Track slip

[julienjj]

I recently restarted playing with my lil ho train with the intention of building a permanent track layout on a table, BUT my train keep slipping on the rail, wheel turn but ther dosent grip, they are in plain metal, no rubber strip on it and it an 8 wheel drive. is it due to oxydation of the railway ? what can i do to fix this ?

 

[UP2CSX]

Hello and welcome aboard. It's hard to say what the problem is without more information. What type of engine and who made it? Is the the track perfectly flat? Do all the wheels turn but the engine just sits there, even if it's just the engine running by itself?

The first thing to try is cleaning the track. A pencil eraser will remove most of the oxidation, assuming you have brass track. You can also wipe it down with some 91% isopropyl alcohol to finish the cleaning. It sound more like the drive shaft in the engine is either slipping or has come off. Usually, dirty tracks means the wheels won't move at all or very far without a push. Once we know more about the engine type and manufacturer, we can give you some better guesses. Some pictures always help too.

 

[julienjj]

ill try the eraser live, my track are bachmann ez-trak,
the engine just move up a bit when giving 100% power, wheel keep spinning on it


edit-
look like rear train aint spinning....

 

[julienjj]

FiXed !
rear shaft was disconnected form the rear buggy
now fully working, still now my track are now shiny

 

[UP2CSX]

Glad to hear you found the problem. It sounded like a disconnected driveshaft so mark one up for me. Shiny tracks will help too.

 

[bigford]

my n scale katos will do some thing similer with a sd90/43 hooked
up to a ac4400cw the sd90 seems to get the wheels spinning faster
or quicker then the ac4400

 

[MLW]

Julien

Here's something you may find usefull when describing problems you may have with tracks/loco/trains/etc..

rea shaft = Rear driveshaft

rear buggy = Rear truck. (same for the front = Front truck)

track shiny = That is good. The track is clean: that is why they are "shiny".

my train keep slipping on the rail = That would be your locomotive. That would be the wheels on it. It does not slip; it spins.
Also a "train" is the locomotive with any number of cars and/or caboose.

wheel turn but ther dosent grip = The wheels are turning but the locomotive is not moving. As a rule locomotive wheels do not "grip" the tracks.


Glad you found the problem and fixed it.

Hope this help a bit