ATM bogies poor ride quality

[bluedepot]

ok.... i added some new atm bogies / wheels / nem couplers to some container flats, and the ride quality is now very poor.  the wagons seem unbalanced (some seem to tilt, even on straights), also a lot of derailments and uncouplings (these do occur on curves (r3) and points).

any ideas on how to fix this?

are there any instructions that should come with the atm bogies?

i have tried adding weights to the wagons but not much difference.

the atm bogies look better of course, but ride quality so far is poor. maybe i am missing something or have made some errors?

cheers

tim

[EtchedPixels]

I've got various things with ATM bogies and I'm surprised at your problem. Are the bogie frames straight and the wheels sitting nicely in the bogies. Do they appear gauged properly ?

Where does it tend to derail ?

Alan

[bluedepot]

not sure as not checked the back to backs of the wheels. i will check wheels are positioned correctly as well. cheers for the tips.

the derailments are nearly always on curves (radius 3) or points (electrofrog medium or large radius).

i'll go look at some wagons now to check wheels.

cheers for fast reply ep



tim

[bluedepot]

did you adjust the pins that hold the bogies in ep?

checked wheels and all ok so not sure.  will try running the wagons and re-check them tomorrow evening.

cheers,


tim

[PaulCheffus]

 

I've got various things with ATM bogies and I'm surprised at your problem. Are the bogie frames straight and the wheels sitting nicely in the bogies. Do they appear gauged properly ?

Where does it tend to derail ?

Alan

Hi

Likewise I have around 20 wagons running on ATM bogies and none of them have any running problems.

Cheers

Paul

[edwin_m]

Do the bogies (not the wheels) rotate freely on their pivots? 

[bluedepot]

hi guys

yes they rotate fine, if anything they are too lose i feel.

i'll try running them again this evening and make some adjustments

did you guys adjust the bogie pin at all or cut it down?


cheers,

tim

[Ben A]

Hello Tim,

Sorry to hear of your problems with ATM bogies.

Don't worry too much about the pin - as long as it's loose enough for the bogie to pivot freely, but not so loose that the head hits any obstructions in the centre of the track.

Try identifying which bogie(s) are at fault.  Is it one particular bogie that derails?  Two on the same wagon?  Once you have worked out which are the troublmaker(s) then remove from the wagon and check the sideframes for squareness.  If you have a look at the bogies in "plan" view, they should form a square "H" shape - if the ends are splayed out at all then try bending them towards the centre.  Bend them slightly further than you want them, and they should spring back to the "true" position.  This should ensure the wheels are not too loose.  ATM bogies are made from a nylon/glass fibre composite material designed to provide long wearing life, stiffness and crisp detail.  Occasionally the ends of the sideframes might splay out a little and in theory this could cause the wheelsets to drop out. 

Of course, there is also the possibility, however unlikely, that your bogies were simply moulded badly, are damaged, or suffering from some other defect.  In this case, please PM me and I will arrange refund or replacement.

cheers

Ben A.

[bluedepot]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the reply.

I think it is the NEM coupling pockets / couplers that cause the derailments. The bogie frames and wheels look absolutely fine to me.

I don't know if you noticed that on a new farish mk1 coach the couplings move side to side independently of the bogie itself turning, but on the ATM bogies the NEM couplers are fixed rigid and only turn when the bogie turns. I've no idea about brand new long wheel base / bogie wagons with NEM pockets, are they rigid or do they move side to side independently of the bogie frame?

Anyway I replaced the couplers with farish standard nem couplers, and although to me they look absolutely identical, the wagons run better and do not derail quite so much with these attached!!! Makes no sense to me... but this appears to be the solution. Further testing will commence later on tonight or tomorrow evening!

Have you test run wagons with the NEM fitted bogies and couplers as supplied on r2, r3, r4 curves?

Is the gap between wagons the same with the 'spring' coupling pockets as with the as fitted NEM couplers?


Cheers,


Tim

[bluedepot]

Some good news at last!!! I changed all the couplings over to farish standard nem ones and they run ok now!  No idea why it makes a difference, but it does...

So, in the video the first 5 container flats have ATM bogies with smaller wheels, the sixth flat has darkened wheels but farish bogies / wheels, the last 4 have farish bogies and pizza cutter wheels! You can see the change in height after wagon 5. I will change the other wagons to ATM bogies and smaller wheels as well as soon as I can get the supplies from NTrain (big up to NTrain for supplying the first 5 sets of bogies and wheels...)

Anyway here is just over 2mins of the trains going round... bit repetative but never mind!


Class 47 with containers and Class 101 DMU

[Newportnobby]

Glad you've managed to solve the problem

[bluedepot]

cheers mate

now to find the next problem! lol

[Newportnobby]

Don't look too hard, Tim.
The problems usually find me. I don't need to look

[NTrain]

Glad you managed to sort the problem.