Overland Limited Set with 4-8-4 Engine

[Jr Engineer]

Hello, my son and I are just getting started with HO and I have a quick question to make sure the engine is okay.  It seems to run fine on the supplied track (22" radius), but seems to de-rail on the 18" track my son already has.  As I have read this seems to be the trend with the larger engine.

ISSUE:
The rear 4 guides, when held up, seem to hang down really far.  They also will rotate to almost 90 degress either direction.  The front guides don't hang down as far and don't rotate nearly as far.  I hope the pictures attach.

QUESTION:
Does this look/seem correct/normal or does it appear that something is wrong with the engine?

[ABC]

No nothing is wrong with the engine, it is just too large to run on the tighter 18" radius, stick with 22" radius and it will run fine.

[full maxx]

yeah my Berkshire 2-8-4 is the same way (don't swing out as much but more than I thought it would) with the wheels and turns...if you get turnouts/crossovers get #6

[Michigan Railfan]

I have the same set. I don't think the wheels on mine hang down that far. It looks like your trailing wheels are connected to the chassis. I'm pretty sure mine are attached to the body. I'm not completely sure if they should hang that far, but it derailing on 18" radius should not have anything to do with the trailing wheels.

[Stephen D. Richards]

Make sure your track is connected together correctly first.  Where is the locomotive derailing from?  Front truck, rear truck, drive wheels or the Tender?  That might give you a better idea as to what is happening.  I have an older Overland and mine hangs down a good bit like yours but will not swing out away from the body that much!  I did find that my Tender was far under weight and tweighting it corrected all my dereailing problems (once track was put together correctly).  Just doesn't pull that many cars!    Stephen

[ABC]

Stephen, does yours run on 18s? My Northern, Niagra, and 2 Class Js need at least 22" radius.

[Jr Engineer]

Thanks all for the replies.  I just wanted to make sure we didn't get a broken engine right off the bat.  I'll try a little extra weight in the tender too, good idea.

[Stephen D. Richards]

ABC,  yes it will run on 18"  but does look a little odd.  I have two Class Js as well and they will run on the 18" but they do really slow down going into the curves.  I guess it is the flanges on the drive wheels getting into a bind.  OTH I have a 2-10-0 Decapod that runs rather well on 18" curves.  I assume that the shorter wheel base makes the difference.  My Overland 4-8-4 slows down in the curves as well.  22" curves don't seem to bother it much.  Stephen

[DaveMFnC]

My trailing trucks hang that far down and have as much side play as yours as well. I just bought my set for basically THAT locomotive. It runs well on 22" radius but I have a nailed down flextrack test oval in my garage and I'd say the turn average is about 20" It looks a little odd but does run on the loop. Odd thing is, I laid the track from scraps of flex, and nailed it in a hurry and its basically a "Good engine if it runs on this" loop. It has a small up/down grade and really crappy trackwork on purpose to see what different loco's will handle. My 4-8-4 goes around perfect forward and backward.

[the nitro man]

I run my bachmann niagara 4-8-4 with a centipede tender & my rivarrosi 2-8-4 berkshire on bachmann 18" radius track with no problems at all. is the 18" radius a different type of track?

[bobwrgt]

Get down and watch it on  the curve and see if anything is hitting. You need to use the last hole on the draw bar between engine and tender. See if the draw bar hits the rear truck or hits the frame and detail hanging down. Sometimes the draw bar gets bent up or down and will derail the engine.


Bob

[hotrainlover]

I have this exact engine.  It would derail ever so often.  I was told to put a washer (As weight) on the lead truck.  I did this, painted it black, and that fixed the problem.

[oompalompa]

i have the same set and i want to extend it what switch do i use

[pghwrench]

I have the same set. I don't think the wheels on mine hang down that far. It looks like your trailing wheels are connected to the chassis. I'm pretty sure mine are attached to the body. I'm not completely sure if they should hang that far, but it derailing on 18" radius should not have anything to do with the trailing wheels.

when did you get yours my parts diagram show one your describing with the wheels attached to the body being spring loaded where as mines only two weeks old are attached to the chassis with no spring preload and it constantly derails at any given moment not at particular section which one might expect with a track problem