New MTH NW J Class Loco stalls or shuts down

Do you have the wireless draw bar keeper in place?  Check voltage on both sides of the switch.  Had same problem. Found a missing center rail pin missing. one Gargrave track . Check to see if the switch is isolated a volt meter can be your best friend

@PRR posted:

....a volt meter can be your best friend

This!

Yeap! There's a good chance that something isn't doing it's job. One of the wires inside maybe off? or not carrying the power?

Lay the loco on it's side on something soft, and check to see that the pick-up rollers are both connected. (should be two sets at least?)

If there a pick-up on the tender? You may have to add one to cross any dead spots on your layout. Most mid to large diesels will run over these without issue.

A steamer can rock or the pick-ups not touch and loose power.

Check that both sides of the loco's wheels and the tender are connected (with the suggested meter).

Can you post a picture of the bottom of the loco and tender?

Given the fact that it happens at three different locations, I would suspect that you do have issues with all sections of the track getting sufficient voltage, especially with FT, and would re-check the entire layout with a DVM. You may also need more power drops to various sections of your track to insure good connectivity or even to hardwire some sections. There are many Forum threads and videos on how to correct FT connectivity issues.

Some engines seem to be more sensitive to even small voltage losses than others or have their pick-up rollers spaced differently than other engines, so the fact that other engines run ok does not always mean the track is ok, so I'd look at voltage and connectivity first, before anything else. 

Are other locomotives stalling in the same area or just the J? If it's just the J I would make sure the drawbar is tight and that there are no wires pulling out of the connectors.

@Gerhardt posted:

Hi all,

....At 3 different points on my layout the locomotive stalls or goes into the shut down sequence.

...It does it at the same spots. One is a switch, one a straight track and one on a curve track.

...and none of my other locomotives are having issues so I don’t believe it to be a system fault. Any ideas on what I can check?  What I’ve done so far:

2. checked and reaffixed wireless drawbar to heat audible click.

Thanks for any advice. It’s such a beautiful loco and kind of takes the wind out of your sails when it’s new and not working!

Thanks again and looking forward to your thoughts.

G

so he does say what you are suggesting, right? I know it still could be issues but.....

G , are the center pickups parallel and not sticking slightly when depressed several times ?

Also when you turn the J over and lined it up with your working locos is the distance between the pickups the same ?  🤔

Thanks to all for your suggestions so far. I will have a look tonight after I put the kids to sleep, get pictures and try these things and update.  

There's connections inside that can come apart too. Sometimes handling the engine and tender while connecting can cause these to come apart.

adding a roller:

https://ogrforum.com/...-to-mth-steam-engine

https://ogrforum.com/...-pickup-to-an-engine

https://ogrforum.com/...-ps2-and-ps3-engines

I have the same issue with 2 of my new MTH Imperial diesels passing over a FastTrack switch. I used copper tape to extend the center rail power. It fixed one engine. The other is still an issue. At speed, no issue.   Check to be sure you have continuity between front and rear pick ups. Good luck.

Hi all and thanks for your responses.  Here is a picture of the underside of the loco.  No pickups on the tender.  

What I'm really trying to get the answer to is if there is an issue with my locomotive and I need to send it in to an MTH shop under warranty?  Unfortunately this is a bigger problem for me as nearest one is 300 miles away.  I hope that gives some context to the problem solving. Now, here are my discoveries:

1. One roller was not quite going as far down, so I adjusted it.  This helped somewhat, especially when smoke unit was off it functioned with only a little pause but didn't stop completely on the spots anymore.

2.  When smoke unit is on, the loco is a bit erratic with speed control and slows and speeds up.  It is also more likely to "stop" at the points previously discussed at speeds under 10 mph.  This is probably my bigger concern about whether there is an issue with the loco. The erratic speeds being something I haven't had an issue with other locomotives using DCS.

3.  I used my awesome K-line Voltmeter car and went over the problem tracks and there was a slight and sudden drop on the straight section.  My theory is that the distance between pickups on this loco is slightly different than any others I have and therefore I have never noticed this problem before, even though it exists. The diesels are much closer together and some of my other steam engines are further apart. Not sure what the solution would be on the switches other than what Toledo Ed mentioned above.  Please comment on whether this theory makes sense.  I can certainly swap out the tracks I'm having issue with and see if that solves that spot.

There's always a loco on most layouts that will point out where the issues are. So you fix that loco or you fix the layout.

You have to decide that. Most members would suggest to fix the layout so you can run anything. Some here, will just point out that it's that loco's issue.

The fact that it runs different with the smoke on and you found power dips, points out to me that the layout needs attention first.

By adding a roller on the tender, you not only spread out the area that the engine can span to help with power, it spreads out the power draw on each point. I have steamers that after time develop issues from all the power pick-up focused, causing actual damage (in my opinion). So I add pick-up points to help curtail this issue.

I run mainly two rail so I see different issues with different engines. My 6 axle larger diesels are mostly fool proof. My steam, always seems to need attention of some type. It's been that way all my life. That makes me favor diesels even as toys!

My guests always prefer steam. So I'm stuck with the extra work.

Oh yes, there are numerous posts about fast track losing connection when getting old or taken apart many times. Easy fixes for those are to crimp the ends I believe?

If swapping out some trackage doesn't work, you can try altering/staggering the joint configuration. For instance, if you have two 10" straights in a row,  you could use 5, 10 5 and that may help.

And you could try swapping the switches around, too, to see if that makes a difference.

If the switches are still an issue, try directly connecting the pos/neg rails on the track next to the divergent curved turnout to the pos/neg rails on the switch with clips and see if that helps when you run the engine straight through. You can keep mixing and matching this test with all 3 tracks that connect to the switch. If it helps then you can hardwire one of the tracks to the switch to increase connectivity.

And what Joe said, plus slightly bending the center rail tabs to make better contact with each other,

I was looking for any pitting marks on the wheels or obvious problems. (like dirt)

Did you lubricate all the points before running?

Is there continuity between the two rollers on the engine? = 0 Ohms on the meter (or close to 0 with wiring, etc.).

Also make sure that there's continuity between the wheels.

Sometimes MTH 3/2 steam loses power from the wheel sides if the engine rocks and doesn't have all the wheels wired together. I don't know about this RK model?

There was a post about the rollers themselves lifting the engine over track issues and switches enough to loose power. If you pressed down lightly on the engine on a dead spot and it ran, that may point out this? or point out track power loss?

It's always hard to tell what's wrong over the internet.

New rollers can be ordered from MTH. Would advise calling them they must have parts still in stock. If you registered it with MTH, if under warranty give then the purchased date.  They sent me a new keeper for my PRR steam Just before the warranty was up.  Have ordered rollers before that was a couple of years ago