For the past couple of weeks, I have been spending most of my time on a long over due maintenance project, fixing a number of trouble spots on my trackwork and rewiring most of the undermount switch machines due to relocation of the control panels. I hadn’t spent so much time under the bench work since I first laid my mainline track which I began 7 years ago. The difference is that back then, I had just entered my fifties and now I am on my way out of them. In that time, either my bench work has gotten lower or my body isn’t as nimble. Which do you think it is?
One major surprise I discovered was that in a large section of my yard, I had neglected to connect the feeder wires to the bus wires. They were just hanging from the bench work as I’m sure they have been doing for the past 7 years. That’s right, for 7 years, large sections of my yard track was only getting power through rail joiners. All this time I thought the reason my switch engines were hesitating was because of dirty track. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so I did a little of both. I did the soldering that should have been done 7 years ago and test out the switch engines. I was amazed at how they were able to negotiate every inch of the yard trackage at a creeping speed with nary a hesitation.
It hasn’t been easy the last couple weeks and my back is letting me know about it, but the good news is that I have eliminated most of the problem areas of the layout and railroad is running very smoothly and I will soon be ready to resume full fledged operations. I began this current layout after about a 10 year hiatus from the hobby and apparently my track laying skills were a little rusty and it showed in a number of places on the layout. With one exception, those have now been eliminated. The one bugaboo remaining is a 90 degree turn on a 1.5 percent grade where long trains seem to be prone to derail. I have yet to figure that one out. I’m thinking it might be the weight o
All I can say is that by the time you reach the mid-seventies, your 50 year old back will look pretty good. However the maintainance will still be their waiting its turn. I hope that by the nineties, I will find maitainance more to my liking.
This is why it is important to take notes and label thigns as you go along - who knows when you might need to go back and check something, or fix it, or exapand it - and are you REALLY goign to remember that the red wire is 12v DC and the blue wire is 5v DC? I guess I’ve been ‘lucky’ during my (no always voluntary) hiatuses from the hobby - I’ve generally started a completely new layout each time, so no leftover ‘forgotten’ tasks to bite me. Of course thre’s upsides and downsides to both ways.
You don’t mention the radius of the curve. I would check to make sure that the curve is superelevated, you want the outside rail just slightly higher than the inside rail, use a small level across the rails. Make sure the horizontal transition into and out of the curve isn’t too abrupt.
Don’t over look the obvious, check for a bad track joiner or too large a gap etc. Next I would consider the train, how many cars are the limit before derailments start happening, avoid tank cars in the middle or any other light car, keep heavier cars up front. See if the make up of the train is causing the derailments.
I suspect your benchwork and tracks is changing size… I know mine has gotten considerably small , which accounts for the need to wear reading glasses as i work on various things… I recently added a new section and i believe that demensions have changed from the original benchwork , and it gets heavier , my arm were having a harder time holding the wood in place due to this added weight… So , no its not you but the changing times.
There are two questions which I consider very good ones and pertinent to this issue. First of all, the curve I am having trouble with is 36" radius in HO which is by prototype standards very tight but very broad by model railroading standards. Second, I did superelevate the curve. I wish I could tell you to what degree I did this but the honest answer is I did it by eye and just did what looked right. The derailments tend to be having the wheels jump the tracks to the inside of the curve, which tells me I might have overdone the superelevation. Had they been jumping the tracks to the outside of the curve, I’d have thought just the opposite. In any case, I’m still anxious to hear all opinions as to what I might want to look at to correct this one remaining problem with my track work. Thanks to all who have responded and thanks in advance to all who have ideas to offer.
I don’t know. It seems there could be many items that could be giving you a fit at that spot. I’m waiting for my wife to wrap some presents so I will list what I can think of
1- super elevation. - is there any little “kinks” from raising/lowering the rails? Is it a gradual grade change on the rails (inside in particular).
2- gauge- are the rails gauged right through this area? There is the possibility that one of the rails “tipped” while bending it around the curve. It certainly isn’t a sharp curve, but just something to look at. Have you paid attention to what car (s) make an untimely departure? Maybe the wheelsets need a looking at if it’s the same cars.
3- burr on the rail- maybe a (St) Nick (ha ha) or burr on the inside of the inner rail. Something that’s allowing the wheel flange to climb the rail.
4- track gap- Either a gap in the rails or two that don’t line up very well. If you have a joint there, chances are that you would have cut the inner rail for length. Maybe you forgot to chamfer the ends.
5- clotheslining.- Might be time to clean wheels and axles if the cars are not free rolling. Do you run longer cars in long consists? I think this is more of a dumping over scenerio, but before that happens the wheels are pulled to the inner rail and then starts to teeter over the rail.
6- All of your rolling stock and motive power is old and decrepid, and the only answer is to replace all of them, unit for unit, with different roadnames and numbers of course!!
