sharknose diesel

[bnonut]

I purchased this new a week ago and it will only pull six cars up a 2% grade!?

Is this what they all are rated or is mine a dud?

Thanks
Mark

[lmackattack]

6 cars on  a 2% is weak. it should pull at least pull 15 cars on just a 2% grade.
are the engines wheels slipping or does the motor stall? are all axels powere?

if the wheels are slipping it sounds like you have..
a grade larger than 2%
cars are to heavy
cars are not free rolling
engine does not have proper weight to get traction.

there are lots of things that can cause poor pulling power these are some of the simple things to check.

[bnonut]

All axles powered, operating on 100 code atlas track, NCE dcc and half the cars are free rolling. Wheels were slipping, a real poor example for Bachmann.


Mark

[Yampa Bob]

It's not fair to judge any loco without doing a specific drawbar pull test. Your diesel should have about 3 to 4 ounces of drawbar force, which equates to 30 or more easy rolling cars on level grade.

The only way to determine how many cars your loco should pull up the grade, is to actually test drawbar force and car pulling force required, on the grade. Two inches of rise in 100 inches of run is considered a fairly steep grade, in real railroading that would require from 6 to 17 locos depending on load.

You said "half" of your cars are free rolling, that is not sufficient. All cars should require no more than .08 to .10 ounce pulling force to be considered "easy rolling".

An essential tool for testing drawbar and required pulling force, the 250 gram is adequate for HO scale.
http://www.delta-education.com/productdetail.aspx?Collection=Y&prodID=1973&menuID= 

Good performance requires attention in 3 areas, in this exact order...track, cars, and locomotive.  You won't get good loco performance if the first two aren't near perfect.

You should consider wheel slippage as normal to protect mechanisms and motors. You can add some more weight to the loco, but not so much as to inhibit wheel slip at stall.  To run your railroad realistically, just add a helper or two and have fun.

Regards

[bnonut]

Yampa Bob, I agree with you on some of your ideas.

Trains do have some cars that do not roll as easy as others. I model the fifties and have other units that pull twenty over that grade, Stewarts.  Bachmann has made changes in there products and the shark looks nice, not quite right measurements, still good looking and a decoder already aboard. The FT's puull better and just wondered why the shark does not.

Mark