I have found out that my new BLI AC6000 WILL run on my track. I'm running DC at the moment but have an NCE DCC starter pac arriving tomorrow...I want to here the horns. The engine runs well but is lurching as it runs and I'm certain this is not a problem with the engine, which brings me to the question in the title: Will soldered rail joints eliminate the lurching motion? If so, now I need a soldering iron and the correct wire size for the job. Any thoughts or advice here?
I'm not the foremost expert on soldering rail and I've never really done it on five previous layouts. If the BLI is new I think I would be more concerned that the loco is not 'run' in yet. As for soldering rail joints I'm not sure that that will help. In fact I'm suspecting something else is wrong so I would say, "No" to your question. Jim
It may help, but it sure won't hurt. A new engine that lurches at low speed is almost always experiencing irregularities/unevenness on surfaces that should get better as they get worn together. As long as the surfaces aren't pitted badly, marred, misengineered, or cracked, breaking in the locomotive should work over time. This also assumes there are no problems with the motor or its linkages, nothing bent or improperly assembled (items in backwards or misaligned). Some users use a slightly abrasive toothpaste or jeweler's rouge, or a valve lapping compound, to break in their drives. They apply some of the compound to the gears and let the item run for a while in both directions. Cleaned properly, and lubed properly, they run much better after a break-in of that kind. Most of us can't be bothered. The 'cogging' action you see, or what is often attributed to cogging, the sloppy and grabbing interactions of gears in the drive, is not going to be affected by poor wiring to the rails so much as to generally low voltage that is insufficient to keep the motor powering through the rough gear spots. If you were to see your engine go cogging-free and running noticeably faster at some point on your layout, and then reliably returning to the stumbling cogging behaviour at the same one or two spots, yes, that would probaby be voltage or tight curves. But if other engines do well in the same places, you would know it isn't voltage and that soldering feeders, or soldering more of them, would not help.
If the problem is being caused by poor rail to rail contact because of loose or corroded rail joiners, yes. I generally get track ready to solder together before I even put it down. I put a little paste flux in each joiner then when the track sections are pushed together the flux spreads throughout the joiners. When I'm ready to solder the joints I heat the joiners to liquify the flux then apply the solder. The flux wicks the solder into the joint and makes a solid connection. The creates an electrical advantage in that the current can move from one rail to the next more easily and it creates a mechanical advantage in that the weight of the loco(s) going over won't make the sag. This is important to me in that I have a trio of F units that I built that together (and they're always run together) weigh over five pounds. That puts quite a lot of pressure on the rail joints so I prefer to have them solid. I solder all the rail joints including the turnouts then cut expansion gaps where needed. Some leave the turnouts unsoldered but that leaves six points that can corrode and cause trouble. When I have to replace a turnout I cut the defective one apart and remove it in pieces leaving a short piece of rail sticking out of the joiners. Then I heat the joiners and pull the rail pieces and joiners out. Putting the new turnout in is easy. cut the spike heads on the two ties just back of the joiners then push the joiners back. I put some paste flux on the bottoms of the rails then put the turnout in place and push the onto the track ends. I then solder all six joiners.
How many other engines do you have?? Are any others lurching? If you are running DC only with the Paragon 2 system i have found a lurching or bucking action just in a certain speed range. Slow to mid level speed. You can try to adjust the V-min and V-max lower to get rid of some of it. It won't hurt to solder the joints but i doubt it will help the engine if you are not having a problem with any other. What power pack are you using? Some of the older packs had spikes up and down in certain ranges and this will effect the Paragon 2 system. Have not tried to change over to DCC but this may solve the problem. Bob
R.L.: It may sound too simple but I'm assuming the track is clean? Not just too the eye, either - have you cleaned it to eliminate that possibility? I have had similar "lurching" symptoms before, even with certain locos over others, that after exhaustive fiddling with wiring and soldering connections turned out to be dirty track. Just a thought.
I cleaned it last night but I think I want to clean it a little more thoroughly. I've played with adjustments to the PWM, Kick rate and kick depth. Still herky jerky, even though it will run at a snail's pace. Funny thing, my Bachmann GP 38-2 makes no sound, but it has DCC for the motor and light, it runs smooth as silk all the way from a crawl to wide open. For what I spent on my BLI, I won't be giving it any rave reviews....of course that's just me. I bought mine based on many reviews that I read that had nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I still like all the sounds of the BLI but when I get the chance I'll be trying out a different brand. All in all this is still just nothing short of a blast for me, just getting to run more than one train at a time!
Regarding soldering joints... the only caution I have is if your layout experiences a lot of temperature changes of more than ten degrees. If it's 65 in the winter but 80 in the summer for example. I have seen many badly warped layouts. You wouldn't think it would do it that much, but it can. Pulled the nails up from the roadbed and kinked the rails. These days, I think a business card sized gap every three feet or so seems to help a great deal if you go that route. However, it may just been the engine needs run more. My wife is now the one modeling HO and I model N (and looking at G! hahaha) but a new engine typically needs at least 12 hours run time to break in properly. Some will say more or less, but those are just my experiences.
I find a gap every twelve to sixteen feet to be sufficient. I haven't had a problem with buckled track since hurricane Rita went through in '05. At that time the layout was wet and subjected to temps around ninety degrees. With no power in the place I wasn't living here but I did check on things. That was when I found the buckled track. A few gaps cut with a razor saw relieved the tension and the track straightened out.
