Stalling Locomotives

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November 24, 2020

Russ has this question you might want to comment on:

“I have a 10’x20’ HO layout and I use an NCE doc system. I usually run two trains each with two locomotives running in a consist. With both trains running at the same time they run flawlessly but if I should stop one of them the other one will stall briefly (and frequently) and start up again. As soon as the stopped train is put into motion the stalling stops. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon and if so any ideas to correct the situation?”

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5 Responses to Stalling Locomotives

Geoff says:

November 25, 2020 at 4:26 am

I haven’t experienced this myself. Have you tried re-doing the consists?

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Dale says:

November 25, 2020 at 5:26 pm

I’m hypothesizing but it sounds like something is drawing too much power when a train is stopped. This could be a locomotive trying to run while the other in the consist is holding it stopped. If you can, put a meter on the track and see what the voltage and/or current draw is when a train is stopped versus when all are running. Does the same thing happen if you run the trains with a single loco each? Or one with a single loco and the other with the 2-loco consist?

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John says:

December 2, 2020 at 5:05 am

I have had things like this happen to me and I have put it down to a dirty track .

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Jay Ross says:

December 2, 2020 at 5:20 am

I have the same problem, and it is caused by several things: One is the mechanical and speed difference between the two loco’s, it will cause them to buck and stall. Another cause is that if the wheels are dirty, or sometimes when the consist goes over a cross track section or turnout, one loco is not picking up the track power,thus the stalling. One last issue could be that two trains, each having two loco’s, may be drawing too much current (over the limit for your power supply), therefore causing it to trip the breaker.

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Russ says:

December 10, 2020 at 1:48 pm

Thanks for all the input. All good suggestions.

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