Re-Railers????

[rbryce1]

Ken and J3a-614,

I think you may have hit it!  The plastic platform and the top of the rail are at the same height BUT, there is a definate groove in the platform surface right beside the rail on the outside edge of the rail and the de-railed wheel is riding in that groove all the way across the platform and dropping off the opposite side.  I will try and fill it tomorrow (I guess today) and see if it makes it work. 

[Pops]

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't.

I just had to reply, because I feel your frustration with getting your question answered. 
Perhaps you should have asked "How do the Bachmann EZ Track retailers work?" 
Then ask "Why isn't that happening?"

   

[Joe323]

Wodering if the solution worked?

[sd24b]

Is it the same pieces of rolling stock that's derailing and not re-railing?  Also car weight may be at fault  Are you using truck mounted horn hook couplers?     Phil

[rbryce1]

So far it has not worked.

I am using both body and truck mounted couplers, most all of my cars are correctly weighted to NMRA specs and it happens with most all of my rolling stock.

The only thing that has been consistent is the truck will not re-rail if it is the lead wheel that is off the track, but if it is the second wheel in the truck, it practically always re-rails.  Seems to look like the lead wheel being on the track helps keep the truck lined up better, whereas the front wheel being off the track, the truck is pointed pretty much anywhere.

I even tried installing higher guide rails thinking they would grab the wheel better and move it back onto the track, but that didn't work either.  The wheel just climbs over it, travels down the length of the re-railer platform and drops off the other side.

Guess I will just have to either re-rail it manually or stop and back over the re-railer every time it involves the leading wheel in a truck.

[Ken G Price]

Weird
Just when we finely come up with a possible cause that sounds plausible it is busted! 

[Steve Magee]

A few more questions: Do you use Bachmann sectional track on your layout, and are there compound curves (track curves both horizontally and vertically at the same point? Can you move the re-railer one track section AWAY from the curve? Have you tried (say) an Atlas re-railer in the same place? If it is a compound curve, all sorts of weird things happen involving wheels lifting off track, and if that is so, and the wheel lifts above the guides on the re-railer, you have diddlysquat chances of any re-railer working.

Steve Magee
Newcastle NSW Aust

[sd24b]

hmmmmm.  is the car derailing and not rerailing truck mounted coupler?  And if so is it hooked to a body mounted coupler car?  If you are using horn hook talgo couplers next to a body mounted coupler the body mount coupler may not allow the the talgo truck to rerail itself on the rerailer.  This usually occurs on cars 50' and longer.    Phil

[richd286]

This is a great discourse on why cars derail and yes a well planned and executed rail installation will minimize derailments.

His question is about the effectiveness of the Bachmann rerailer.  His point is well taken with me since I have older rerailers that put the flanges in the grooves instantly and my old steel rerailers aligned the trucks and set the flanges when part of a passing train or if I was manually setting it on the rails.  They were especially good at rerailing front or trailing trucks of steam engines that can pop out for any number of reasons.

The Bachmann rerailers ( and I have 5 of them) seldom get the job done efficiently, I can manually run a box car back and forth over a Bachmann rerailer and then in frustration get down and eyeball the flanges in the grooves.

Yes... the Bachmann rerailers are not effective.  They look like the others but do work as well.

[jward]

have you checqued the flangeways with an nmra guage? if they're too wide they won't provide proper guidance for the wheels. you can shim them to tolerance with strip styrene.

but honestly, your time will be much better spent finding out why things derail in the first place. fixing the rerailer is like treating a broken arm with asparin.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

but honestly, your time will be much better spent finding out why things derail in the first place. fixing the rerailer is like treating a broken arm with asparin.

While I guess this wasn't the original question, don't you really want to do both? Figure out why a car is derailing in hopes of preventing it, but don't you also want the rerailers to do their job properly when cars do derail?

[Pops]

The Bachmann rerailers  seldom get the job done efficiently,

Yes... the Bachmann rerailers are not effective.  They look like the others but do work as well.

Guess this is the answer to the original question. Everything else sounds like a politician avoiding an unpleasant question.

[Jerrys HO]

Guess this is the answer to the original question. Everything else sounds like a politician avoiding an unpleasant question.

Not so true Pops. I have 5 or so rerailers and have no problems with any of them.
I suspect he has another issue causing them not to rerail or as Ken posted he may have some bad rerailers.

Jerry

[jward]

if he's having derailments regularly, he's having other issues by definition.

[Ken G Price]

if he's having derailments regularly, he's having other issues by definition.

He has stated more then once that he is not having many derailings.
But that when a car does derail the rerailer will not put it back on the track.
This is stated very plainly.