Morning, Do your trains run better sometimes than they do at others? Last night I was running my trains, 2 BN GP38-2, double headed and a mixed freight of 30 cars, I ran it very steady for over an hour at 50% throttle and I would guess about 25-30 MPH. I didn’t even forget to throw a switch. Most of the time the same train runs around the 60-65% throttle range.
Those P2K’s are really good running engines, I wish I knew how to shim the gears to make them run smoothe going downhill. Mike
Happens now and then to me too. Not sure why. I try to keep the engines lubed and the track clean, so it might be humidity changes? Just guessing here.
By the way, awesome weathering job on those diesels!
No…Not to brag but my locomotives run smooth and consistent and my cars are free rolling and trouble free.Yours can do the same with routine schedule maintenance.That is they key to 100% trouble free operation…Settle for nothing less.
That’s correct. That’s where I want to be too!
The loco pair that give me the trouble is a set of ER sharks, which are due to be disassmbled and cleaned. I think the contacts may be oxidized. I’ve been running them pretty regularly for 4 years with only lubes and wheel cleanings and a changeover to DCC. May be time to bring 'em into the shop.
For what it’s worth, my Katos run like a dream all the time, any time, as do my Atlas engines.
On the Moose Bay Railroad, the trains are always pretty reliable, but the operator is not. Some days, things go as smooth as silk, and other days he can’t get the trains around twice without mis-throwing a turnout or trying to put two trains in the same place at the same time. Most often, he’s got 3 trains running and tries to slow one of them down, but it’s not selected so he slows down one of the other ones instead. With luck, that just leads to a locomotive coupled on to the tail end of a caboose, but sometimes the meeting is sideways.