First train(s)

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cptshanman

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I can't figure this train stuff. Folks seem to like it a lot...but I have had two train sets (HO) for my sons and neither of them seem to go very well. Are trains just that shoddy after years of being around? Why can't a train engine have the energy to make it around the track without stalling? It looks so easy in all of your photos...

I mean i have this engine i bought today. Track is laid out on a hardwood floor. And the thing won't make it around once. Ugh.
 
We all have to struggle with that demon at times, sooner or later. The reasons are many, but most often it is due to oxidized and/or simply dirty track. It can also be due to oxidized and/or dirty wipers that rub the axles or the backs of the driving wheels. It can be broken wires, tired lubrication in gears and other parts of the drive, worn motors, a bad power pack, corroded joiners between the rail sections.

It is a process of elimination. Most likely is the track, including the joiners, but it could be any of the other things.

The idea is to have essentially the same voltage between the rails everywhere you measure (also everywhere the engine happens to go at one point or other).

My trains run reliably, but if they don't, it is almost always to due a connectivity problem. The track needs a buffing, or the tether between the decoder in the tender and the motor in the locomotive has come loose over time.

One other thing: the cheaper train set items don't do well in comparison with the better quality items over time. If you are operating in DC (I suspect it is the case), you can get quality DC engines for upwards of $70 typically, on sale. Adding a decoder and a sound system doubles the price effectively, but not always.
 
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Thank you for the input, I appreciate all of the advice. What would you recommend to clean with (that is around the house)? Also, I am assuming that a voltmeter is a necessary item...I suppose I should have figured that out and checked around the track. I will check all of the things you mentioned and hopefully make some progress!
 


Rubbing alcohol is a great track cleaner. Just put some on a cloth and gently scrubs the rails with it. You'll be astounded at how muck black gunk comes off. After the track is clean fold a shop towel over double and lay it across the rails. Pour alcohol on the towel then place the front wheels of the loco on the towel and the rear wheels on the rails. Gently hold the loco to keep it from moving and turn up the power so the wheels spin. This will remove the gunk from your locos wheels. After you've done this several times on different parts of the towel turn the loco around and repeat for the rear wheels.
 
If the rails are heavily oxidized, and they are not nickel-silver, you may have to resort to a metal polish. Any mag wheel polish such as Mothers, Black Magic, and such, a bit on a cloth, and rub away. Change the cloth face against the rails regularly.

One thing I neglected to mention earlier; if you meter and don't get voltage, or only get voltage for a short distance on either side of your wire contact point to the rails, you probably have dirty or worn joiners. I would replace them....they're dirt cheap. But, to to the diagnostic, you place an engine that you know is clean and working well on the apparently dead zone, and begin to gently press down on one or both joiners using a pencil and the eraser tip applied against the joint. If your engine lights up, you know where at least one of the defective joins is found....and so on.
 
Welcome, CPTSHANMAN. Hopefully you can get past the frustration to a point where you can enjoy the hobby. There is still plenty of frustration, but now I am committed ;o)

Rubbing alcohol is a great track cleaner. Just put some on a cloth and gently scrubs the rails with it
Click to expand...
It works well but a word of caution on the cloth. Make sure that the cloth does not leave microfibers snagged on the ties/rails/joiners. After cleaning the track with cloth and alcohol, I ran one of the engines around several times. It seemed to run worse than when I started. An inspection of the loco with my magnifier found the micro fibers wrapped around gears, axels and pickup wipers. About 15 minutes with tweezers corrected the problem.
 
2 things can lead to poor performing locomotives:

Dirt, and dirt.

Poor quality locomotives have fewer metal wheels for picking up electricity, which means just a little bit of dirt can bring them to a halt. Once your track is clean, put some alcohol on a heavy duty paper towel (one that wont shred easily, I use the blue rags at autozone for that....) and run the drive wheels on the rag to clean them. Internal dirt can also stall out a locomotive. there are plenty of resources that tell you how to re-furbish am Athearn locomotive. If it's an old, cheap Tyco, Lifelike, or bachmann (the kind you'd get at toys-r-us for $10 back in the day) then it's probably not worth the headache to re-build. You can find decent used locomotives on E-bay, and there's a few reputable members here on the forums that can tune up a locomotive for ya...
 
