I was running my pair of C30-7s (My first sound units) around the reverse loop, a section of track which was among the first sections of track laid in my family over a decade ago, which has not been doctored since. Somehow, trains manage to run down that line.
So, I’m reversing my train…no biggie…train come out of the tunnel (The loop is hidden) and the lead unit derails on the first switch. And then the second. And then the third. I’m starting to think it’s not a case of me not railing it up properly when I put it on the track anymore…so I figure it must be a low trip pin on the new couplers.
I pick up the engine to take a look at the pin, and I notice 7 spikes lodged into the speaker grate on the fuel tank! I was, needless to say, horrified. I carefully removed all of them…
Bad trackwork, huh? 7 spikes that were far enough out to be grabbed by a speaker grate!
This story doesn’t have a happy ending. But it’s not a devestating ending either. The speaker now rattles alarmingly…if there’s a solution to that, I’d like to hear it.
Moral of the story: Don’t run sound units over an old and invisible stretch of track for the first time without checking for protruding spikes.
VERY interesting story Trainboy
This makes me want to leave my computer chair and head to the layout to check my spikes!
Which roadname H16’s do you have?!
All of the above. 3 lodged in the grate, 4 just stuck on by magnetic force.
Welllllll…I have a Spectrum in CPR Tuscan, but I don’t run it very often. Or ever, really. Until Atlas comes out with them in CP, I’ll stick to my C-Liners!
Are you certain that the grate picked them up? In my experience, the permanent magnet that makes the speaker is what picks up the spikes.
Is it possible that you had a handfull of loose spikes laying in the gauge around the layout, and that the speaker just picked them all up?
BTW, it’s also been my experience that the “rattling” noise in a fuel tank speaker is usually loose metal shavings (of some sort) that are stuck to the magnet.
Yes, lose metal filings, I have had to clean/wipe them off several speakers myself. Worst case is one or more of the spikes pierced the speaker. If so, you will need to replace the speaker.
Or glue a magnet to the bottom of some old piece of rolling stock and then pull it around the layout with a speakerless loco, much like a track cleaner car.
That’s what it sounded like to me too. It might be a good idea to take a strong magnet over all your track work to make sure there’s no other loose ones around.
Trainboy, you never did finish your story. What about the derailments? Were the spikes on the speaker grate the cause? What about the second locomotive in the consist? Did it pick up any spikes? Informed people want to know because they are…well…not informed.
The speakers that were lodged in the grate were indeed the cause, and yes, there were 3 that were stuck up through the grille into the speaker unit.
I’ll try using a magnet to see if I can’t get some debris or something off the speaker unit, but…it looks like I might just have to turn down the volume for now!
A club I was in had a similar problem, they weren’t running sound locos but they did have quite a few old Bachmann locos,mostly for kids to run and play with, they had a big box full of ‘‘broken’’ ones and I asked why no one fixed them, the answer was ‘‘thats old pancake motor junk, not even worth taking apart to see whats wrong’’, Hmmmmmm, says I, so I asked if I could have some ‘‘for parts’’, they said yes, have it all, I took a mixed dozen, went to the work bench and disassembled them, and ALL of them had the same problem, tiny spikes and various metal pieces lodged in the motors, I removed all the metal and the locos worked perfectly!
I told the club honcho about it and he said it was impossilble, but, later I found out they went and looked at some of their Atlas and Athearn locos and found metal stuck in them, they did a complete check of all track and discovered that the spikes they used were so short they didn’t grab onto anything and eventually cane loose and got sucked up by passing locos. They did a total re-spike of the layout and I haven’t heard of any malfunctions since.
You might want to check all the track and see if the spikes you used are teeny short ones and replace with something longer that’ll grab into the roadbed better.
I took a magnet to it, and guess what? Still rattles. So I take a good look at the exploded diagram of the unit, and carefully take it apart. Turns out I misunderstood the diagram, and the speakers were attached to the bottom of the fuel tank, not residing inside their own happy grille which is held onto the tank by the frame of the locomotive.
Not sure what you meant about “Hooray for broken wires”! But the same thing happened to me when I went DCC with sound. Worst have been the Blue Line AC 6000’s! First one pulled around 6 spikes on it first trip around the bench. I was freaking with it stalling till I found the spikes hanging out of the speaker grill.
My spikes stay in fine, but on some of my ballasted track I am testing taking the spikes out, the ballast holds the track in place, there’s less danger of what happened to the OP, and the track looks better![8D]
For repairing holes in speaker cones I found PlioBond to be the best. Apply a small amount to both surfaces and hold it on for a minute or so, then rub gently to work it in so to speak. It’s best if you can get some flat behind the hole to back up whatever you use to put a little preasur on the patch.
Dont throw away your old CD_Rom drives. Rip em apart and retreive the magnets, they are powerfull! My Atlas frieght cars have metel in them, holds the magnet and at the same time will pick up any steel, or iron junk on the track. The whole darn car almost becomes a magnet.