Turnout derailment

[CraigB]

Has anyone experienced this problem?  Have a layout using ho nickel-silver ez track with 5 different turnouts.  Only SOME of my rolling stock constantly derails passing over only one of the turnouts.  Locos never derail there.  Some of the rolling stock passes through fine.  When I push the rolling stock that does derail through by hand both forward and backward, they dont derail.  They only derail when they are being pulled by a loco.  Im stumped.

[JonJet]

Are Your cars properly weighted?

The standard is 1oz + 1/2oz per inch of length

6 inch car = 1oz + 3oz = 4 oz total

Are the wheels rolling freely?

Are the trucks loose enough to move side-to-side easily?

All these things go away when Your finger is on top of the car pushing down and thru

[CraigB]

I was thinking about adding weight.  But when I push the cars back and forth by hand, im pushing from in front and back, putting no pressure from the top.  I will go ahead and add weight anyway.  Cant hurt.  What do you normally use for weight?  Thanks.

[jward]

Do you own an NMRA guage? If so, have you checked the wheels of the offending cars to see if they are in guage? Have you checked the rails particularly around the frog and points to see if they are in guage as well? All of this is in addition to properly weighting the cars. Also, have you looked at the coupler trip pins? Those car hang too low and should never touch the rails on a switch, or the roadway part of a rerailer. If they do, carefully adjust the ends upward with a pair of pliers.

For the record, I have found that Bachmann SIlver Series cars are properly weighted right out of the box. The cars from the train sets, though, could use a little more. Pennies are a cheap way to add this weight. Anything else you use is going to cost far more than the few pennies it takes to bring an otherwise good running car up to weight.

[CraigB]

Thanks for the advice Jeff.  I bought some 1/4 oz steel wheel weights with sticky backs.  Cost more than a few Pennies for sure, but not too terribly expensive.  I don't have the guage you mentioned.  I'll look into getting one.  Funny you mentioned the box cars from the train sets.  It's mostly the cars from the original Bachmann Rail Chief set that was my first purchase that are giving me the most trouble.

[Terry Toenges]

I bought one of those round containers of fishing weights so I have various size weights. I've also used lead sheet that I can cut to fit and bend. That comes in handy for steam locos. I put pieces under the pilot and under the domes and in the cab.

[JonJet]

Thanks for the advice Jeff.  I bought some 1/4 oz steel wheel weights with sticky backs.  Cost more than a few Pennies for sure, but not too terribly expensive.  I don't have the guage you mentioned.  I'll look into getting one.  Funny you mentioned the box cars from the train sets.  It's mostly the cars from the original Bachmann Rail Chief set that was my first purchase that are giving me the most trouble.

I've purchased plenty of those sets in N Scale...just to increase the numbers as I restarted a high school hobby a couple years ago
I sometimes had to double the weight of the cars to get them to standard

For the HO portion of My layout I've often added mfgr weight plates from discarded rolling stock...effectively nearly doubling the weight of the original car

Keep in mind the NMRA is a minimum guideline...a shade heavier never hurts

[CraigB]

Thanks for all the advice guys!  I'll be adding the weight in the next couple of days.  I'll let you know if it solves the problem.

[CraigB]

Adding the weight did the trick.  No more derailments.  Thanks again for all the advice.  BTW, if anyone is interested, the wheel weights I used made it very easy to add the weight.  "CK Auto" Steel Adhesive Wheel Weights.  They come in flat, square 1/4 oz pieces with peel and stick backing.  I added 1 over each truck on the shorter cars and added a third right in the center on the longer cars.  Worked great!

[M.Richards]

I had a very similar issue. One Bachmann HO nickel/silver EZ-Track 18" radius remote turnout was derailing Bachmann Silver Series rolling stock continually and consistently at the frog.

The coach car consists derail every time.
Running the coach car consist over the turnout, I saw that the coach cars always derailed to the right as they passed over the frog.

40' box car consists never derail.
Running the boxcar consist over the turnout at very low speed, I saw that as each box car passed over the frog, the box car wobbled left-right-left.

Solution:
I removed the turnout and examined the several miniscule screws embedded in the ties. Apparently the screws had loosened over time by several turns. I tightened the screws, and no more derailments.

Hope this adds to the knowledge base.

[Ralph S]

Something I noticed that no one mentioned, as long as this topic has been on around.  I agree that adding weight to light cars helps to reduce or eliminate derailing of cars.   What I have done to support adding weight to my old Bachmann light weight cars was to replace the plastic wheels with metal wheels. This adds weight to the cars so that additional weight doesn't need to be so large.   Another note not mentioned is the type of metal wheels.  There are metal wheels with metal axles, and metal wheels with plastic axles.  Both have weight but the metal wheels with metal axles are slightly (very small difference) heavier as compared to the metal wheels with plastic axles.

I must admit that the metal wheels do in fact cost more than adding other types of weight.  Now that I have given this some thought.  The economics of keeping rolling stock from derailing will need its own topic. 

[Hcop1026]

Funny how I asked about this last week and got no replies...As luck would have it, I found this !! Thanks for all the info...As I am a newbie, where should I ask about replacing horn hook couplers with knuckle couplers...Everyone have a great week !!

[jward]

As I said earlier in the thread, an NMRA guage is your friend. Often in a situation like this the guard rails are too wide, but you can add styrene shims to narrow them. The guage lets you know what is in specs, and what needs to be corrected.

It would appear there is a second, more fundamental problem as well. 85 foot cars do not like 18" radius track.

As for Hcop1026, The reason you didn't get a response is that you posted very little information about your problem. What you did post was an out of date part number so we have to guess what exactly you were working with.

[bnsonger47]

On my layout, that is all Bachmann NS E-Z Track, I have noticed that some of my Bachmann Spectrum heavyweight cars don't clear some turnouts, crossovers, and retailers. The problem is in the couplers, where the "air hose" is too low on the coupler. My solution was to use my side cutters to trim the length. The couplers still work and derailing is eliminated.

Yes, I know, the mounting bar for the couplers (a great but flawed design idea) on the heavyweights allows the couplers on some cars to hang too low. But, the design supports 18-inch curves which I do have on one loop. The other curves are on 22-inch radius.

[Len]

You might want to consider getting one of these to adjust the curve of the "air hose" to eliminate dragging, rather than cutting them off:

https://www.kadee.com/237-coupler-trip-pin-pliers-for-hon3-ho-s-on3-o-scale-couplers

Or you can find similar pliars for bending wire to make jewelry in most craft shops.

Len