Another great thing to clean your track is a good old fashioned bright boy. Little trapezoid shaped eraser looking thing that is embedded with grit. Take care not to let the rubbings get into the locomotive.

Once you have cleaned your track, take a couple of drops, and I mean like 2, of wahl clipper oil on a shop towel and rub that across the tops of the rails. 2 drops should be enough to do your track like 3 times over.

Athearn locomotives are the best in this situation: they have all the characteristics that are good in a model train: All wheel electrical pickup, enough weight to pull a decnet length train, and with proper care they will last forever. Don't get one of the new genesis locomotive, but for for something like a R-T-R F unit or an older blue-box if you find one on ebay.

what kind of track are you using? If you are running on a hardwood floor, I would suggest Bachmann EZ Track, its what i use if i need to run something here at home.
 
I use gasoline to clean my track. If the train doesn't run after cleaning.....I light a match.

Just kidding!!!!

On short sections of track with conductivity problem(in need of cleaning) I use an "eraser type " abrasive cleaner. Actually an ink eraser would work fine.

On a "full layout" cleaning, I have track cleaning cars that use alcohol. Those can get pricey, but well worth the investment when one considers the amount of grief they prevent. And th track gets cleaned weekly.

Prevention is worth a pound ofcure.

Bob
 


Nathan, tell me you haven't been there.......and be honest.

I thought it time to show that a sense of humor, in Model Railroading, is just as important as patience.

Bob
 
Excellent timing on the humor...no I havent had the urge to light my trains on fire...I have had the urge to throw my computer into the river a couple of times though.
 
Everyone will be happy to know that we have been having fun with our "piecemeal" train since I last spoke to everyone. I ditched the "easytrack" and went with the old fashioned track that came with my Corkey's carnival set I bought for my son years ago and never really used. Then I put Corkey's locomotive on the track and voila. Seems that the other engine was shot from the get-go. And the brand is life-like. One of you guys mentioned that earlier...

Now you guys will have to enlighten me on layouts...here's a shocker...my wife was the one who brought it up. Sooooo...is it possible to put three trains (one for each son) on one 4x8 layout? Any ideas? Maybe I should just use one train at a time...dunno.

Anyways, until next time, Corkey is still pulling boxcars and tanker cars (and two cabooses...my four year old insists).
 
got any pics?

(of the dead locomotive too... depending on it, someone here might want it for parts...)

in 4X8 you CAN run 2 trains... IF you have 2 power packs. OR if you don't connect the 2 tracks, you can have 2 wires out the back of your power pack... both trains will run at the same speed... sort of...
 
Yes Life-Like was my first train, and I had a hell of a time to get it to do around the track without stalling.im pretty sure that what you were experiencing wasn't shorting, but a combination of the poor design of the life-like locomotive and any tiny little spot of grime.

If you really want a locomotive that will haul and give you years of tireless service at a decent price, check out Athearn. You can find F7's and the like on Ebay all the time.
 
To run multiple trains I would suggest an entry level DCC system such as prodigy, MRC, or the NCE Power cab. It is a much higher entry into the hobby, but allows for far more flexibility with far less complexity.
 
Agreed. DCC would be the way to go if you want to run any more than 2 trains.

And even that is complicated (2 trains on DC)

All of your wiring concerns with DCC are the following: Power to track, and not have any reversing loops/wyes

Your wiring concerns on DC are getting each line separated into cabs, and wiring each cab to blocks, bla bla bla.

DCC also has the benefit of being able to park one train while running other and not having to worry about it running away and crashing to the floor.
 
I have to tell everyone that my two youngest boys can't get enough of their trains:) We can't wait for the new cars we bought to arrive!
 


Cool, glad to hear members of the younger generation are still into model railroading. To echo the other posts, starting out using DCC is really the way to go, even though your first cost will be higher. Hooking up DCC controlers to the track is as easy as soldering two wires to the rails and, after that, you run trains instead of trying to run the layout. If you want to go whole hog, each boy can heve their own throttle and control their own train. It's a great way to teach cooperation since the boys will have to collaborate to get their trains around the layout without any cornfield meets. :)
 
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