@greg773 that's what's up.
I'm planning to run live coal loads with aquarium sand and I sure hope the locomotives I have are up to the task. They aren't exactly light trains.
I was pulling 50 boxcars with a K-Line scale B&O Mikado, TMCC without cruise, everything was running great for thirty minutes or so until it stopped dead and smoke poured out from underneath.
I smoked the motor.
Having has the loco for along time and pulling long trains with it, I wasn’t concerned, but it happened.
After that happened, I limit a single motored loco like the one above that I smoked to 25-30 cars.
@BillYo414 posted:@greg773 that's what's up.
I'm planning to run live coal loads with aquarium sand and I sure hope the locomotives I have are up to the task. They aren't exactly light trains.
you're better off using real coal, its lighter
@BillYo414 posted:@greg773 that's what's up.
I'm planning to run live coal loads with aquarium sand
Why ? You can make a false bottom in your hoppers so the coal is only a 1/4" deep, or less ? j
@Craignor posted:I was pulling 50 boxcars with a K-Line scale B&O Mikado, TMCC without cruise, everything was running great for thirty minutes or so until it stopped dead and smoke poured out from underneath.
I smoked the motor.
K Line scale steamers use a smaller motor than most other O guage brands. It was likely the worst possible choice for 50 cars. 30 minutes is a long time considering the load though LOL!
@Dave Koehler posted:you're better off using real coal, its lighter
I saw somebody say real coal can be sprayed with matte clear coat to cut down on the dust. I read that right after I made the post in this thread and now I'm very much considered just using real coal.
@JohnActon posted:Why ? You can make a false bottom in your hoppers so the coal is only a 1/4" deep, or less ? j
Because I was hoping to actually unload the cars with an animated bottom unloader. The goal is to have that bottom unloader feed into a coal mine on the lower level of the layout. That was the dream when I started the layout but right now I'm just trying to get two loops completed.
I would suggest doing what I do on my G scale layout outback. I build (or our grandson builds) a train up. I grab the lead car and pull it up the slight incline on the layout ( just under 2%). I then determine how many engines are needed. It's always surprising just how much force is needed to climb the hill.
Sure, I can run the MTH one gauge Triplex and throw all the cars on the rails at her. She will do the job.
I noticed that my diesels were burning off their traction tires fairly early. I also noticed that our grandson sometimes ran one or two diesels and too many cars. I told him that 3 diesels were needed and I think he felt that they usually acted up when too many engines were run. It was actually the engines he picked. He has a preference to run stuff that hasn't been run much or lately. Usually there's a reason like a thrown tire or other issue. I can't blame him. I can run more power to make them last longer. I just have to keep them all tuned up for his visits. I have a habit of throwing an engine back on the shelf and steering clear of it until I forget what went wrong on the last session. I might need to start flagging engines to remind me of their issues.
I had a rash of broken electro-couplers. The KDs I use aren't electric. I have never had one fail yet. I have to install them universally on the whole fleet. I probably got half way? I also installed ball bearings in many cars' axles.
That Triplex got one early in her career here. I think she has the perfect balance of power and weight.
Now all this changes when it's too hot outside. Our grandsons don't get it. They don't seem to adjust for the conditions until I force them to. I had to learn the hard way just how hard these toy trains are working.
Followup to original post:
I finally got Kadees installed in the new GGD passenger cars so I could test the advice given. I pulled 9 GGD scale 2-rail passenger cars and 1 Weaver B60 baggage car (as a transition coupler car) behind a K-line scale PRR K4s on level track with O-72 curves. Current at idle measured on a Z4000 was 0.3-0.4 amps.
Here is the engine running alone at slow speed:
The ammeter is a bit jumpy, but is mostly reading 0.4-0.7 amps
Here is the engine pulling the cars at passenger train speed:
This reading is really jumpy. My best guess here is 1.8-2.2 amps on average.
The 2-rail GGD cars are much lighter than MTH scale 3-rail heavyweights and have surprisingly little rolling resistance. The K-line K4 had no trouble starting and pulling the cars at a crawl or pulling them at speed.
So, any thoughts about the current draw? Is the jumpy reading even reliable? (sorry I don't have a Fluke 
). Is it too much current to sustain with the small K-line motor?
Bob
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