Will she loosen up or is O27 dead?

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One of the trucks may be binding slightly in one direction.  Make sure the wires to the truck have enough slack and aren't getting hung up on anything.

What can I explain better for you, Lee?

What is it designed for?  If it's designed for minimum radius of O36 then O27 will not happen.

If it is designed to handle O-27, then

1)  look for a wire going to the truck binding or stuck.  Check to see if it derails in either direction - if derails going both ways, then a wire is less likely but still possible.

2)  Look at the rubber traction tires - one that sticks up may help to climb up the outside rail.

Lionel really needs to list the minimum curve somewhere in the manual-- it's not there. I checked the separate sale lionchief RS-3's on lionels website, they are supposed to be O-27 capable. So something may be screwed up---

Found 2 problems:

 

1. The wires to both trucks were pulled up tight so the trucks wouldn't pivot.

 

2. The 30-year old track needs some straightening and tweaking.

 

Much better now. It's cruising around the mainline in right-hand circles right now.

 

BTW, according to the Lionel website, "Minimum curve O-27" so it should work fine on this track!

Glad you found the manufacturing goof, Matt. the wires should always be free enough to permit full travel of the trucks. 

Thanks. I was worried that I was going to have to abandon all my O27 trackage.

 

I'm planning on building an 8x9 layout using only O27 stuff. The outside loop will have 42" curves, but the interior will be all 27".

 

If I can use O27, it won't cost me much because I already have a bunch of switches and track. Plus the LHS has a pile of semi-used O27 track for pennies per section.

I remember a few years back when even high end diesels were showing up with wires as tight as banjo strings going to the trucks. First curve they came to a wire would pop and dead loco. Way too many through the shop at the time.

 

 

Today's Amazon deal is PE Freight set a $200.....that's O-27 for sure!!! Trade if you have to! But sounds like a bind somewhere.

Good info, thanks for sharing the idea to check the tightness of the trucks.  I only run it on a non permanent loop of FasTrack cobbled together from various Lionel beginner sets and found this locomotive a lot more prone to derailing or pitching significantly around turns that the 0-8-0 steam locos take at full speed.

 

It seems to have a fairly high center of gravity and is significantly heavier in front than at the back of the locomotive over the unpowered wheels.  While I'm checking the tightness of the wire connection to the trucks I plan to add some temporary fishing weight ballast toward the back of the frame to better balance it out and shift the COG a bit lower.   

 

I also found it helpful to reduce the maximum speed on our floor loops by using a traditional 40w Lionel transformer set to about 50-60% output instead of the included Lionchief 18v fixed output power adapter when the kids are driving.  

Well, I think some of the track is just plain kaput.

 

I'm ending up replacing the corners with new track.

After replacing all four corners on the layout with "less-used" track, I have near-perfect operation of the Santa Fe RS-3 in both directions.

 

Heck, it even negotiates the reversing loop!

 

She's a little light in the rear, though. It's limit is about 5 cars on the O27 curves. With 6 or more cars, the rear truck will not straighten out as it comes out of the curve, and will walk off the track if I'm going too slow. Too much drag.

Matt, the single motor units such as your RS-3 really as is, won't pull many more cars than you are doing. I have had hands-on experience with the new LionChief locos, so I don't know what it looks like inside the shell.

 

But on non-LionChief single motored locos, I've done either one or both to help the loco. I place a small spring between the truck and the bottom of the engine frame, right over the metal guide pin that goes into the curved slot on the loco frame (if Lionel does it this way with the plastic frame RS-3).

 

The motors in these units are the same style motor that Lionel uses in their more traditionally sized steam locos, like the 4-4-2, so they do have some pulling power... the 4-4-2 pulls better than the plastic frame RS-3.  The RS-3 is very light. If there is room under the shell, you can try adding some self-adhesive lead weights over the motor truck area, which will help with pulling power. The spring I mentioned will help keep the loco from derailing under load of a longer train.

 

In your case, since the motor is on the front truck, a little weight could be addeed on both ends or just in the center of the frame, or proportionally front, back, and center.

 

But again, I have no idea how the added electronics are positioned in these new locos to allow addition of weights. In some cases, I've placed the added weights adhered to the inside of the loco shell itself, checking to make sure their is clearance to allow successful re-assembly of the shell to the frame.

 

PS: it's a good idea to always check the wires going from the truck to inside the shell. Lionel isn't the only one to have these wires just a little too snug to allow easy turning of the truck around 027 curves. I also use plastic safe lubricant right from the get go. Usually the gears look on the dry-side out of the box.

I have added another power truck in the past and little weight. This really improves the pulling power.

 

Bill