Well, I received the Standards Gauge, but I haven't had the time to do anything with the trains since then. I did a quick check of the one car that I suspect could be a problem, but the wheel spacing and size were good. I'll be making some time this week to do more. I hope that things work out in the next couple of days to do a whole setup and test the track again with all the possible cars and locos and find this problem. Joe, thanks for the input, I had considered that the weight might be off, but with just one area being the problem I pretty much dismissed that possibility until I worked everything else.

So, be back soon.

I haven't gotten a test gauge yet, but I did find out something about the cars I was using and the locomotive as well. I have a U6B that I hadn't used on this track before (Because I just got it.)  So, last night I tried this older loco with some cars with the Rapido couplers that I have been buying to expand the set, and the whole train went around the track through the left hand switch without a problem. No derails, no disconnects, and no hesitation. This U6B loco is larger than the F7-A that I got with the starter set so I'm wondering if the size had anything to do with it.



This U6B is a great loco, but it's loud, and it doesn't go slow very well. I'm wondering if that's because it's NOS (New Old Stock) and it needs to be run, or if they were all that loud. I bought an 0-6-0 at the same time and it's just as loud. Again it's NOS, so I still have the same question about the speed and noise. Is there a way to make these less noisy?

I'm keeping everything Santa Fe because I've always like the colors and mystique of the line.

Right now we're running a figure 8 and the original cars have no problem running over the crossing.



I thought it would probably cause some derailments, but everything is going well.

The original question stands, and now I'm wondering if changing over to the EZ Mate knuckle couplers would be a good idea. Would it solve the problem with the derailments, and would they work with other trains couplers?

I'll have more after I can make the measurements I need to make.

Quick update: I'm getting a gauge to check the rails. I don't think that all the cars can have the same problem, but they will be checked as well.

I have the Bachmann Super Chief set with the F7A locomotive, Steel Gondola, 40' Box Car, and 36' Steel Cupola Caboose.

The track is not permanently affixed to the board I have it on. That is simply to keep it flat. I have tried to level it as best I can on a mattress.



The first car after the locomotive derails, but the following cars don't at first.





I can get the caboose around at ridiculously slow speed, but otherwise all the cars will derail no matter what speed. If I roll the cars around this switch by hand there is no problem. If I run the locomotive in the opposite direction, counter clockwise, the cars will not derail at any speed.

I'm having a problem with an E-Z Track 44861 Remote Left-Hand Switch. Every time I take the turnout to the inside track my cars derail, but only if they are being pulled by the locomotive. If they are being pushed, or if they are being pulled over the same area of the switch backwards there is absolutely no problem at any speed. It is frustrating that all of the cars in the set will do this on their own if being pulled behind the locomotive.

Can anyone suggest a fix? I think there might be too much distance between the straight section and the switch when activated to use the turnout. I just can't figure out why under any other circumstances it doesn't derail the cars. 

Quote from: spookshow on December 27, 2017, 07:02:23 PM
I don't think anybody sells locomotives or rolling stock with Rapidos anymore. All of the various knuckle couplers out there (E-Z Mate, Kato, Accumate, McHenry, MTL, et al) are all pretty much compatible with each other. Rapidos only work with other Rapidos.

-Mark

Ok, I don't know which coupler it is I have, but I'll try to attach a couple of pictures.





The first is the caboose from the set showing the replacement couplers that came with the set, and the second are two cars I bought with the coupler that came with the set. As you can see the second picture is a match, but the caboose has a smaller coupler.

What are the chances that the replacement couplers will match other cars from other makers?

Thanks for the help. I ordered another 6 sections of curved 11.25" track to help build the number of layouts we can try. I want to find some 10" straight at a good price to match the 10" rerailer I bought. It's starting to be the right time to stop buying and start enjoying.

I have another question though. (Gee, that's a surprise, right?) What coupler is the right one to use if I want to expand using just DC? Are the Rapido the best couplers to use, or would you go with something else to make the the rolling stock more universal? I don't know if I will change over to something else. I don't think it will be Bachmann until my son decides he wants to get sophisticated.

Learn the basics as long as the track can handle the setup and then move on I guess.

It's amazing how something as simple as model railroading will help you to remember your basic electronics. Let's see how far I can get trying to remember something I was originally taught about 33 years ago.

