Layout
Track Plan
DCC
Structures
Scenery
Railroad
Locomotives
Rolling Stock
Maintenance
Layout
Track Plan
DCC
Structures
Scenery
Railroad
Locomotives
Rolling Stock
Maintenance
Daley Train Log
Page 45
I have continued testing the track and locomotives. The west bound inner loop mainline appears to be working fine. That means that I can now run trains on the mainline routes. However I have yet to fully test each locomotive on the inner loop as well as the outer loop.
Both locomotives 9408 and 6707 were very erratic and tended to stall for no obvious reason. Conclusion: dirty wheels. I cleaned the wheels with hydrogen peroxide and then again with the track cleaning liquid. That made a big difference.
But I have a definite problem with locomotive 9408 on the west bound outer loop at the corner track behind Black Diamond. The problem (so far) seems to be limited to that locomotive going in that direction. My best guess at the moment is that a section of curved track is the problem. The wheels seem to just slip off the rails at this point. But it is subtle. It is only this locomotive going in a counter-clockwise direction that is the problem.
Here is a table of my tests:
No. |
Locomotive |
West/Outer |
East/Outer |
West/Inner |
East/Inner |
CN1720 |
GP7 |
OK |
OK |
||
CN7847 |
RS-3 |
OK |
OK |
||
CN9408 |
FA-2 |
OK |
OK |
||
CN6707 |
FA-2 |
||||
CN7985 |
SW4 |
||||
CN1706 |
GP7 |
||||
CN6700 |
C-liner |
||||
CN8400 |
0-8-0 steam |
Unit 9408 is a lighter locomotive tha 1720 or even 7847 and seems to be more sensitive to small changes in the elevation of the track. In any event, I am still having some problems although I am definitely making progress. I replaced the section of curved track near Black Diamond and that solved that problem. However I then developed two new problems. Unit 7408 sometimes derails while going around the corner near Prairie Rose. At the moment I am ignoring this as it often works just fine, but I am keeping an eye on it.
The other problem is that 9408 had a tendency to stall while passing through the switches near Lone Pine. I placed some thin slips of stiff cardboard under the tracks and I think I now have this working properly but I would like to run a few more tests before giving it the green light.
This is now working quite well. I now have unit 9408 running smoothly along the West/Inner mainline route.