Loco Stalling on Double Turn-out

Is it loosing ground on the straight because of the two insulated non-derailing rails and the frog?

Did you supply the small section between the two switches with outside rail power?

Other problem could be a traction tire not allowing the path of electricity thru the common rail side.

One cure that I did on one of my diesel engines was to replace the plastic wheels on an SD-45 with metal wheels, usually it is the inside wheelset or the wheelset that don't have a gear.

 

Lee F.

Guys thanks for the replies. I did not supply direct ground to the small insulated 1 3/8 piece. The problem is worse on the two turnouts in a row that you see on the inner loop on the left of the picture. It also does it in my yard where I have 4 turnouts in a row. Since it is only this engine I am guessing it is losing ground due to traction tires as you suggest. I'm not sure how to fix that?? When I get home I will post a pic o the trucks and maybe you will notice the problem. Thanks as always. Jay in Ottawa

This is only a suggestion but you might want to consider putting power and ground wires to the track between the switches in question, it couldn't hurt...

 

Marty

Guys,

Here is some pictures of my wheels. Anyone see an issue with the traction tires? I did notice it was different than my GP38 for which side the traction tires were on. Thanks.

 

Jay in Ottawa

I note that your locomotive only has a single pickup roller on each truck. I think that if you measure the distance between the 2 pickup rollers on your locomotive, you will probably find that it matches the distance between dead spots on your centre rail as you go through your switches. I had a similar problem with one of my locomotives, and ended up adjusting my track design slightly to solve the problem.

Nicole,

I finally had some time and you are exactly correct. The single pick-ups end up spaced exactly on the dead parts of the center rail. I would really hate to redo my whole track plan for this single locomotive.

Does anyone have any clever ideas of how to fix this? Is it possible to add another pick-up roller to each truck?

Thanks as always.

 

Jay

Is it possible to turn one pickup roller 180 degrees so it faces the opposite direction? That may be enough to avoid the dead spot.

I don't know if Lionel has double rollers, but I solved a similar problem on my MTH engine by installing a double roller on one end.

.....

Dennis

The double roller change is probably the simple way to fix this.  

Atlas SW9 roller assembly.  (4) pick-ups may be enough to bridge the problem.   Power routing with relays works also, but is complex.

 

Also check continuity between each roller, one might have a broken wire.

 

Bill

Thanks to all for the help. I will try a double roller assembly. Bill how do I check the roller continuity in the mean time? I am a novice when it comes to fixing locos. Thanks Jay in Ottawa

Jay

 

   If you have multi-meter, volt ohm etc. If you have a diode and speaker symbol, select that and put one lead on one roller and the other lead on the opposit roller. If you hear a tone the connection is fine, if not you might have a broke wire on one of the rollers.

 

Bill

Thanks Bill. I'll give it a try this weekend.

 

Jay