Recently I somehow started repairing older locomotives for myself & others as well. For the N scale locomotives I tacked a simple loop of track to a piece of plywood that I can just set up on my workbench so I can just let one run round the track while I work on another. This afternoon I was running an Atlas SW1200 while working on an old Trix. Well the Atlas ran pretty good for awhile and was pleasantly quiet but then started running pretty erratic & speeding up & slowing down on it’s own. I pulled it apart & re-cleaned everything, put it back together and had the same problem. Then I tried a different loco that I knew ran well. Same problem so I started looking at the track. I crimped every rail joiner to make sure it was making good contact. Nothing. Then I went ahead & soldered every joint. Still no improvement. Finally the last part of the equation, on a hunch I disconnected the power pack (Railpower 1300) and hooked up an old Bachmann power pack I had laying around. Then every locomotive I put on the track worked the way it should. Never would have thought a power pack would give me those kind of problems. Go figure!
Michael,
How old is that MRC Railpower 1300? Has it gotten a lot of use over time? Did it feel fairly warm/hot to the touch when you disconnected it and plugged in the other power pack? Kinda sounds like it’s overloaded.
Tom
Wouldn’t think that small a load would be an issue, but I’d agree with Tom it sounds like it overloaded. The good thing is that when they cool off, sometimes they reset and can be used again. The bad thing is it might do it again, so I’d keep an eye on it if it comes back to life – zombie power packs? [+o(][:^)] – and not leave it unattended.
I’m not sure how old it is, it came with a box of n scale equipment I bought at an estate sale awhile back. It could’ve had issues for the previous owner that noone knew about. I’ll try it again but if it still has issues I’m just going to toss it. The “train set” power pack I’m using now runs them around the test track fine but has nooooo low end throttle control.
Your not the first person on this forum to have trouble with the 1300.
Interesting. What is the problem with the 1300?
I have five of the MRC Railpower 1370’s, some purchased ten years ago, and none of that series exhibits any problems.
Rich
I said the 1300 not the 1370. Perhaps if you bothered to search the archives you would have your answers.
Jim
A little terse.
Re-read Rich’s post.
Have fun and enjoy the day. [swg]
Lee
I have two of the MRC Railpower 1300 power packs, both of them about 10 years old. The only problem I have experienced is that the directional switch doesn’t always work. Pushing it firmly in the desired direction usually solves the problem.
Hmm didnt realize it was be incredibly rude day.
Check the output posts of the offending power pack for corrosion. We had another thread a few days ago where that proved to be the culprit in a similar condition.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Jim, I know that you said, the 1300, not the 1370 which is the power pack in the series that I own.
My only interest in even replying to your earlier comment was that I was curious what the problems were with a different power pack in the same series. Shame on me, though, for taking up your valuable time instead of bothering to search the archives for my answers.
Once I came to my senses, I contacted MRC directly to ask the head of the company to describe the problems with the 1300. As he angrily hung up the phone, he shouted, “You’re the first person on this forum to have trouble with the 1370”.
Perhaps if he had bothered to listen to me, he would have realized that I was merely asking a civilized question from the person who readily had the answer at hand instead of bothering to search the archives for my answers.
[banghead][banghead][banghead]
Rich
And shame on me because based on our previous conversations, I thought you were being snide.
The number of times I have been rude and terse on this forum, could be counted on both hands, with a few fingers left over. And in every case it was directed at either Monster, AKA big AL or the recently departed SUX. And deservedly so.
I can assure you that my comment was in response to a prior comment of yours, not a random act of rudeness.
Not everyone can get along with everyone, unfortunately.
As far as the archives go, here are some examples, including the 1370, which you seem so concerned about:
http://.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/29520.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/51846/cs655670.aspx#655670
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/58201/727346.aspx#727346
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/192406/2101699.aspx#2101699
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/150561/1667316.aspx#1667316
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/113568/1304951.aspx#1304951
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/105610.aspx
Whatever.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Rich
P.S. I looked at all those links you provided and they all seem to relate to the 1370. I thought you said that the 1300 had problems. Maybe you confused the two?
You are the one confused, which does not surprise me.
2 of the the first 3 are about the 1300. I gave you lots of 1370s due to your own experiences with them.
Well if you don’t want to tell me or the rest of us what is wrong with the 1300, you could at least tell the OP, instead of just saying to him that he is not the first one on the forum to have trouble with the 1300.
Rich
All these posts about power packs, and not one about the track! [^o)]
MICHAEL6792, you said that you cleaned all the parts in the locomotives, but did you clean the track as well? Your origional post said nothing about cleaning track, and your problem sounds like issues I’ve had with dirty track.
He would not be the first person to have trouble with dirty track.
Do I need to search the archives and present proof of this statement ?
OK guys, cool it or I’m locking this up tighter than the gold vault at Fort Knox. Now let’s get back to a civil conversation.
I think that everyone is focusing on the power pack because the OP indicated that all of the locos performed well when he replaced that Railpower 1300 with another power pack.
Dirty track could certainly be an issue, but so could crud on the wheels.
Rich