what an idiot! ..lol

I like that idea, of being hauled, up and out of the way, to the ceiling. I am going to give that some serious thought.

Redtail67

Funny you guys mentioned the memory would return..I just looked at mine, after reading your post, that I had straightened out or so i thought.

Yes sir as crooked as the first time I saw them..lol

They are now in the trash.

Redtail67

ta152ho:

I have 3 of those old style Atlas switches on my grandsons layout. It took me about two weeks to figure out that the gap in the flangeway was the cause of "some" of my derailment problems. At slower speeds the bump is not bad enough to make the wheels jump over the rail and at higher speeds the wheels do not have the time to drop in and bounce out.

It seems that it will derail at a modest speeds when the bounce is more pronounced.

If I avoid the speed range that seems to have the most problems I can run for hours on end with no problem.

my 2 cents,

Redtail67

Yampa Bob:

Thanks for the link..I really liked "Pasadena" with that ATSF 300 Class F Unit

Margaritaman:

Niffy name, once not so long ago, I felt that Magaritas were the "Nector of the Gods."

Your layout is looks really great and one that a new guy, like me, dreams of. The structures and landscape you can be very proud of. I'll bet you and your daughter have good alot of fun times with it.

Thanks for the pictures and looking forward to your layout plan.

Redtail67

Jim,

Thanks for the tip about the mirror thats a great idea and I will give the heat trick a try just to see what happens.

Redail67

Hunt

Thanks for the information. Mine does not have that switch.

So its the DCC decoder in the Locomotive that you can make a setting change to but only if you have a DCC Controller that can make it. The Bachmann II have can not change it.

Thats good information to know.

Thanks again, I learn a little more every day.

Redtail67

To all:

Do you belive that harm is done by exceeding the NMRA guidelines? I have added an ounce or two above the recommended weight and it seemed to help the cars more.

I know not to just pile it on, but does it hurt to be over somewhat with some cars?

Just wondering..

Redtail67

Yep it is amzing how the railroads have changed..service is the last tjing on their minds. They want unit trains and CALENDER based not TIMETABLE schedules.

I asked my brother, who worked for ATSF out of Pueblo, when I was going to hire out on the Colorado Southern just what kind of scheduled operation they had. To this he replied "They operate by the calender!" I said what do you mean to which he replied "Theyt call them on the 1st and hopefully they will get there on the 2nd!"

I had been working for one of the best operations the ATSF had out of Temple, Texas where "TIME" was everything. "TIME literaly was life or death and I as an Engineer wore two watches one a pocket watch and one a wrist watch. Schedules of the Passenger trains had to be respected and your failure to respect them could cost you your job. Time of the Train Orders concerning the "HOTSHOTS" in the no block parts of the operation had to be respected and if not could cost you as well as others their lives.

We ran 79 on 90lb rail and 112lb rail that was changed out to 136lb and TCS (known as CTC on most roads) was installed all the way. We had 120 MPH Scheduled time fromn Bellville Yard to Rosenburg for passenger and permitted freights could run 90MPH with ATS ATC cut in.

The last time I looked they were running 55 MPH top Speed down there. Hell even the Transcon went to 55MPH..just unbelieveable to a Railroad man.

The ATSF smoked the rails going to California since the 1930's now they want to run 10,000 ft trains 10-30 MPH just unbelieveable. Ft. Madison area had the reputation of running the fastest operation the ATSF had. Christ they have ruined it now compared to then.

Bosses Bosses everywhere but not a Railroad man in sight!

There was a day that any Road Foreman of Engines could and would run any train anytime ( you respected him as one of the best) now most will not because they can not run them. They lack not only the skills but the courage it takes to operate at high speeds. No one respects them.

Redtail67

Yampa Bob:

The kids learned fast with that cash incentive..lol

Redtail67

Jim, I forgot to mention that right now I am using one of several standard  DC controllers I have. I have purchased a Bachmann EZ DCC Command Controller but have not hooked it up yet. Does this have this feature? Can it be programed into one of the settings?

Redtail67

Jim:

Thanks for the explination I now understand what momentum is about.

What I do not understand is that if my power pack allows the slow increase or decrease in speed ( or voltage) then you must mean a more sophisticated controller that allows a finer increase or decrease in voltage?

Or is it a controller that does the increase or decrease automaticly. Say I was to go to full voltage setting and then some cicuit then slowly and steadily increases the voltage over time all by itself?

Is this something that I would add to mine or is it just one that you buy that is much better than mine?

Redtail67

Newcomers might find this of interest as I am sure the "oldtimers" here have already figured this out.

I have spent the better part of a week going over my grandsons layout trying to identify and cure all causes of derailments. My efforts have vastly improved the operation.

I had bad alinement and out of crosslevel spots in my track, some noticeable and some that were hard to spot except when running at high speed. The slightest problems were amplified at the higher speeds..just like in the real world. The slightest bump or ruff spot at HO Scale is bad news.

Some were problems associated with hook and horn couplers..they did not swing as needed or then had too much up and down movement in them. in the curves even after I worked on them. So I started changing all the freight cars out to KADEE 148 and that helped .

I had cars that were derailing every time around. They might go around twice then hit the ground. These were problems were cured by using weights to bring the cars up to or slightly over the NMRA standards.

One thing I found out is to remember to keep the weight as low as possible in the car or you have bad derailments account of a high center of gravity.

Also, by putting slightly more weight centered over the trucks then spreading the rest out evenly in the car. In my opinion this held the wheels down on the rail better over frogs and switches. I changed most of the cars out to Model Power RP-25 Trucks with Steel Wheels. That really helped the operation. The rest will be changed out soon.

At each stage of this I had a noticable improvement in reliability of operation.

Then I was left with two cars one was a 50' flat and the other a 40' wooden box car. These two cars had been weighted and couplers had been changed to KADEE 148. They had steel wheels in plastic trucks.

I would run them at slow speeds and no problems and then a little faster until I noticed a slight shimmy in the cars even though it was very, very slight. Then as I increased speed they would start derailing. However, as the shimmy did not look bad so i did not really think much of it.

Then I thought of the real world where trucks that "HUNT" or wobble are bad news and will cause derailments. So I am thinking that this slight shimmy at this scale would translate to a real bad shaking in the real world.

I took off the trucks and laid them on a flat surface and lo and behold they had a slight twist and would not sit flat on the table. I looked at them real close ( my eyes ain't what they used to be) and I could see it. I then twisted them back straight and that was it.

Then cars started tracking straight and true no shaking at any speed and no derailments. I was really proud of my investitgative skills.

Then I got up this morning bragging to my grandson "Papa is the smartest railroad man on the planet". I then tell him how I have fixed those cars and now we could play trains with no derailments.

I put the engines on all the cars and a caboose and told him start it out slow and increase your speed and you will see how good Papa fixed your
train.

Well away he went about 3/4 around and all cars and the engine went in the ditch. He said "PAPA! Somebody must have broke them while we were sleeping!"

Man I was speechless after bragging to him like I did. When looked at the cars the twist had come back in them. I guess they had a "set" in them and went back to it even though I had straightend them last night and they ran fine.

So I found some that were straight and put them in and threw the old ones away. I have been running them for 3 hours now with no problems.

So I am sure all you "oldtimers" here have been through this and know about it. However, someone like me who is new might find this of interest and check their cars out for even very slightly twisted trucks and if they are get rid of them. They might have a memory set that they return to even if you straighten them out.

Redatil67

Had to laugh after that post..you know I am an engineer by the spelling and punctuation.

Redtail67