It's been getting colder and colder in the train shed!
I decided to speed profile one of my Farish CL66's as it was overrunning blocks when controlled by iTrain, but when I ran it, its top speed was no more than a scale 55mph versus the 80mph I'd measured a few months ago.

I messed around with it, to no avail. I then tried a different loco, and then another, and another, none of them would run any faster than the first, i.e, a max of 55mph instead
of 75-80mph.

Then as I was warming up my chilly fingers a thought suddenly popped into my head.

Maybe they locos dislike the cold as much as I do?

So today, I put the heaters on in the train shed and then an hour later tried my Farish CL66 again. It runs like it's on steroids now that it's a bit warmer in here

Message to self, there's no point running trains unless I'm prepared to heat the shed up first.

Regards,

John P

I must admit I don't do a lot of running in winter, even though our norm is in the low teens C. for most of winter. Never noticed the slow down but then we dont get below 0 very often.

Interesting. I must admit that I've never given this any thought at all. I can't say I've ever noticed any seasonal difference in running, but as Graham suggests, this could be because of our moderate climate.

When I was on the exhibition trail with a layout I'd always warm up my locos before oprnng time. They do run better if given a bit of exercise.

Maybe the cold is either making the oil film on bearings more viscous or differential contraction of the various materials is tightening clearances.

Quote from: stevewalker on December 11, 2022, 10:34:48 PM
Maybe the cold is either making the oil film on bearings more viscous or differential contraction of the various materials is tightening clearances.

My suspicion is lubricant viscosity, but I'm not going to try any more experiments 

John P

When you're early doors Saturday at exhibitions (like wot I am normally) and it's been a chilly night the previous evening, almost every layout suffers from such issues so I'm sure temperature has a bearing but on what I haven't a scooby

I have noticed on my loft layout a lot of the track joins seem to be larger than I thought I had laid them. I know I was generous with track joins for expansion in the summer months but did not realise they would open out so much in winter. With regard to running it has to do with the viscosity of the oil like John suggested, nowadays of course in our cars we are all used to using multi grade oils. Of course in colder climates thinner oils are used than that, so the effect on our model railway oils must be the same, do not think you can use anything thinner though. Chris.

When taking my stock to a show, whether for my own layout or the club one, I run every loco/MU I am taking on the test oval a day or so in advance which I have found to be beneficial to loosening it, as much of it is in the carrying boxes for weeks on end.  I never leave stock at a show location overnight.  Always take it home , even for 2 day shows.  Losing a layout or having it trashed, there was a case of this a couple of years ago,  would be horrid enough but to lose stock, most of which cannot be easily replaced, given the way our manufacturers operate these days,  would be too awful to contemplate.  So it will have been kept at room temperature.  That said I look to run as much as possible before opening time. 

Low temperatures can be a cause of split gears as I found out after leaving a Poole era tank engine in the car for a week in February.

Steven B.

Quote from: Steven B on December 12, 2022, 12:58:06 PM
Low temperatures can be a cause of split gears as I found out after leaving a Poole era tank engine in the car for a week in February.


Steven B.

Not thought of that possibility.   Thanks for the tip off.

I noticed this same problem the other morning. My new Farish class 37 was running very slow. Even on full throttle it wasn't more than half speed. Most other locos ran okay, Dapol Voyager struggled a bit too. It was very cold in my garage mind!

Definitely a problem, given winter here, no one has their layout in an unheated space it will just wreck things (although where I am now doesn't get bad in winter)