You might want to check you have the correct gauge on the front truck.Newbie here... Is it common for locomotives to run better backwards than forwards? Mine does run both ways, but it tends to derail (and just plain get stuck) when it's going forward a lot more than when it's going backward.
This loco is a Kato C51 4-6-2 steam loco.
It's brand new but ok. Do I need one of those gauge measuring tools or will a micrometer be enough (and how close a tolerance are we talking about)?You might want to check you have the correct gauge on the front truck.
Get you an NMRA gauge. It will do wheels, and track, turnouts, A must have tool!It's brand new but ok. Do I need one of those gauge measuring tools or will a micrometer be enough (and how close a tolerance are we talking about)?
Micrometer will work.It's brand new but ok. Do I need one of those gauge measuring tools or will a micrometer be enough (and how close a tolerance are we talking about)?
Yes.I don't know which way SP cab forwards run best.
Why would this be?For years (decades) steam locomotives have run better in reverse. By “better” I mean quieter and more smoothly, not because of problems like derailing.
Always happy times when you find the issue!Thanks, everybody! I like this crowd already!
Ok, I figured it out: my coupling rods were jamming each other. I had no clue until one of them just came loose and dangled. So I removed it (seeing no chance whatsoever I could ever reattach it), which loosened all the others. Which made me sad, until I noticed that the wheels were suddenly running real nice (engine upside-down in my hand now, and me applying voltage to the wheels). So I removed the coupling rods from the other side and yeeha! the loco is running great at last!
I should have picked up on another clue; the loco was stopping without even derailing.
No coupling rods does reduce the realism but, hey, I'll take a running train over a non-running train.