Is it me, my Dapol Britannia or my track?

[petercharlesfagg]

Friends,

Finally I have a piece of trackwork that I can use to run in my locomotives.

I was running a couple of American diesels, a Conrad shunter, A Class 66 and a Fleischmann 0-10-0, all well and good, a few minor problems with starting but nothing that cannot be overcome.

Whereas with the Britannia it had been running around for about 10 minutes and suddenly the front bogie hops off the track, I replaced it and a couple of turns later it did it again, different piece of track.  So tried running tender first, OK for about 5 minutes then the tender leaves the tracks, different place again!

Tried again, this time forwards, OK for a few minutes then both the front wheels of the tender AND the front bogie come off the rails!

Frustration set in!!!!

Reversed running again, OK for a few more rounds then off came the bogie again!

I have checked the trackwork, checked the bogie mounting screw, checked the alignment of the tender wheels, nothing!

Anyone else experienced the same or similar, is it something I must expect with "N"?

Regards, Peter.

[petercharlesfagg]

Thats nothing peter!  Wait until it catches fire lol!

You are joking, aren't you?

[Karhedron]

2 thoughts spring to mind.

Firstly, what radius of curve are you using (I am assuming you have a continuous circuit of some sort)? Some of the larger dapol tender engines are not happy on 1st radius (9" radius) curves and need 2nd (10.5" radius) or larger curves for smooth running. There is some variation but front bogie or tender hopping off usually indicates it trying to squeeze round a curve that is a smidge too tight.

The other thing worth trying is to loosen the screw that hold the front bogie in place by a small amount (a quarter turn should do the trick).

I would advise giving the Brit a good running in. A small percentage of Dapol locos exhibit overheating of the motor which can indeed let the magic smoke out. If it survives the first couple of hours then you should be good.

[petercharlesfagg]

2 thoughts spring to mind.

Firstly, what radius of curve are you using (I am assuming you have a continuous circuit of some sort)? Some of the larger dapol tender engines are not happy on 1st radius (9" radius) curves and need 2nd (10.5" radius) or larger curves for smooth running. There is some variation but front bogie or tender hopping off usually indicates it trying to squeeze round a curve that is a smidge too tight.

The other thing worth trying is to loosen the screw that hold the front bogie in place by a small amount (a quarter turn should do the trick).

I would advise giving the Brit a good running in. A small percentage of Dapol locos exhibit overheating of the motor which can indeed let the magic smoke out. If it survives the first couple of hours then you should be good.

Thankyou for a sensible reply.

The minimum radius is Setrack 3 which I understand from previous postings is something akin to 11" so it is unlikely to be that?

As for loosening the bogie screw, I did just that by as you suggwest only a 1/4 turn but it then slowly dropped out and jammed the loco!  At least it was easy to find!

Would you suggest too that I remove the body of the tender to allow for increased cooling?  I haven't tried removing it yet and I assume that it can be run in that state?

Thankyou again for the reply, Peter.

[Dr Al]

As for loosening the bogie screw, I did just that by as you suggwest only a 1/4 turn but it then slowly dropped out and jammed the loco!  At least it was easy to find!

Loosening the bogie shouldn't be necessary and always risks what you've had happen - that the screw eventually falls out. At least you found it!

I'd check for kinks and bumps on the inside edges of the rails where the derailing occurs - it sounds more like a trackwork issue if both the tender and bogie are derailing.

Would you suggest too that I remove the body of the tender to allow for increased cooling?  I haven't tried removing it yet and I assume that it can be run in that state?

No - if it can't run with the tender body on it's faulty and should be returned as not fit for purpose!

Cheers,
Alan

[Malc]

Hi Peter,

I had a similar problem with a Black 5 jumping off at different places. It did seem dependent on speed. After a good look at where it de-railed, I found a fishplates/rail joiner had not connected properly when joining flexi to fixed track and the rail had lifted slightly. Running my thumb nail over all the track, I found a couple of other instances. How I didn't notice them when I was track laying, I don't know. I just put it down to increasing age and poor lighting.

[talisman56]

My Dapol 'Britannia' copes relatively well with the Setrack radius 1 curves on my test track. I say 'relatively' because it does exhibit a bit of binding and does not run as smoothly as, for example the Farish Standard 5 (the next largest loco in my fleet) does...

Otherwise, at no time has it exhibited random bogie derailments.

[H]

You need to establish if it is 'random' derailments or if it always happens at the same place indicating a conflict between track and loco. Watch carefully to see exactly what happens, where it occurs and what causes the derailment.

Electric motors can get warm but shouldn't get dangerously hot. There should be no need to run a model without the body for 'cooling'. Check the loco when running to make sure nothing is catching or causing unnecessary additional resistance or 'load' on the motor. Clean out any old grease and muck, and then oil sparingly with appropriate lubricant.

H.