FA 1 Williams by Backmann

Try turning it around and running it in reverse (in the same direction on your oval as before) and see if it behaves the same as it did when running forward.

Bob posted:

Try turning it around and running it in reverse (in the same direction on your oval as before) and see if it behaves the same as it did when running forward.

Works a lot better. 

Forward and reverse. Turned the engine back around and it ran better (???). Took the headlight out of the engine and dummy , the engine ran better  without the light.

There was a voltage drop from 16 to 4/5 before turning the engine around, after turning the engine around the drop is from 16 to 8-9 volts.

Thanks 

Brent

Check to see if one or both of the motors are loose in their mounts. If so, that could make them run OK in one direction and not in the other. You will have to take the cab off the frame. Then grab one motor in one hand and the truck in the other hand. Gently wiggle the motor in all directions and see if it moves relative to the truck.

RoyBoy posted:

Check to see if one or both of the motors are loose in their mounts. If so, that could make them run OK in one direction and not in the other. You will have to take the cab off the frame. Then grab one motor in one hand and the truck in the other hand. Gently wiggle the motor in all directions and see if it moves relative to the truck.

Thanks

One motor was a "tad" loose, with the cab off, installed new traction tires.

Both suggestions: 1-Turn the engine around 

                                2- Tighten the engine to the trucks

Both improved performance but tomorrow, next day, I am going to take the track up and check the power connections, maybe add 2-3 , I think there is too much of a voltage drop.

By the way, the engine runs better in reverse.

Thanks for the help

Brent

Before taking the track apart, decided to put the FA-1 on a different loop, a 43 ft. +/- non elevated, attached a dummy and a 24 car mixture of Tradition and 027 rolling stock. The FA-1 could have pulled another 20 cars, so the problem is not the engine.

On the elevated loop, the 6-8615 steam (big Emma) would not move, so I placed a Lionel  GP 38 NASCAR RTR set-engine only and it ran very slow, don't think it would pull over 2 cars on the elevated track.

The power on the empty track is 16 volts all the way around. 

With the Big Emma, the voltage drops to 5-6. With the NASCAR GP 38, voltage drops to 8-9 volts.

All comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks

Brent

Sounds like you have a bad voltage drop problem.

How many power feeders do you have on the loop?

Also, I'd check to make sure all the track joints are actually tight.