I was running my DL-109 when the track came apart. When I went to rerail the locomotive, I noticed both traction tires on the front truck were coming off. I would like to know if anyone has had similar problems or is this a freak event?
I have a set of MTH Milwaukee road DL-109’s (A&B).They eat traction tires for lunch. Both the A&B are powered (4 motors). My feelings are the motor RPM’s are out of sync and they put stress on the tires. It’s not such a problem running the A by itself so I’m convinced it has to do with poor motor matching. The A and B were not made in the same production time frame so this doesn’t surprise me. Some say to adhere them with contact cement or super glue. But super glue is hard to remove. Whoever invented traction tires is really to blame. God I hate the friggen things.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. 2 rail locos don’t have traction tires, and pull just as well or better than their 3 rail counterparts with tires. There was a guy over on the Atlas forum that showed a picture of a 2 rail RS-1 without traction tires pulling some 41(I think) reefers without any trouble. Traction tires do help on tubular track, but should not replace proper weighting and a correct wheel profile when being used on flat-topped track.
Anyway, I really, really would not suggest that you glue the tires in place. In an application like this, they are probably acting like a mechanical “fuse”, that is to say they are coming off before something more expensive and difficult to replace breaks.
Ben, you could be right. It’s possible to end up with a motor or two running hotter from the stress. You don’t want too hot and warp the shell so it’s best to monitor these things after cementing the rubber bands.
Using contact cement or super glue is a common procedure. I’ve used it and have not had or heard of any real problems as a result but I don’t hear (or read) everything.
Actually, 2-rail locomotives do use traction tires. The guy with the RS-1 was in fact surprised to discover that his did not have them.