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Derailments Railcar Jumps Track
Bob
“I’m getting pretty frustrated with my HO track. I have attached an oval loop, with an outside loop siding to a piece of plywood. I have soldered some of the joiners which seemed loose or not making a good connection. I am being very careful to get a good flow with the solder. I’ve been trained in electronics.
My biggest problem is keeping the cars on the track. The locomotive alone will go around just fine. Add so much as one railcar, and it jumps track. Not necessarily the engine, but the car, or cars, oh yeah. The cars won’t even make one lap. Has anybody got an idea or two about why this may be happening? I have tried placing weights in various cars, but they still won’t ride the rails reliably. I have found and repaired a few obvious problems, but they still fail to keep these cars on the track. I am getting desperate…what do I need to do please?”
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Bob,
If you have derailments at the same places then it is probably due to kinks in the track, usually at rail joints. On straight sections, place your eye close to the track and look down the rails. Kinks are pretty easy to see on straight sections but a bit tougher on curves. Run your fingernail over the top and inside of the rails. If you feel it bump or hang up at rail joints then your track hasn’t been laid well and is probably the culprit.
You’ve already addressed the car weight issue so that probably isn’t it. However, going over board with weights isn’t addressing the problem if the track is poorly laid to begin with.
Is the track secured in place or just resting on the table top? If it is just laying there then just running your trains will cause the track to shift over time and result in kinks and poor joints, both electrical & mechanical.
Finally, the trucks on your cars may be of poor quality or out of gauge. Not all manufacturers are created equal and you can get a wide swing in quality from one to the other.
An NMRA track gauge will help determine if either your track or OR trucks are in spec so I would suggest buying and using one. It is a valuable tool to have. You can purchase one at most model RR shops, both online and in the real world or even on eBay.
Hope this helps,
Goef from the US
PS Look a couple questions below on this blog to the one asking for help with #4 switches. There are some tips & suggestions there that may help you out as well.
Hi, I know what you experincing. I had problems like the wheels not stayin on. It can be one or several things.The car might have a wheel that has a bur, or a broke flange. Or the truck is not on propperly. Check if the car stands straight up, if it dont, remount the truck. I have done this on derailments, switch around the wheels. If that dont work, you need to replace the wheels with new ones. Go to your hobby store, be sure you tell them what brand of car it is, so they can match up the parts. Hope this solve your problem. I been model railroading for years, I had all kinds of problems. Take Care, loujay
if the cars are wighted right check the trucks of the cars. most people will tighten one so it doesn’t rock but only turns side to side. then tighten the other one so it turns but rocks just a very little bit. this is a method the senior editor of MR magazine uses on his own layout
Bob,
One other thing that has occurred to me concerning your problem was if you have secured your track to the plywood with nails. If you did, you may have distorted the track slightly if you nailed it too tightly because you can actually cause the track to bow inwards, particularly if you nailed into the center nail holes on the ties.
Hope your getting a handle on this,
Geof from the US
Bob as to the weight issue to get a bit more weight on the axcles of your car trying warping a length of solder wire around the axcles of the car it helps to add weight to the boggies rather than the body of the car. Brian
The wheels are not correctly spaced, on the axles, try compairing the distance between wheels on a brand new trailer axle with your existing one, even the slightest diference will cause your problem, or a wheel fitted out of line will cause the problem if it isnt fressed on the axle squarly.
Les
If you derail at the same place all the time, then you are either wide or too narrow on the gauge.
Another thing to try is get a good wheelset, and run it over the problem area using your finger. You will feel the irregularities as well.
Don’t use nails to install track, glue it down or use silicone sealant. As mentioned, a track gauge is the best tool to find kinks & out of gauge problems.
On soldering your rail joiners, just solder on the “outside” of the rail…..you might want to solder your drops at these areas…..Just some friendly advice from the Geezer.