Odd spot


Aerojet

Aerojet

Active Member
This is starting to bug me big time. I have a Broadway steamer, and it works just super EXCEPT - right after a bridge on the old board it sometimes stops, then reboots, then goes on. Not every time, not always, but in about 10 trips it will do it twice at odd times. No other locos will do this. What gives?

I have been over there and gone over the track with a fine tooth comb, and my track gauge, looked at everything which I could think of - and - nothing is found. It is steaming along just fine. Pulling the 8 or so cars, when it all of a sudden stops, it seems to reboot, then goes on.

This is the only spot on the pike which does this as well - so I am stumped. you got any ideas?

My thanks in advance for your suggestions...

The Aerojet
 
That sounds like a really annoting problem. I assume that you have cleaned the track numerous times along with the wheels. It has to be some kind of electrical problem. I operate DC only and find that the few DCC locomotives are so much more sensitive to dirty track and do the same thing that you mentioned. Once the track was cleaned in the trouble spots, the trains ran just fine.

I also understand what you are talking about when it comes to mergers. I do model 1957 in the transition era so this was before the big flurry of mergers that really got going in the 70's. I can stick pretty well with standard railroads with the exception of the paint scheme change that the Northern Pacific made in 1954 in their passenger trains.

I did have one DCC disappointment recently. The model railroad club that I am in is all DCC and I picked up a new Atlas RS-1 mainly to run on the club layout. I ran it on my home layout when I first got it and it ran just fine. Ran it at the club one time and the next week, put it on the rails and it was doing exactly what you described. It would boot up and as soon as you tried to move it, it would cut out and then reboot. Thought it could be dirty wheels but when trying to clean them, discovered that it was not picking up on the lead truck. It will be heading back to Atlas.

Thankfully, DCC is not necessary on my layout and there are many times that I really felt good about staying with a DC layout. Keep It Simple.

Good luck with the problem.
 
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Hey Aerojet,

I would expect you have a break in the track power. As Chet mentioned it could be as simple as cleaning.

What makes me think that is what you are describing is power off, power on. It could be intermittent because the locomotive may only occasionally lose power at that spot. DCC can be delicate and is more susceptible to minor loses of power.

I would try powering down your system and use an Ohm meter to find the break. Put one lead on one side of the track and slowly move across the area where the problem occurs with the other lead. If you don't find it reverse the procedure to check the other side of the track.

Good luck my friend.
 
It's the only locomotive that does this and only on this one spot. Unfortunately, that doesn't clear it up for us; it is still a problem with an interface of some description between this one locomotive and this one location. If I had to bet, since the locomotive otherwise seems to run well everywhere else, you have a dip or a gap/bad solder somewhere nearby, but the loco's momentum always gets it beyond to the point where the decoder begins to power up once again and resumes its processes, including restoring motion to the drive. If one wheel, or a couple on the same side, encounter contact-destroying crud or oxidation, glue, paint, or simply don't make contact because the frame won't allow it, even with truck swivel and yaw, then the loco will stall out momentarily and then resume its motion.

Have you metered the rails all along this spot? How about just barely making contact with the probes? Now put some weight on them, say 1 kg each. Any needle jumping or wide swings of digitally indicated voltage?
 
Mark:

Just an idea...Is it possible that a side rod or other part of the drive system is binding and the problem isn't electrical? Stopping at one spot maybe just accidental.

I encounter this problem 30+ years ago when working on old MDC locomotive kits.

Greg
 
I've had this issue with a couple of BLI engines. It turned out to be a perfect storm of a slight dip in the track at the end of a curve on top of a grade. A pair of drive wheels were lifting very slightly on that one spot, and if they were at a particular point in their rotation, they would lose contact and cause the engine to stall.
I slightly loosened the screws on the bottom of the engine where the drivers were, and the problem went away.
 
I have a Bachman Spectrum 2-6-0 that was doing something similar by a switch. When I looked at the pickups that where suppose to feed off of each wheel I found out that two where bent and didn't make constant contact and one was broke off. So instead off six feeders I was lucky to have two.
 
either the driver and wheels are coming off the track when everything aligns just right, you dont have all of your track pickups working and the one that is hits the spot, or a spot in the track. how far away is the closest rail joiner? i take a light bulb(16 volt) across the track very slowly and see if it goes out. also take the locomotive on a good piece of track and start picking it up a little at a time from the front and rear, one end at a time. enough to where you have a wheel or two making contact with the rail. if it shuts off you know where it is loosing contact. if the pickup wipers are on the back of the wheels they get dirty. we often clean the part that touches the track, but not the part that contacts the wiper on the backside of the wheel.
 
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