Wondered if I added traction tires to this would it make it pull more? I tried to have it pull 1 r16 subway end car but it just spun its tires.
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I think you're probably whistling in the wind. If you added traction tires, you'd only have two wheels in contact with the rails, power dropouts would be a major factor, especially if you use insulated rails for signaling. When I converted a couple of RMT BEEP locomotives to TMCC, one of the things I did was get rid of the traction tires as they caused the little guy to stall on almost every switch.
One possibility is to cut grooves across the wheels. I have a little MTH 0-4-0 that I also converted to TMCC, and it has grooves. It makes it noisy, but it's able to pull a dozen boxcars up a 2% grade, not to shabby for four wheels with no traction tires.
Good point John thank you. Ill just let him pull lighter weight trains. Have a good one.
Another factor is motor load. Add traction tires and you're adding load to the motor which, if it's an eentsy one to start with, could very well burn the motor up. Don't ask me how I found this out.
Mitch
I can pull 4 scale modern cars on level track in my industrial switching area. The key I believe is the cars have to be fairly free rolling. One of our club members tried pulling about eight cars with a little help to get it moving. It went half way around the layout before it was toast!
I managed to pull three Menard's boxcars with mine, that was it's limit. With four, it was just spinning it's wheels. Menards boxcars have more rolling resistance than modern cars with needle-point axles, so it's probably possible to pull five or six of those. I was able to pull one MTH Premier Amtrak Superliner, but two was a no-go. Personally, I'd stick to one or two boxcars or equivalent, as Mitch says, the motor is a really tiny one, and they aren't the most robust motors on the planet.
I would try Bull Frog snot on one wheel. It doubled the cars I could pull with my '40s era Post War steamers that only had nickel tires, no magnetraction.
Pete
Pete, I'd be pretty worried about cooking the motor. It really does have an anemic little motor, and the gearing isn't all that good either.
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As long as you don't add too many cars it won't increase the load on the motor. In real life these things only move one or two cars.
Pete
True, with one or two cars, you shouldn't need traction tires. I don't see this guy operating on any grades, I'd be pretty careful trying to increase it's traction too much.
FWIW, just as a test, I added a chunk of lead (a bit over 1 pound) on top, and it made a huge difference. However, I don't have any plans to try to enhance it's traction, it's good enough the way it is for me.