If you’re running track power, can you run in the rain or just after it rains?
Sorry if this is a dumb newbe question. I did a search for rain, but got a lot of hits for t-rain-s, so it didn’t work real well…
Yes, you can run in the rain. Wet track gives less traction, you may have to lighten the load.
Damp weather also causes wheel slip under heavy loads.
I run in light sprinkles, not downpours as I am careful not to get any electronics wet.
If you have a non-electronic engine, it can be run .
Sure. It works fine.
[img=left]http://www.trains.com/community/forum/icons/smilies/icon_smile_sign_oops.gif[/img=left]One caution. Don’t step on the track with your wet, bare foot. It’s an exhillerating experience.
![http://www.trains.com/community/forum/icons/smilies/icon_smile_sign_oops.gif[/img=left]One](http://www.trains.com/community/forum/icons/smilies/icon_smile_sign_oops.gif%5B/img=left%5DOne){kind=link}
I’ve got an Aristo 0-4-0. Guessing that counts as electronic?
and make sure your power pac and rc unit are protected from the rain! They don’t like wet feet, or even a sip of water!
Yes that is very important. Also, if your rolling stock has metal wheels, don’t leave them out in the rain for long periods of time, or the axles will begin to rust.
I guess to clarify, what would be considered a non-electronic engine?
An engine that runs on batteries or live steam.
Not exactly! An engine that runs on batteries probably has a R/C receiver --which is electronic—somewhere. A Live steamer, if R/C controlled—has electronics.
So, to clarify, I think the best advice is to say “You can run in the rain if…”
a) all electronics in the train are completely sealed from weather
b) all power packs and related train controls are stored in a dry area, preferably using the famous LGB “signal man” method—controller outdoors and transformer indoors. Aristo Craft also makes such a setup, I think Bridgeworks does also.
c) the rain is not a heavy down-pour
d) you are wearing proper feet protection : ^ )
e) there is no chance of lightning striking your pike
any more suggestions?
Cheers,
Thomas M.
No, that about covers it. Run in the rain all you want to, we of the Garden variety (pun intended) are not whimpy little HO scalers but real model railroaders. If a full sized train runs outside in the rain, then we run outside in the rain.
Just to bring up safety again, DO NOT run the train in a lightning storm, or even be outside during a lightning storm, this is a very STUPID thing to do. I’ve been on the recieving end of lightning strike and I’ll tell you it’s nothing to play with. Just wait it out and you’ll be fine.
Awesome! Thanks for clarifying that folks! Don’t think I have much to worry about the rain in Texas, but I was just curious to know what the deal was.
So, now I just have to explain to my wife that I need a live steam engine… 
Yes mate;
Jack is quite right, run in the rain all you want; but of course you may well get problems, particularly with the electronics.
We get Monsoons here and i stabled my ICE train in a tunnel; a wall of water came througfh and took the decodrer out of one end.
The idea of what is or is not an electronic engine is pretty simple, if it has a printed cuircuit board in it it is electronic.
The only truly electronic engines i have seen are all LGB, a decoder or a digital sound system will be knocked around by water!
Rgds ian
If there is sound, it is electronic.
The newer Aristo models (SD-45, dash9, and some steam engines) have electronic control of smoke and low voltage lights. These should not be run is a hard rain, they need to be sheltered.
Even the age old Bachman 4-6-0 has a sound board in the tender that needs to be kept dry.
The LGB toytrains to date have no electronics.
If an engine has 5 volt lights, sound, or 5 volt smoke units, then there is electronic hardware inside that will not like getting wet.
Was visiting the Polehill’s garden in Lena IL a couple years ago when a cloudburst came. The transformers were under the porch roof, so it didn’t rain on them. We just turned stuff off and ran for shelter.
When it was done, we just started up again. My 0-4-0 was out in the rain with everything else.
Then we noticed the forgotten Heartland Trolly that had been going back and forth through the whole storm quite happily.
Love the paint on that 0-4-0!
That’s road rash, not bird splat on the tender[;)]
Actually I didn’t even notice that. I like the green and brass colors with the white line down the side.
Gee Torby, I thought you were striving for a new level of realism! After all, the seagull don’t care if its 1:1` or 1:29; He’s just flying along doing his thing!
Ah yes, then there was the gent who had a garden railroad in his back yard and his pet sea gull never defaced any of the rolling stock.
One day he noticed his pet had a friend - which has nice because one good tern deserves another.
Art, the pun lover who believes it is better to have loved a short girl
rather than to have never loved atall.
I saw a dromedary when I was in Iraq whose fur was an amazingly close match in color to the desert sand, and he was almost impossible to see. The locals called him ‘the invisible dromedary’, but in reality he wasn’t invisible; he was just really well camel-flaged.