guide for troubleshooting derailments - FIXED!

No guide that I’m aware of, ....however, some pics and some more information might be handy....I’m sure with the wealth of knowledge on this very forum, a possible cause might be determined....

is it only one switch giving you fits?    
where’s the switch(s) at that’s giving you fits?   
ballasted track? 
speed? No speed?..doesn’t matter?   
you say rolling stock...long passenger cars?...

Pat

Bob: The first thing I check when I have a wagon, passenger carriage or, heaven forbid, a loco derail going through my switches is the "gauge" of the wheels on the axles.

Nine times out of ten, it is an under-gauged wheel set that catches on the side guides which are mounted just inside the outer rails, at the beginning of the switch, or jumping the "frog" as they go through the turn-out.

Hope this helps......best of luck!!

Peter.....Buco Australia.

Depending on radius, my frequent culprit is a truck or coupler that don't do the required swivel. There are some car combos I have to be sure are separated.

The single best thing you can do to improve the tracking of your rolling stock is to weight them to the NMRA standards. You will be amazed at the improvement. Most 3-rail rolling stock is much too light.

Here are all the NMRA standards.

obtain a rectangular piece of Clear Plexiglas about the size of a typical freight car or passenger car.  

drill holes at truck locations to attach trucks at each end of the Plex.  Attach them. Now you can hand roll the Plex car over the switches and see where the wheels are having issues with the rails.

Thanks all! I like the idea of the plexiglass 'car' on trucks - thanks AlanHN. Rich, thanks for the NMRA weight standards - now I need some digital kitchen scales. I will get an NMRA gauge tool. As Peter suggests, I think there is some jumping at the frog.

My current grief is from a Lionel Fruit Growers Express rail sounds car 1926080. It intermittently derails at a Gargraves switch, seems to jump and head in the diverging route instead of straight. Slow speeds (I rarely exceed speed step 3 on the Legacy remote) and no ballast. Just this one switch, others seem fine, most of the time. All my passenger cars and the majority of rolling stock negotiate this switch without derailment. I will attempt a slo-mo video later.

@Bob "O" posted:

Thanks all! I like the idea of the plexiglass 'car' on trucks - thanks AlanHN. Rich, thanks for the NMRA weight standards - now I need some digital kitchen scales. I will get an NMRA gauge tool. As Peter suggests, I think there is some jumping at the frog.

My current grief is from a Lionel Fruit Growers Express rail sounds car 1926080. It intermittently derails at a Gargraves switch, seems to jump and head in the diverging route instead of straight. Slow speeds (I rarely exceed speed step 3 on the Legacy remote) and no ballast. Just this one switch, others seem fine, most of the time. All my passenger cars and the majority of rolling stock negotiate this switch without derailment. I will attempt a slo-mo video later.

Bob,

Go to your local "Wally World " and purchase a postal scale for weighing your cars. 

Don't bother with an NMRA  gauge tool, there's no  standards with O gauge track.

If it's only one switch at the frog, check the alignment of the rails to the frog. Gargraves switches sometimes have the rails and frogs misaligned.  I don't know of an easy fix other than filling in the frog and then cutting a  new path for the wheels. Have a similar problem with a few O-42 switches.

Use wider curves, that usually really helps with derailments, especially with longer trains.

I also agree with Rich, proper weight for the cars is pretty key.  When configuring your consist, heavier cars at the front, lighter cars farther back, just like real prototype railroads.  Check the gauging of the wheels, I've seen quite a few cars with wheels that are far enough out of gauge to cause issues on switches.

On rolling stock I’ve had too much crud buildup on the wheels looking like an oring causing the wheel to lift up going thru Ross switches. Cleaned the wheel and all was OK. I know it sounds crazy but check the wheels. 

Light weight, silly-tight curves in most of 3RO, picking the switch points (not all flanges are created equal - Weaver wheels had flanges with a blunter edge - they would climb, here and there), un-compatible "compatible" couplers (when all the tolerances move to the wrong end of the spectrum), non-articulated couplers as found on "non-premier" (MTH or not) rolling stock. These are a few of my favorite things, as the song goes. Not all of them are problematic all the time, though.

Then there's the track work.

Don't forget the possible issues with "S" curves as well.  

I found the problem! The guard rail on the straight main rail is plastic and had broken loose and was sitting to close to the rail. On the particular car having trouble, the guard rail pushed the wheel towards the camera causing it to jump the frog and take the diverging route. In the picture, I have CA glued the guard rail back into position, maybe a little wider than originally placed. ALL my cars now go through this turnout without problem.

Thanks everyone for the many thoughts - maybe the beginning of a how-to guide to identify the cause of derailments.

Bob

The Plex car idea was taken from HO ones.  No one makes an O-gauge version.

On the one I made, I added a flexible centerwire from the front truck to the rear truck.  At the center of the centerwire on the Plex I added gauge marks and a marker(a small triangular arrowhead glued to the centerwire). So that as the trucks move about a curve the wire bends and the attached marker shows the actual track curve diameter on the Plex at that point. 

If you hand bend track or connect different curve diameter tracks, the gauge will show the diameter at the measuring point is 036", 042", 072" or whatever.

I made the gauge rotating the Plex car around known track diameters and marking lines on the plex correspondingly.  The 036-080"  marks appear logarithmic. Track curvatures over 072" satisfies my minimum diameter, so I didn't go much higher.

Congratulations on fixing it and thanks for reporting the solution. That adds to the collective knowledge base.

When the CA breaks, you can scrape it off and then use epoxy.

@AlanRail posted:

The Plex car idea was taken from HO ones.  No one makes an O-gauge version.

On the one I made, I added a flexible centerwire from the front truck to the rear truck.  At the center of the centerwire on the Plex I added gauge marks and a marker(a small triangular arrowhead glued to the centerwire). So that as the trucks move about a curve the wire bends and the attached marker shows the actual track curve diameter on the Plex at that point.

If you hand bend track or connect different curve diameter tracks, the gauge will show the diameter at the measuring point is 036", 042", 072" or whatever.

I made the gauge rotating the Plex car around known track diameters and marking lines on the plex correspondingly.  The 036-080"  marks appear logarithmic. Track curvatures over 072" satisfies my minimum diameter, so I didn't go much higher.

Quite impressive engineering there. If you made such a car for sale I would buy one! Well done Sir.

"When the CA breaks, you can scrape it off and then use epoxy."

RoyBoy, Thanks for the tip. Epoxy is more durable than CA glue, I am assuming. Do you use the widely available 5 minute, 2 part epoxies?

Bob

By epoxy you mean JB weld two part quick set from home depot, I think

@Mike23 posted:

By epoxy you mean JB weld two part quick set from home depot, I think

Actually, the "JB Kuick" product is much faster & better for model RR repairs, as "JB Weld" tends to take over 12 hours to cure.