Leon Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hi, does anyone know if a circle of track is suitable for running in OO DCC locos as to buying an expensive rolling road? Cheers Leon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Mc Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hi If you have a circle of track why not use that. The only problem with a circle is the loco moves. A rolling road is great if you want to examine the running gear or have a good listen to your loco....or just to admire it while on the rolling road running. Sometimes I just love looking at the motion of a steam loco. Great for fine tuning also. Here it is under a class 47 in n and it comes with spacers for n 00 EM4 etc I would suggest the DCC Concepts rolling road, fair price and most hobby shops in the UK have it, so shop around. Not sure on this but someone told me it was in the top 10 suggested buys for 2010 or was it for Christmas re our hobby. Not sure which mag it was as I still have not recieved and December ones here in Australia. Hope that helps, Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 The other problem with a circle of track is that the forces are not ideal for running in mechanisms - this could be most damaging if the circle is very tight (small radius) The other thing with using a circle is that you must turn the loco regularly (as well as changing direction of movement forwards/backwards) This is not required n a rolling road (as just forward/backwards is enough. The range of rolling roads is quite a bit larger than just the one mentioned above and prices can vary widely - there have been a number of threads covering most of the options which are well worth searching out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 10, 2011 If you have the space a figure of 8 will give the loco more of a work out for running in purposes. Where as a circle just moves the mechanism in one direction, a figure of 8 does for both. You will still need to reverse the direction, much the same as you would for a rolling road or a plan circle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I'm sure either would effectively run a loco in.... maybe, as well as running the loco in the other direction on a circle of track, perhaps physically turn the loco round too, and run it in both directions again? I recently bought the DCC concepts rolling road - it's expensive, but more reasonably priced than previous rolling roads, plus you can use it for N, EM + P4 Re running in DCC fitted locos, I'm sure I've read the advice that you should run it in, BEFORE fitting the chip. I'm not 100% sure why this should be, but I've done both with my locos, and not noticed any difference in performance.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amdaley Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Re running in DCC fitted locos, I'm sure I've read the advice that you should run it in, BEFORE fitting the chip. I haven't heard this anywhere Marc but I have heard it advised that you should run a DCC ready loco in DC first to make sure everything is ok before fitting a chip.If the loco has a problem you will find it before adding a chip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 It's easy to over think this. A Circle of track is fine though not too tight. Change direction (and of loco) you also get to see if the bogies are tracking OK. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks guys, plenty to think about there, I did think I would have to turn the loco around every 20 min or so on a circle of track and also the wear which I guess you would not get from a rolling road, Ive not bought the circle of track yet just thought its a cheaper option. I have a large ish end to end loft layout so its dificult to run the locos in without flattening a few buffer stops or even worse going straight through into the water tank ! Got about 9 DCC fitted locos sat on the shed, new but not really running very well so need to sort something out soon. Many Thanks Leon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 10, 2011 A week or so back I put up a similar question to the one that you are asking (pure curiosity in my case to get a feel of different ideas). Nothing is conclusive as everyone will have a different idea about what running in is and how much is needed etc. Here is a link to that post Don't know if you had already seen it but if not there might be something of use in it for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I haven't heard this anywhere Marc but I have heard it advised that you should run a DCC ready loco in DC first to make sure everything is ok before fitting a chip.If the loco has a problem you will find it before adding a chip. my assumption is, from working in a model shop, that if you run it in and have a problem where it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer it's easier and simpler to send a DC loco back as they can't say it's been caused by chipping it but also, some manufacturers will with bigger problems just swop the unit over and send a new one sending the faulty one to be repaired and put into their stock cutting down the time taken. this is not as easy to do if it's got a chip in it as the chip needs to be returned / chipped loco repaired. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 my assumption is, from working in a model shop, that if you run it in and have a problem where it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer it's easier and simpler to send a DC loco back as they can't say it's been caused by chipping it but also, some manufacturers will with bigger problems just swop the unit over and send a new one sending the faulty one to be repaired and put into their stock cutting down the time taken. this is not as easy to do if it's got a chip in it as the chip needs to be returned / chipped loco repaired. Aah! Of course! I knew I read it somewhere....... Thanks for that advice. Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a98087 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks guys, plenty to think about there, I did think I would have to turn the loco around every 20 min or so on a circle of track and also the wear which I guess you would not get from a rolling road, Ive not bought the circle of track yet just thought its a cheaper option. I have a large ish end to end loft layout so its dificult to run the locos in without flattening a few buffer stops or even worse going straight through into the water tank ! Got about 9 DCC fitted locos sat on the shed, new but not really running very well so need to sort something out soon. Many Thanks Leon If you have such a long layout could you not install a simple shuttle unit, and if you were to use diodes to stop the train the buffers will stop the train. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeman Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Having received an A1 & A2 for xmas, my observations are. I removed my other chipped locos from the layout and reverted to a transistor controller to see how well they ran . A close examination at as slow speed as possible showed that there were NO APPARENT tight spots on the locos themselves. So after around 10 mins lapping the layout and changing direction a couple of times I decided to fit the chips. The main reasons for this advice is to make sure there are no tight spots which could blow your chip. Its not like an automotive vehicle where you may 'wind' it up once on a Motorway. The downside to running on a circle of track is that excessive loading is put on the loco because one wheel on each axle must SLIP, due to the circles circumference, and most of the newer locos are not recommended for R1 curves, although I expect to run them on my railway. Also turning the loco as in real practice on branch lines is recommended. Reason for WSR's turntable along with visiting tours needing to turn. A 'home made' rolling road is described here http://www.hmrg.co.uk/techtops/rolling.htm. I am contemplating making one myself shortly, which is a more simple design than this,design decided, as I only have OO, it will be OO only. Will post how/pics when made. Estimated cost will be around £12/15 max. As said earlier the commercial versions are expensive. Beeman Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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