Put my new MTH ALCO R-3 Diesel on the Fastrack. It has double "Pick Up Rollers".
When going in one direction over a switch straight on it hits a dead spot and stops immediately.
When I turn it around and run it over the same FASTRACK SWITCH it works fine. I do see hesitation tho.
My two other engines have no such problem.
Any thoughts?
Thx,
Bill Stanley
Spokane, WA
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Possibly one of the rollers isn't connected. Easy enough to check, just turn it over, touch one hot wire to a wheel and the other to each roller in turn. Why it only stops in one direction is a mystery, but the stopping problem sounds a lot like a dead pickup.
I know it sounds screwy but I bet your problem is with the truck that has traction tires. When you turn the engine around you put the traction tires on the other rail. Check and I bet you will find that the wheels without tires will be on insulated rail and the only wheels that are picking up power are the ones with the tires on them.
Al
Bill,
Is this a 3-rail/2-rail capable engine?
This is 3 Rail O Gauge. I just put in new FASTRACK REMOTE SWITCHES and they work fine. So, Switches ALL work.
My other TWO MTH Engines work over the same switches with no problem, so
something is wrong with the engine I surmise. The TWO good engines have 2 single Roller Pickups, where the PROBLEM ENGINE has 2 SETS of 2 Pick Up Rollers.
Isn't the battery supposed to take over in those situations?
I checked each set of rollers and they all had power.
Thanks.
Mr. Bill
Bill,
One more time:
Is this a 3-rail/2-rail capable engine?
It makes a difference.
Nothing about 2 Rail mentioned in the description on MTHTRAINS.COM
It's a Railking 30-20024-1 that operates on O-27.
Nothing about 2 Rail mentioned in the description on MTHTRAINS.COM
Look in your instruction manual for any mention of a 2-rail/3-rail switch.
No, there is no mention of 2 track option in instruction booklet.
Talked with a Tech today at Trainz.com.
This particular engine has a shorter frame than others and therefore it may not
hit the hot spots at the right time thus coming up dead and stopping.
I'll so some more research over the weekend, before I give up and send it back.
Problem seems to have more to do with where the pick up roller is NOT when approaching the switch. It seems to go to the side and thus does not make contact with middle rail.
Thx all for input.
Mr. Bill
Run the engine through the switch slowly. When it stops turn all the power off. Then slowly tilt the engine to the side and see where the pickup rollers are. At least one must be on a powered center rail. If one is on a powered center rail is at least one set of non traction tire wheels on a grounded outside rail? If these conditions are met then you have an engine problem. If one of these conditions are at fault then the problem is with the track dementions.
An example. Had a gentlemen at the club today running a steam engine that would always stop at the same place. He would check it and it would run again around the layout, about 100 feet, and stop at the same place. He felt it was a TMCC problem because he could always get it going again by turning the red knob. When watching the engine run I noticed that when it stopped the headlight would go out momentarly. I checked the engine and found the trailing truck on the tender had one wheel off the track. This one wheel would make it all the way around the layout and then bounce going through one switch causing a momentary short causing the TMCC to drop out. Now the engine would go through four other switches with no problem, just at the one switch. The moral of the story, there is no substitute for carefull observation.
Al
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