(new) RTR Railking PS2 F40 derails at realtrax switches

Litegide24,

   You are not going to like this answer, your problem is exactly why I go rid of my

MTH RealTrax, and invested in Lionel FasTrack and use old 072 and 711 Lionel switches.  When I realized some of MTH's own trains would not run thru their own switches, without derailing,  I looked for an engineering set up that would accommodate all my different engines and rolling stock.   Years ago when I asked MTH if they tested all their trains on their own track before selling them, I could not get a straight answer.   It's even worse when dealing with Tin Plate, because they are reproducing the original Lionel Tin.   You are going to be stuck with a train you can not run on MTH's own track, because they did not test run the train thru their own switches, before they released the train for sale.  I doubt they will even take the train back, maybe if you purchased thru a dealer, you might get a swap on a different train.    In the old days Frank at the Iron Horse here in Pittsburgh, Pa would have made this right for ya, if you had purchased at his store.  I know cause he made it right for me.  You might rework your train, but to me that is not the way to go on a brand new item.

PCRR/Dave

Liteguide24:

I have told my MTH RealTrax story on this forum more than once, so I will just give you the highlights so that you understand that others have had the same problem (PCRR/Dave and me, minimum).  After screwing down over $1100 worth of RealTrax on a new layout, I had nothing but problems with the switches.  I was using 042 and 054, and I was lucky if I could keep 4 of the 16 operating faithfully.

I even shot a video and sent it to MTH to show them what was happening and help them identify the problems.  Some of my engines would "hang up" and stop dead on the switches at slow speed.  Others would bump and bang their way through and sometimes derail.  Some would just plain derail every time they hit a switch.

My first layout had 031 MTH switches, and they worked flawlessly and continue to work perfectly after 10 years of use, so I was really perplexed as to why the new ones were giving me all this trouble.  I returned the switches to my local hobby shop where I bought them, and they would be replaced with new ones, with no better performance.  I even ended up going to MTH headquarters and meeting with Andy and showing him the problem.  He exchanged them for fresh ones directly from his inventory, with apologies for my troubles.

The problem persisted, however.  After hours and hours of frustration, I refused to continue with this headache and returned all track and switches.

Since your layout has been running without problem with the exception of the new engine, there is obviously an issue with the undercarriage design of that engine that is causing the trouble.  You are fortunate that your other motive power is not affected.

Continue to work with MTH to resolve the problem.  Although they would not admit to the inferior workmanship of the switches, (and it was obvious), they worked with me to make it right.  I know many people have voiced their dissatisfaction with MTH, but Andy made himself available to assist me with my issues, and wanted to make sure the problem was solved.  Be firm and insist on a resolution, which may require you to return the engine, or they could possibly advise you as to what to adjust or file off or move under the engine to fix the problem, although I never found a solution, and I have a pretty good background in things mechanical.

I hope this helps.  My roster of 14 engines is 100% MTH, and I have had few problems with any of them.  My DCS system and Z4000 transformer runs perfectly after many years of use.  I hope it's nothing more than an adjustment.  Good luck.

Mike 

Dave and Mike thanks for the very informative replies.  Above is the layout that shows the realtrax switch locations.

Actually bought two RTR sets.  I had been saving little bits of $ all year in my PayPal slush fund.  I bought them both from Aaron's  city trains, they were very nice and fast shippers.  I ordered two days before Christmas so they arrived yesterday.

Set number 1 - SD70aCE set arrived with a harpoon through it . Evidentially UPS knew what they did because they had a striped arrow pointing to the deep hole in the  outerbox.    I opened the outer brown MTH box and the harpoon went straight through the inner set box.  Now I was starting to get scared.  The set was still sealed in plastic.  The colorful top of the box was mint but the back is another story.  when Ipulled the top off and looked at the individual boxes it was unfortunately he engine box the had a hole right through into it.  I slid off the damaged styrofoam and the engine appeared to be ok with no physical damage but whatever penetrated this box came up right into the front wheel set of the engine.  I took photos of the box before during and after unpacking.  Anyway, the Ace70 is awesome and so are the cars!  The only thing is that the engine  has a knock at the wheel set that took the hit.  This engine rolls but something inside is slapping the shell pretty hard and it's sluggish.  This engine as way bigger than the Amtrak f40 and runs the layouts 15 switches no problem.  I called the hobby shop (Aaron's Train City) and they are going to follow up with UPS.  I definitely want the same engine and it would be nice to get a new box too.

I have an older MTH railking Sd90 (very small rtr version), Amtrak f59 railking, Premier GP-38 2, F3ABA Railking (scale), 0-8-0 steam and 0-6-0 steam and they all negotiate the switches.

I told the guy at MTH today (Ben) about this and informed the hobby shop.  I am going to give a video of this happening, will probably play follow the leader with about four engines so they can see all are AOK except the new F40.  The new F40 is super smoth and quiet, very nice engine, excellent sound, ditch lights, smoke nd nice paint.

I have done very little posting on the new forum, maybe if I can fgure how to put a video clip on here...

All this track is ballasted (including the switches) so its a huge job to just swap out the rack...