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From quirky to perfection - why is my rolling stock now flawless?


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I started building my layout last December and had completed the track laying by February. For the next couple of months I'd periodically unpack a loco and some wagons/coaches and give it a bit of a run. This was mostly okay but I'd inevitably have breakaways at some point and I just got used to expecting to have to spend ten minutes faffing around at the start of a session and maybe the session ended because I couldn't be bothered to recouple the errant stock.

 

Then as Summer started I moved all my rolling stock onto the staging yards. My staging yards have covers over them to keep the worst of the dust off so it meant I could keep my stock on permanent display. It also meant that if the fancy took me the layout was ready for use.

 

What I've discovered is that over the last month or two all the problems have gone away. One might have been fixed due to some minor track relaying but now I find I can power up the layout, pick any train (or trains) and run them for as long as I want without any issues other than dirty track where I've been doing a bit of scenery work (and I've done quite a bit of ballasting and other non-structural things).

 

It's great but I'm curious why this is now the case. My layout is in a spare bedroom so doesn't experience high temperatures but of course the average is now higher. Or is it just that leaving the stock coupled up (it's almost all Dapol N with Rapido couplers) is less disruptive and the couplers have 'bedded in' in some fashion?

 

Would be interesting to hear any thoughts you might have.

Edited by AndrueC
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Well, I would say that the road to perfection lies with a few things you can do:

 

1)  Get all the wagon back to backs to be the same.  You should have a B2B gauge.  The number I always used was 14.5mm.

2)  Check wagon weights.  Wagons with the same weight, or nearly so, will run in a train better.  Conventional wisdom is 50g for a 4 wheel wagon.

3)  Couplings need to be working properly.  You don't say what you use.  My preference for 30 years of 00 modelling was Kadee.  IMO these work way better than TL and look better too.  They do need to be set up properly though.

 

HTH

 

John

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Shhh! Don't push your luck and quit while you're ahead.

 

Of course, if you want things to return to the previous 'normal', invite some family members to view the layout. Then stock will fall off, become uncoupled, won't start and suddenly stop for no apparent reason, thus needing a poke. The family will wonder why you waste so much time, cash and effort!

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Leaving things standing always seems to attract  crud to bu mess things up.

 

Any other type of coupling is better than tension locks IMHO.

 

The correct wheel setting is check gauge which I set to 15mm*. For BRMSB wheels this results in 14.5mm B2B (15 - 0.5mm flange thickness.) For older wheels (e.g. Hornby) with thicker flanges it becomes 14.2mm.

 

*The NMRA standard (e.g. Bachmann) prefers a slightly larger check gauge with thicker flanges which removes some of the excessive slop between wheel and rail.

 

Any vehicle which derails should be set aside and checked for check gauge and axles normal to the frame and parallel to the floor (glass sheet test). Bogie vehicles should be 3 point equalised or sprung. In goes without saying that the wheels should spin freely.

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10 hours ago, brossard said:

  Couplings need to be working properly. 

The couplings should also be set to a standard height above the railhead, and as far as possible of the same profile and material. 

 

I would also advise removing any plastic wheels and replacing them with metal, which will help to keep track clean.  To prevent your being tempted to re-use plastic wheels, give them the opportunity of an exciting new career in the landfill industry... 

 

Probably teaching granny to suck eggs, but ensure that baseboards are level and rigid, especially at joins, and that track is level and joined smoothly to the adjoining piece.  Check that all wheelsets run freely, and are square to the axles, that 4 wheeled stock is level (sit it on a mirror surface and check for daylight beneath any of the wheels, and that it does not rock) and that bogies can swing freely in the vertical and horizontal planes.

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23 hours ago, AndrueC said:

Or is it just that leaving the stock coupled up (it's almost all Dapol N with Rapido couplers) is less disruptive and the couplers have 'bedded in' in some fashion?

 

I think this is the key point - with fixed rakes you'll have ironed out all the coupling gremlins, be they incorrect height, sticky or otherwise faulty. Whether it's been done by physical repair/replacement or simply by turning the offending vehicle by 180 degrees or relocating it in the train doesn't really matter as you've now got a reliable system

 

 

Enjoy it (and keep your fingers crossed it lasts when you buy your next loco/coach/wagon!).

 

Steven B

 

 

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