Slippery Drivers

[rogertra]

I add weight to all my steam and also remove any springs pushing down on trucks, all to improve pulling power.  Just removing those truck springs will add two or three cars to a train.  I carefully add weight my locomotives so that the weight is balanced in the centre of the driving wheels.  Not nose nor cab heavy but nicely balanced.  

Roger-

Do you ever have problems keeping leading and trailing trucks on the rails when you pull their springs? I have. But now I put a little weight on the accessory truck if I remove a spring. This has the effect of keeping the truck on the rails while maximizing the weight on the driven wheels and adding only infinitesimally to the load on the engine. A couple of BBs on a pony truck won't have a measurable effect on pulling capacity but they will allow the loco to deploy its entire mass towards tractive effort.
                                                                                                                                                                                       -- D

Don.

Yes, sometimes, depending on a particular loco.  It varies between engines even of the same class.  Most don't need the weight but some do.  The longer wheels base engines, the 4-8-2s and 2-10-2s seem to need the weight more than the smaller engines.  I do what you do and add a little weight to the top of the truck.  The slight amount of added work gluing the weight on the truck is far outweighed by the increased reliability in tracking.  In fact, on my two recently converted to DCC engines, as part of the conversion I decided that from now on I'll add the weight to the trucks as part of any conversion to DCC.

Cheers.

Roger.  

[ALCO1000]

Is there some underlying reason that some loco's have moved away from using rubber band-type traction drivers?  Even my little Bachmann 4-4-0 (with rebber traction) can pull quite a bit more than the 2-6-2 Prairie.  Ultimately, even my heavier (2-8-2) loco slips a bit....not as bad.  Having said that, I am in the process of lighting the weight on my rolling stock.  We'll see well that works.

later

Rubber tires create problems put too much strain on the gear and deposit crud on the rail,put good metal wheel sets on your cars make sure they spin free,roll test them they should roll like a hockey puck on ice , if not check the wheels again to make sure they spin free ,make sure there in gauge and they are not dragging in the bearing ,if they are ream the bearing a little with a small drill bit be careful not to take out too much, you can always take out a little more ,But you cannot put it Back!Make sure your loco drive wheels are all level and TOUCHING THE RAIL EVENLY ,sometimes A BEARING OR AN AXLE IS WORN AND MAKES 1 axle sit up too high in the frame causing uneven weight distribution on the drive wheels especially if it is surrounded on both sides by axles with good bearings this would put the weight on the 2 axles and not much in the middle axle then you get a traction problem ,Hope this helps!
Jack

[woliners]

Well, lots of good ideas.  I followed my favorite one.  I bought a bigger, better, heavier engine.  Like the post said.....it was a good excuse to buy it.  My wife is skeptical.  Oh well.  Thanks for all the input.

[Bob_B]

....
Broadway Limited USA uses traction tires as well as Bachmann on N scale steam and Proto (Walthers) steam. They are some of the best running engines still today and well worth buying.

I agree. I have a couple of Broadway Limited locos, one being steam with traction tyres and have had no problems with traction or performance. I'd put it up against any manufacturer when it comes to quality and price.