For Christmas this year I was given an Overland Express Limited train kit. I went to set it up this morning after weeks of preparing my room for it. I have installed a perfectly flat surface for this kit. After getting the train connected on the track it derails almost immediately. 9 out of 10 times it will derail the minute it hits the section of track with the power connected to it. I have tried this with the cars attached to the engine, just the engine. There is also no common factor One time it will be the front wheels the next it will be the back wheels. Also the cars will not stay coupled together. Any help or ideas you might have to this issue would be greatly appreciated.
If it is the set that came with 18" radius track that is your problem. If not then check to make sure all the wheels and track is in gauge with your trusty NMRA gauge. If that checks out alright then the front trucks may need a little work due to rough handling.
this set can be found on the bachmann website.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=4
I would assume that the track that was sent with the train in the kit would be the correct track..
The set up until this past year came with 18" radius track, it now comes with 22" radius, but it is extremely plausible that your set has 18" radius track. Incidentally, the 18" radius track is too sharp for the locomotive included in the set.
it is my assumption that when you talk about the 18" or 22" radius you are talking about the curve?? If that is what you are talking about the engine will derail on the straight section also. with or with out a load.
You should get an NMRA track and wheel gauge to check things out. Be sure that the joints of you rail are smooth. It is easy sometimes to get the rail joiners to slip in wrong. If your couplers have metal pins hanging down look to see if they hit the rail on curves or center of the track. They should be centered on the straight section.
Bob
I am having the exact same situation running a 1995 Thunderbolt set with a Loco, Caboose & 5 cars. It also came with 18" radius curves but the problem to look could be the couplers. As this Thunderbolt set came with Horn Couplers instead of Magnetic Knuckle ... the solution I was given was to replace ALL the trucks and couplers to the Magnetic Knuckle ones if I were to keep running this radius so tight. Is there any truth to this or did Bachmann finally learn from these Horn Couplers running on 18" ?
The Overland Express loco is touchy as can be - it hates 18" curves and barely tolerates the 22" ones. I like it but it sure needs constant lovin'
The Overland set i bought 3 years ago came with 22R.
The 4-8-4 that came in my set does not even notice the difference between 18R and 22R.
It has lots of slop in it,,like a AK-47,,my experience tells me it is not curve radius.
IT* is fussy about rail joiners not correctly joined, look at your track at the rail joiners Very Carefully.
Sometimes when connecting the track the rail does not go into the railjoiner, usually up and over it making a bump and it is not always obvious to the eye when setting the track up.
You can run the train one way and it will not derail but you will hear the wheels bump, after they go uphill and come back down onto the track.
Run the train the other way and will derail as if it hit something, like the blunt end of the other rail of the next section.
One way to test is to simply use your finger tip at every rail joint. Run you finger tip over the joint, it should be relatively smooth.
You will feel the bump when you come across it. The rails are uneven.Just pull the sections apart then reconnect them more carefully, keeping your eye on the joiners.
* But then so are all locos and rolling stock about misaligned railjoints.