My son likes his train set at this point. He wants to so a figure 8 track, but I need a few more curved track pieces. To ask a new question, what is a good amount of track, curved, straight, and lengths to have on hand when starting out. I cut a piece of 1/2 inch plywood at 36" x 50". It was a piece I got from picking pallets, so I couldn't find a longer one in the house. This is what I will use until I can made a larger portable table with scenery. Of course my son will be part of picking all the buildings and other pieces, so who knows how portable it will be.

Oh, one last thing. I have one piece of curved track that the engine seems to get lagged down when it travels over it. I tried cleaning it, but that didn't seem to do much. What else can I do?

Quote from: RAM on December 21, 2017, 10:27:22 PM
Well my first 12 years of life I lived in a house in NJ.  When I heard a train, I would run outside & around the house, & there was the railroad.

I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned that you remember hearing trains. The track in my town ran behind my house when I was 3-5 years old and I will never forget the whistle as they came to the road just down from my house. It's a real part of Americana that is missed by those of us who know that sound coming from near or far. I don't think anyone having heard that lonely sound from far away can forget what it was like. So many rails have been torn up in Vermont that we're in danger of floating off of the planet. 

When I was young, a long time ago, I actually worked on the rails for a few days. My father's employer was President of the Lamoille County Railroad at the time and needed people to pick up ties and rail on the section through town. The work was typically dirty and hard, but it sparked an interest in the line that I never thought about before then.

There wasn't much choice at the time for what model railroading you could do, only HO was available in town so that's where I started. I didn't really have the ability to do much other than run a starter setup. Then came the girlfriend years and model trains were not a top priority.

What next? Well, I went into the Air Force and my first base had some of the oldest training devices still in the inventory. Toward the end of my time at that base I was lent out to the B-52 and KC-135 "flight simulators" in the rail cars. You read that right. We had stationary simulators in modified railroad cars. I'm sure a lot of you aren't surprised.

I got out of the Air Force in 1990 and went to work for a gun importer working in, what else, a railroad paint shed. Yes, it was bit different than some you may have seen because it was closed up for security reasons and the tracks were long ago abandoned, but still there.

How does that relate to model railroading? Well, once in your blood model railroading doesn't go away. When my first son was bore I started thinking about model railroads again, but it took some time to find what I wanted, of course in HO. We had a small setup in the basement where we lived then and we really didn't go into much more than rearranging the track in different layouts to make it a little more fun. Then we moved and the set has been "lost" to storage ever since. It really irritates me that it isn't where I can get to it. I actually tried to look for it a few years back, but there is no place to start that isn't hard work for a week. I'll get it out some day.....

Now I have a second son. Late in life baby that he is, he lags his closest sibling by 11 1/2 years and his oldest by 19 years, so it's time for Dad to do something we can both enjoy. He's 6 now, but this is something for both of us, and since we don't have much room, I've decided to go N Scale. What about all my real connections to railroads? Well, I have a railcar coupler knuckle from one of the Lamoille County Railroad cars that I got to use as an anvil. That's my keepsake from my short days working on the rails.

I guess some of us bleed oil and grease and breath smoke and fire. I also stuck to some of my other bad habits in electronics, radio, and firearms. Metal and all forms of fire just go together.

Thanks for having me.

What's your story?

I had the opportunity to get some track that will arrive before Christmas so I took the chance hoping that 11.25" will work. I guess if I find it isn't perfect the right size is always available, and a place for what I bought in a bigger layout. We actually get to unveil the set on Christmas Day, so I won't know the size of the track in the set until then. There are no real hobby shops in this area. The dumb thing is they are really needed, but the largest and best went out of business about 7 years ago. There was one about 50 miles away, but I've heard they have done away with a lot of their model sales to concentrate on coins and stamps. Get that, stamps over models.

Well, I guess online stores and that old time auction on the net will have to do.

I'll check out that book and see what inspiration it can bring me in the small space I have for a creative layout.

Thanks all.

I'm looking for a few more pieces of track to expand the Super Chief set that I got for my son and I to have fun with for Christmas. I need curved track to do a one ended double oval? What size track will I need? I have tried a layout software and it seems as you need 11.25" track to make a 24" circle, so would I get more 11.25" curved track to do the outside end of the oval? I have some straight track to turn the circle into a simple oval already, and I bought the left and right turnouts for this new layout. I just need to know what curves come with the Super Chief set.

What's the best source for layout ideas for N scale??

Thanks