Struggling to pull lighted passenger cars

First thing is oil the axles. The ZW should be more than adequate.

Pete

@Norton posted:

First thing is oil the axles. The ZW should be more than adequate.

Pete

Thanks. Can you verify my assumption here? I have 2 LWs powering my outer mainline, about 80' and 2 RWs powering my inner mainline (they're concentric/parallel, so a little less than 80').  Wouldn't these 4 which add up to 470W be better than a single ZW at 275W?

Clean the track with something like low odor mineral spirits, then wipe track clean with a clean rag afterwards, you will be amazed how much comes up off the rails, clean all your locomotive wheels and pickup rollers with mineral spirits, and wipe them clean with a rag too, and lube all the wheels on all your rolling stock. That should definitely help.

Is it a traction or power problem? Passenger cars definitely pull harder because of the roller pickups, so lubrication may help. If not too difficult, take bulbs out to see if that changes anything.

Sorry, missed the point of two trains running together. A ZW on one line and the two LWs on the other should do it. Trouble with two transformers on the same track is both not only have to phased  (obvious) but also set at the same voltage (not so obvious) otherwise the one set at the higher voltage is doing most of the work.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Sorry, missed the point of two trains running together. A ZW on one line and the two LWs on the other should do it. Trouble with two transformers on the same track is both not only have to phased  (obvious) but also set at the same voltage (not so obvious) otherwise the one set at the higher voltage is doing most of the work.

Pete

I'm going to leave hooking up the ZW as my last resort.

The 2 LWs are phased and the 2 RWs on the inner main are phased. They're also all insulated, so I don't technically have more than one transformer feeding any of the 8 blocks on a mainline. It's 1 transformer per 4 blocks for half of each mainline. I'm running these tests on half a mainline with the other half off, so it's really nothing more than 1 LW running 1 lighted train on a 40' track. To me, that should be plenty. I'm thinking it's something else.

I would try putting in an amp meter than run a freight train and note the amps it draws. Then I would run the passenger train and note the amperage it draws. Then I would just have the passenger cars on the main with no locomotive and note the amperage draw for that. I would also run locomotive by itself and note the amperage it draws. The amperage draw for the locomotive by itself added to the amperage draw for the passenger cars just sitting on the rails should roughly equal the amperage draw of the entire passenger train running. If there is a big difference than I would look to something holding the passenger cars back like stuck wheel or a wheel that doesn’t turn freely. If the passenger cars draw an excessive amount of current by themselves look for some kind of almost short circuit. It’s not enough to cause a full blown short but enough to draw a lot of amps away from the locomotive. Something like a loose connection. If that is the case it will probably be very warm or even hot. Good luck. I hope this helps.

As others have said, clean the track and lube the axles, especially the PW cars. That should make a huge difference. Also, you can try adding one car at a time and running. This could tell you if it is one car or several that are causing the issue.

Chris

LVHR

All good suggestions. I might also hook up a DVM to each transformer output while everything is up and running and see how many amps are being drawn.

Problem solved. Thanks for the suggestions. All is took was a thorough track cleaning and some light oil on the wheels. The PW Alcos and the 2056 hauled the 5 passenger cars and an operating mail car around without issue. @Gary P nailed it with his comment "you will be amazed how much comes up off the rails."  I had my doubts since I just got this layout operational a few weeks ago, but I went through a couple rags.

This meant a lot. These were my two favorite engines of my grandfathers, and I love running them at Christmas like he did.

Glad cleaning the track and oiling the wheels helped. Did you use the mineral spirits to clean the track and locomotive wheels? This is what my former clean white rag looked like after wiping around approx 40 feet of Fastrack after using a Scotchbrite light scrub with mineral spirits and wiping it off afterwards.

@Gary P posted:

Glad cleaning the track and oiling the wheels helped. Did you use the mineral spirits to clean the track and locomotive wheels? This is what my former clean white rag looked like after wiping around approx 40 feet of Fastrack after using a Scotchbrite light scrub with mineral spirits and wiping it off afterwards.

I used denatured alcohol and then ran a dry cloth over them. The wet and dry rags looked just like yours.

If your engines have the motor back in the cab you may be lacking weight on all the drivers. I purchased a 1946 2020 steamer and ti would hardly pull anything. It would just spin its wheels. Try picking up the engine in the middle of the driver wheel. Mine was tail heavy. I had room in the front of the boiler so I added 1 lbs of lead in the front and it pulls anything you put on it now.