Loco stops on switches

Do you have a circuit tester? Or continuity checker? Odds are its losing power from the center rail. But you can check both. Can you park right at its stalled position? Then start with center rail power first clamp one end of the checker to hot and touch it off to all rollers. See if you can find the break in the circuit. It maybe a bum roller.

I have a couple that have a similar problem, though not every switch, just specific types.  I have cured them by running a line from the tender and adding a pickup to get power to them even if both locomotive rollers are not powered.

Since you state at least one roller is still on center rail power, I would check continuity of both center rollers.  Sometime the wire lead breaks inside the insulation and only one pick up is providing power.  So when it hits the dead spot it stops.  G

I was thinking of doing the same thing for my 2 0-8-0's that stop of a few switches.  Can you show some photos of how you did it.  Did you add an extra roller or use one of the ones already on the tender?

I used an existing roller on the tender for one, and for an A-A MTH set, I added the roller that was a bolt-in for the unit, the truck already had the cutout for a roller.  I have added a roller to a tender, it was a bit of a PITA as I had to do some hacking.  I have one I'm going to add to the MTH GS4 when I do my TMCC conversion, it has the same problem.

 

I don't happen to have any pictures, but when I do the MTH I'll make a point of snapping a few.

John

 

The tender already has 2 pick up rollers to power the RS, would I be able to just splice wires into that and run wires too the locomotive from there or should the locomotive wiring be separate from the RS?

 

BTW this is a Lionel Legacy 0-8-0 that I want to do this on, not sure if that matters on how it is done.

 

Thanks

I had one or two MTH steam locomotive models that had the pick-up rollers too far apart, and stopped on my Atlas No. 5 switches. I went to my local hobby shop (certified MTH repair service) and purchased additional pick-up roller and mounting assemblies. The MTH Tech. man even told me what the color of the "hot/pick-up" wire was, so that I could splice into THAT wire.

 

By simply adding a pick-up roller assembly on the locomotive's tender (there was NOT one originally), I had no more stopping issues.

OK, I checked it over, and good continuity all around - between rollers, pilot and drive wheels, everywhere.  When it stalls, it usually needs to be moved just a tiny amount to get it to "come to" - maybe 1/4".  At least one roller is on a center rail, and at least a few wheels are touching an active outside rail.  It doesn't make any sense.  If it had a flywheel, there'd be no problem.  By the way, you guessed it - no pickup rollers on the tender.  I'll check it out in a few different stall positions, and see if I can find out any more.

 

It doesn't make a difference what locomotive type, works for any steamer.  Obviously, there shouldn't be a problem connecting the pickups, they're supposed to be all at the same voltage.

 

One minor point, which happens as a normal course of running to a lesser degree, when you transition power districts, you'll have the two districts connected through the track pickups for a longer period of time.  That's not normally an issue, but it is a point to consider.  Obviously parking the locomotive across the boundary will power both, even if one is turned off.

 

 

I had the same indications with the ones I've converted, they clearly seem to be sitting on a live rail, yet don't run.  It's obviously a power issue, because adding the pickup to the tender (or dummy unit) fixes the problem.

One key dimension concerning switches, is the distance between the gap in the 3rd Rail. If that gap is, say 4 1/4 inches, then your pick-up rollers MUST be at least 4 1/2 inches apart.

 

A pair of pick-up rollers on the engine portion only, and being only say 3 1/2 to 4 inches apart, will sure give you stopping problems on most switches.

OK, thanks guys, it looks like it's time for a pickup roller on the tender.  The rollers now are 4 3/8" apart, which should be OK on my O54 switches.  All my other locos are OK on these but, like you say John, it doesn't have to make sense!

Put a little lubricant on each pickup roller.  one drop of oil should do.  It could be a bad connection and the oil will help clean it up.

Joe, I’ve got to give you credit. I’ll admit I didn’t think that would be the solution, but today I lubed the roller axles (not the surface of the rollers themselves) and darned if that didn’t solve the problem completely. It now tracks through all of my switches without a hitch. Lesson learned!

49 Lionel:  Is there any possiblity that you could install more pickup rollers on either the engine or the tender?  I guarantee that your problems would be resolved if you could add two more rollers to the equation.  I have a Weaver Little Joe.  Great engine, especially if you want it to pull.  It has 16 wheels powered and could pull the rails around the layout.  But, it did have pick-up problems and with the K-Line Cruise Control, the engine would stop, immediatly, and wait until further commands would make it continue forward.  I installed two more roller and, it's amazing; the problems went away.  The Weaver engine had some open areas right at the center of the engine, and that's where I was able to install the extra pick-up rollers.  What a difference in operation.

 

Paul Fischer

it could be that when the first flanged wheel goes over the frog it lifts the engine up just enough to break the common rail connection because one of the traction tires is the only contact with the electrified outside rail. I've had this happen with Ross switches.

romiller

Everyone seems to always make things so complicated. All you need to do is replace one, this usually takes care of the problem, or both of the roller pickups on the engine with a longer one.

 

I had this issue with a Lionel Atlantic that would stall on my #6 Ross switches. Installed a roller pickup from a Lionel PRR M1a, which is longer, and the problem was fixed.

 

Lionel sells several roller pickups that are longer and this usually fixes the problem without modifying tenders, running wires etc.

 

 

I always seem to have a knack of ending the threads. I guess I'm just special.

And if that doesn't work, do you put two long rollers on?  Spreading the pickups to the tender works 100% of the time as a rule, because it's really rare to have that large a dead space.

And if that doesn't work, do you put two long rollers on? Yes if need to but installing one works.

 

So don't complicate matters with unnecessary modifications to the engine. You destroy the looks if it has a wireless tether and quite possibly reduce the value if you ever want to sell it.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, guys, but as you'll see in my last post above, the problem was solved simply by lubricating the roller axles.  I love it when there's such a simple solution!

And how did I come to learn this little gem?  I had the same problem with a diesel engine.  It would stall on switches.  I checked continuity and everything seemed ok.  In checking my rollers I had noticed that they were not spinning freely so I put one drop of oil on its axle and wiped up all excess.  That was 2 years ago but since then I lube every roller with just one drop of oil.  If you look at the old Lionel manuals they stated to lubricate the rollers.  I guess they knew what they were talking about

I always lube the rollers, maybe why that issue hasn't gotten me.   I still have a couple that the spacing of the rollers causes issues over switches.  Since they both happen to be PS/2 locomotives, I can just add the wire internally to the tender from the pickups on the tender, job done.  The power comes over to the PS/2 boards, and there's even a convenient empty spot for a second center rail wire, I slip a contact into that.  I also recommend a PTC in the 4-6 amp range in series with the added pickup wire to guard against derailments shorting the rollers between the tender and engine.