh, and a person has to be really careful not to snag those windshield wiper details. My modeling experience has been pretty much limited to bullet-proof Athearn models with molded on details, and it is a learning curve for me to handle this model.
Put the power car back in the train, nothing doing, front power car spins wheels, back power car stuck. Fiddled with the “garage door opener” radio control for decoder functions, did something that activated the “Turbo shutdown” sound. Powered the trainset up again, and voila!, both power cars were turning, and the station announcement was in the Canadian French-English Montreal bilingual mode I had been unsuccessfully trying to program the day before (I thought the bilingual station announcement was cool when I heard it on the Rapido Web site).
That derailing problem I mentioned earlier appears to have to do with a slight low spot on my exhibit layout for this train – guess I need to do more track tuning. But the pr