RMT Ore Car Derailing Problem

Do we assume that you speak only of the curved path over the turnouts?

Do we assume that by "O-31" you refer to the regular Lionel turnouts oft called "022" type?

Are the derailing ore cars in the middle of the train, or coupled to the engine?

  --jcr

John,

   It sounds like you purchased two coal cars that will only operate on 072 type switches, or bigger.  What specs were on the RMT box?   I have Weaver rolling stock from my Masonic train that spec out in the same manner, 048 rolling stock, no way they run thru Lionel 022 switches.

PCRR/Dave

cooperthebeagle...A few suggestions...

1. Check the airhose detail piece that is normally attached to the top of coupler shank...it may be slightly disloged or bent.

2. Check that the trucks on errant cars swivel freely and do not bind.

3. Check clearance on flangeway of the switches.

4. Check wheel spacing by comparing errant cars to wheel spacing of non-derailing cars. Wheels may have been pressed on too tightly at factory.

Let me know how you make out on this. I will try best efforts to help you.

Pine Creek Railroad...John purchased ore cars not coal cars.

Thanks.

Walter M. Matuch/RMT

www.readymadetoys.com

I will post answer and comments to above.  Thanks for the responses, by the way...

Rail Reading:  excellent points of clarity....

It happens on the straight.  So the switch is unswitched.  Basically, the train is going around an oval and I am not diverting it via the switch.

I am using Real Trax by MTH http://www.mthtrains.com/content/40-1002 , so the standard issue curved sections with a RTR set and 'matching' diameter switches http://www.mthtrains.com/content/40-1005 that I purchased separately are what I am using. 

The derailing cars were car #s 7 and 8 out of 10.  I tried placing elsewhere in the consist, and these 2 kept derailing and or causing adjoining cars to derail.  In a nut shell, no LIRR ore cars, no problem.

Pine Creek Railroad:  The cars are at the link below and I think they are 0-27, but definitely can go on O-31.  They are ore cars (short) not coal cars (long).  I believe they are made from original K-line dies.  http://www.readymadetoys.com/arsu20isse1.html

Any other ideas and thoughts are helpful - so please contribute to the thread.

Thank you.

That does sound like a wheel gauge issue.  If they are a bit too narrow they may be hitting the guard rails.

So I should probably get one of those slick gauge rulers I saw at York and measure it?  Thanks.

You don't need anything that fancy, compare them against other wheel sets that work OK, or measure the OK ones with a ruler.  If they are too narrow see if you can slide them on the axle.  If that doesn't work contact Walter at RMT, he may be able to help you.

John,

   John23 is right, I thought you might have the coal cars, not the ore cars,

sense you do have the shorter ore cars, they definitely should run thru the 031 switches, straight thru or turn out.    John23 is correct contact RMT and see what they have to say, they just might replace these ore cars for ya.

PCRR/Dave

John - I had a similar issue with one of my RMT ore cars.  It was derailing on my O-27 90 degree crossing. I would try Walter's suggestion of checking the airhose piece.  That fixed my issue.

Chris

FWIW, I have around 40 of these cars, and so far they've run trouble-free, so it appears you got a Monday Morning set of cars.

I agree with the others, my top suspect would be wheel spacing if there is nothing obvious when you compare these to the other cars.

1. Air hose is fine - check.
2. Trucks operate normally - check.
3. Switch flanges fine.  And for clarity, 6 ore cars [4 RMT and 2 MTH] preceded these 2 LIRR ore cars over the switches with no issues.   Check.
4. Wheel spacing / gauge is correct.  I checked ALL wheels.  Check.

Walt -any more suggestions would be helpful;  since I got this on sale, the cost of sending the cars back and forth makes it uneconomic for both of us.  Honestly, I am not sure what it is that is causing this and perhaps these become display units. 

Maybe your RR just doesn't like LIRR cars sharing the rails.   I can't imagine the weight being an issue unless they're feather light compared to the other cars, that seems unlikely.  Did you look CLOSELY at the wheels and axles to see if there are any deformities or perhaps a bent axle?

Some troubleshooting suggestions:

1. Light the switch area well so you can see, then push or pull the train slowly through the switch by hand and observe what is happening. Is a wheel hitting a guard rail? Is the truck square to the track? Is a wheel lifting somewhere?

2. Are either truck binding at some point when turning from side to side? If so, check the bearing surfaces.

3. Get a cheap pair of calipers and measure the back to back space between the flanges of the wheels. Do this in several places, then measure the same points on a car that does not derail. Is everything exactly the same? If not, how are things different?

Chris

LVHR

gunrunnerjohn and lehighline: 

I will take a caliper to the wheels.  I have a digital one, and was planning to do, but when I lined up the wheels with a non-offending RMT ore car, they all looked precisely in alignment.  But the ruler (caliper) does not lie!  :-)

I will report back.  May be the weekend before I get to it.

For what I paid for the cars, it is not a big deal.  But I would like to have them working. 

I will also run the other, well-lighted test and will re-run them at different locations in the consist.

At that point I will be a self-designated FTRA examiner (Federal Toy Railway Adminstration examiner). 

It's always nice to have new things work, whether they cost $1 or $1,000.

I had the same problem with the LV ore cars I purchased. Right now they are out of service while I sort them out using the previously mentioned suggestions.

Jim McC.

Hmm... I hope this isn't a trend!  I have a bunch of Conrail and LV cars that I still haven't run, I was running all my PRR ones.  I figured nothing was different but the paint job.

These are simple products, I can't imagine what is going on.

I suspect as you noted earlier these may be Monday morning production cars.  4 out of how many is not that bad?  I am not that concerned - but it would be nice if it worked properly.  I'll also see what Walter says.  I have not posted him personally, but perhaps I will alert him that I responded in this thread to his suggestions.  I do have to give him credit for being active on the forum.  Similar to Mike Reagan at Lionel.  Well, I digress.

Still planning to earn my FTRA designation this weekend (see my earlier post where I explain what that is).

Hmmmm, I have a few I also have bought and have not run as still designing the benchwork and layout.

3/26/13 UPDATE:

So, I had my 'crew' over the other night (just like Justin Bieber, I hang with a shady set....) and Ben discovered that the "frog" on the switch where the cars are derailing is loose.  Odd that it only impacted the LIRR cars.  Hmmmmm.  

It appears that I need to remove the backside cover from the switch and tighten the screw that holds the frog in place.

So, I will endeavor to fix that issue and will then follow up again on the outcome.