Is it normal for an engine to have less traction when going over a portion of a turnout, to the point where it almost stops?
It is marked Santa Fe and it is a yellow diesel. It is the most powerful one that I have. I don't know what the make is right off hand. I bought it from a coworker years ago with a lot of other stuff. I will go down there little bit later. It looks like it has the power because the motor revs up instaed of slowing down. It is clear that the wheels are spinning and slipping. It is not on a grade.
Track is clean? Wheels and track are in gauge? Does it happen when traversing the curved portion? Or either route of the switch?
My guess is that the turnout is not flat. It is either humped, more probably sagging, somewhere along the middle. Or, it is torsioned or twisted a bit so that one rail is higher than the other at one spot, but lower than the other two or three inches further along/back. Another possibility, but it is usually seen in a bump when contact is made, is that the frog point is too high. If it is still accessible this way, place a straightedge along the rail tops of the turnout, one that covers the entire length of the turnout from end-to-end, and it wouldn't hurt to have it extend another five inches beyond to get a general idea of the overall position of the turnout relative to the grade. Then back-light the straightedge down low so that you can see, when you get your eyes level with the bottom surface of the straightedge, whether or not there are obvious gaps allowing the light to get between the rail tops and the flat smooth surface of the straightedge. I think you'll be surprised...sorry.
I considered filing down the undercarriage of the engines, because I think it is one of these problems you all have mentioned. But I'm not sure if I'd be making the short worse by exposeing the metal. I'm not sure how much I could grind off without puncturing through. It is shorting, there's arcing sometimes, and ocassionally it gets stuck. What are you opinions on this idea? I think I should do the test with the straightedge, and check code of the track I bought. I think I mixed different codes in my ignorance. I am new to this. I was told that some engines won't work on code83 track. Maybe this is the problem. The undercarriage is very close in height to the bottom of the wheels. On a curve it drags a little too. I'm not sure what the exact guage is. I'll have to figure out how to measure it. George
I would not put any effort into filing that undercarriage. If the problem is not track related, it might even be the frame of your engine is bent or warped. Can you post any photos of the engine? The track? It would help if we knew what type of track, engine, could see how the track has been laid down, etc.
I will work on getting those photos. the engines in question are: one is by Bachmann and the other is lifelike.
