Power Increase to track

[clacki]

I have a track with an incline that the trains can just climb on their own, but not when pulling carriages. How to I increase the power to the track to overcome this issue. At the moment I have one power supply (1amp) running at 100%.

[richg]

I have a track with an incline that the trains can just climb on their own, but not when pulling carriages. How to I increase the power to the track to overcome this issue. At the moment I have one power supply (1amp) running at 100%.

Is the pack, DC or DCC?
What type of loco?
Are the loco drivers slipping? If they are, more power will not work. More weight in the loco will be needed.

Rich

[clacki]

The lighter engine Thomas can get up but the heavier engine Emily can't get up.

[richg]

The lighter engine Thomas can get up but the heavier engine Emily can't get up.

You are not answering the question.
Are the drivers slipping?

Rich

[Doneldon]

clacki-

I'm not familiar with the characteristics of the Bachmann Thomas the Tank Engine equipment but, in general, if your locomotive can only get up a grade by itself the grade is too steep. Real trains, other than some highly specialized trains for logging and mining, don't do very well with grades. Cars and trucks, which have rubber tires on concrete or blacktop surfaces, can easily climb very steep grades but trains cannot. With only a very few exceptions, almost no mainline grades on real railroads are steeper than 2%. That means the track goes up two feet in 100 feet of travel. On your train layout, that means about two inches in 100 inches of travel. Or, assuming you have the 36"x45" oval of track which came with your set, just a little more than 2 1/2 inches in one full trip around your track. That's not far enough to have a track which can cross over itself. There are some ways to fudge the grade, like having part of the track go down while the rest goes up, or using a figure-eight set-up which gives extra distance for the grade. Also, model trains can handle somewhat steeper grades than real trains, even up to 3.5% - 4% grades. However, a loco's ability to pull cars up a grade decreases more rapidly than the steepness of the grade increases. And that, I think, is your problem.

So. What can you do? Several things. First, keep your grade to no more than three percent. That means the track goes up a little less than four inches for each round trip. You can use longer track to stretch out your grades, like with a figure-eight or a folded figure-eight or just a longer track in a larger space. You can set your track up so that its lowest point is below the flat part of your train board and it climbs up to the flat level and then continues to go up until it's high enough to leave space for a train to cross below. As someone mentioned, you can add some weight to your loco because more weight will give it better adhesion or traction. But you want to be careful because too much weight will strain your electric motor and make it wear out sooner. And don't even think of adding more electricity because that could easily burn out your motor or be a fire hazard. DO NOT ever try to connect more than one power source to your track as that is dangerous.

I think the two best things you can do is make your grade a lot less steep and get a parent or grandparent to help you set things up. I had children and I have grandchildren and I promise you that the people who care for you will be happy to help you. Good luck with your model railroading.

I'm sort of guessing that a young person who has Thomas trains probably had some help writing us in the first place and I hope my suggestions are clear enough that the person who is helping you understands them. Have fun!
                                                                                                                -- D

[richg]

I will assume the drivers are slipping. Along with the above suggestions, try using some Bull Frog Snot. You can get it from a LHS and many on line sources. A Google search for bull frog snot will bring up many possibilities.

http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/pages/How_to.html

Rich

[jward]

keep in mind that bullfrog snot does not conduct electricity. any wheels it is applied to will not be able to pick up electricity from the track. a light engine like thomas or percy needs all the pickup  points it can get.

isn't emily a "single" a locomotive with only 2 drive wheels? if so, she's not going to pull much no matter what you do.

your best bet would be to reduce the incline to something manageable. or not expect to pull many cars. messing around with the power supply isn't going to increase your pulling power.

[on30gn15]

isn't emily a "single" a locomotive with only 2 drive wheels? if so, she's not going to pull much no matter what you do.

The "prototype" indeed is; and that's right.
This model however, I discovered when pulling one apart to bash into an On30 creation, is geared on both the driver and the trailing axle. Whoever did the calculus to make that work is a smarter chap than me.

An important factor in real life loco pulling power is something called 'adhesion'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_adhesion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_of_adhesion