PS2 HUDSON QUESTION

Dirty rollers, wheels, or track.  The other possibility is poor power feed to those areas.  If the speed control can't keep the speed up, it remembers and tries to "catch up" which results in the jumping you see.

Thank you.  This is the only loco that does the jump start thing, so I will check the rollers etc.

Do your other engines have speed control?  If other engines run fine through that section of track then cleanliness and power feeds are probably OK.  Of course that doesn't explain why this train only acts up at that section of the track?

If other trains slow down at that area the power feeds are a prime suspect.

MTH Engine still should not jump.  It does try to maintain speed.  In this case (conventional) it is not remembering a speed setting, but rather responding to track voltage and adjusting speed accordingly.

If the train acts jerky in other areas, I would also check for loose side rods and possible mechanical binding.  G

Correct me if I am wrong but can't the "cruise" function be turned on and off for conventional running? Is it possible this feature got somehow turned off?

Pete

This may sound silly, but I had a loco that would do this.  I used it to pull long passenger cars. I eventually found that back in a tunnel, the long cars were bumping an upper level support as they went around a curve.

No cruise control setting here.  Just an adjustment for smoke and sound located under the tender.  This is the first time I have had this problem.  It does not affect other engines.

If you have the manual, it will show you how to turn the cruise control on-off in Conventional

Have you looked at the tach reader board? It may be loose, or too far from the flywheel, or the tape might be coming loose from the flywheel.

No bell button on a KW transformer, Larry3railotrain.  Tach reader is not loose but how could one tell if it is too close or far from the fly wheel.  Striped tape is secure.

What John says. I have an Atlas 3R layout with a lot of switch sections and what you describe happened all over the place.

Things I did:

1) Cleaned rollers and wheels thoroughly (wheels can get caked with gunk).

2) Got Deoxit (can't remember the type) to apply to rollers and clean the track.

3) Added rollers. My MTH diesels all have the 2-roller pickups for four rollers total.

4) Added line drops at trouble sections. 1 drop for each of the 9 rail ends on an Atlas switch.

5) Switched from conventional to DCS. Not full DCS, bought a DCS Commander console. Sort of DCS lite but does apply 18 volts to the track and PS2's and 3's love it.

I have 3 Hudsons, 1 PS3 and 2 PS2 and all run nice and smooth at all sections of the track. Before I made those changes it was no fun. Jerking ahead, stalling and the horn sounding over switch sections.

S

I got a Legacy Lite for my one and only TMCC engine, a Lionmaster Challenger.  I really like it and the way it can do so many neat things.  Since I like that yellow belly Hudson so much I may have to go the DCS Lite route as well.  Can I get by with the 50-1033 remote for $49.95?

Tape-reader gap to be 0.75-1.25mm.