roller pickup problem Kline/tmcc

Stu, many times what seems like a center rail power issue. Is often a wheel to outside rail issue. With traction tires and blind drivers not touching the rails. Often times going through turnouts it's the wheels that are the issue. A good cleaning may help. Many of the newer offerings. Especially steam. You will see brass wipers on the trailing truck axles to get more contacts to the outside rails.

The easy test is a clean straight section with a 2" piece of electrical tape on the center rail.  Drive engine across slowly.  If it stops, on the tape, the roller not on the tape is not connected to AC input power.  If not the screw, check for a broken wire.  Also clean inside of roller.   G

This can be a problem with some Ross switches as the point rails are not powered. I remedied that by bridging the joint with braided wire.

You can verify if its an outside rail problem by flipping the engine around. If it runs without stopping then its likely due to wheel contact. It it still stalls its probably a roller pickup issue.

 

Pete

What make and type of switch are you having a problem on? I had the problem on Atlas Y switches.

thank you all for your suggestions.  I tried the tape on the center, each outer, all three and couldn't get it to loose power.   I am using atlas tracks

 

when it does happen if I take the truck and wiggle it the power will go on and off.  it also doesn't happen on all switches.

I never had a K-Line engine lose power but I have had some K-Line passenger cars lose the lights inside. Found the roller spring had broke, turn your engine or passenger car upside down and the roller spring that don't keep tension or stay up in the air is bad.

 

Lee Fritz

look here

 

atlas switch issues

Bigtodgetrain,   I have also had to add a lead to many of my switches so unfortunately that is not the problem.

I opened it up to make sure contact wires were tight,  then tried again. I now smell electrical in the engine so time to stop, relax, and think about it.  it is still running but the smell scares me that I might have be frying or have fried something. 

Roller pickup problem K-line/tmcc

Hi Stu – I am sure you have already done what this photo shows, but it may help the new Railroad Guys-N-Gails.  Built an engine cradle to hold the engine during cleaning and use Isopropyl Alcohol & No name Q-tips for cleaning the pick up rollers along with cleaning the track switches. See Photo...... Click to enlarge. 

I had a similar problem with a tmcc diesel running over a Ross switch. The problem was solved by lubricating the pick up rollers. A drop of light weight oil at each roller end. The oil cleaned up the roller connection.

Run the engine through the turnout and get it to stall. Use a jumper from the outside rail to a good chassis ground. One of the wheels if you can. Try not to move the engine and see if it comes back to life. You have ruled out the pickup rollers with the tape test.

 If you are using Atlas track. Make sure you have continuity with all the outside rails the engines wheels are contacting. You may have a loose rail joiner or you may need a jumper wire between the outside rails. When you mentioned moving the trucks. This sounds more like a wheel contact problem.

Yea I don't know maybe the wheels need to be cleaned.

Thank you all for your comments.  at this point with the electrical smell which I didn't have before I am going to get the engine checked out by a company that repairs tmcc and lives close by.  because it is k line, it is not covered by a warranty.  I have tried many of the suggestions.  oil the roller pickup with light oil, note I mentioned that to a repair person and was told to never put oil on the pickups.  I assume this is because it might build up, dry out and insulate the rollers but I am not sure.  When I get the ok to run it and if I do come up with a solution I will post on this topic.

I want to update the status of my engine. I contacted Nicholus Smith where I got the engine and they said to send it back and they would look at it.  They replaced or fixed the roller pickup wires on one of the trucks and the burning/hot electric smell went away.  It is still stalling on the switches at slow speeds but runs fine other wise.  I would like to thank Joey from Nicholus Smith trains and NST for repairing the engine at no cost to me, even though there wasn't any warrenty.

Many K-Line locomotives have rollers on the tender, I tie the engine and tender rollers together to prevent stalling on switches, etc.  I use a PTC in the lead to protect the wire in case of a derailment.