Hogwarts express

[IronMan1017]

Hi everyone! I have an older hogwarts express 4-6-0 it runs amazing. I updated to DCC with a digitrax sound decoder. Again it is running great. I would love to help it with it lurching. At low speed it will lunge a bit almost like a flat spot in the gears. I have looked & cleaned everything, but can not see anything wrong. I also would like to know what I can do to stop the wheels from slipping on my 2% incline.
It is only pulling 5 cars up the grade.
Thanks for any help.

[Quentin]

I had a similar issue with a DCC 4-8-4. Had a cracked gear. Had a hobby shop here in town replace it (with genuine Bachmann parts) and now it runs fine. Maybe the same problem, and maybe not.

As for the wheelslip, I don't know. I'll think about it.

[IronMan1017]

I will double check the gears to see. It could be a stress crack in it I did not notice. Thank you.

[Quentin]

So I was thinking about the wheelslip problem, and I thought about rubber traction tires. If those don't work (or they kill the power flow) then you could ballast the loco. I've never ballasted a steam loco, but I've done it before on diesels.

[IronMan1017]

I don't think I can get traction tires for this model, however I have thought of adding a bit of weight. I plan on looking into this over the weekend. I will let you know of my results.

[Terry Toenges]

Have you checked the track to see if there are any slick spots where maybe something leaked on it like gear oil? I often use a rubber pink eraser (like you use in school) to go over my track to clean up any residue on it.

[IronMan1017]

Have you checked the track to see if there are any slick spots where maybe something leaked on it like gear oil? I often use a rubber pink eraser (like you use in school) to go over my track to clean up any residue on it.

Track is clean. The rest of my locos don't have an issue with it. I have always had the wheel slip issue with this little loco since I got it many years ago.
I will try the weight adding to see if that will help.

[Quentin]

Did you ever find out if there were any stress cracks in a gear?

[IronMan1017]

So I took it all apart. Cleaned all the old grease off the gears. I looked & looked ! I did not see any cracks in the gears. After I put it back together. Added new grease( very little at that) it seemed to help the lurching a bit. Still they're at very low speed , but not as bad as before.
The weight added was 1/2 a oz it helped a lot with the wheel slip. So at this point I am happy with it for now. Might look for a better can motor for it down the road.

[Quentin]

That's great. There may be something wrong in the can, or a bent rod, who knows. I had one (it was a diesel with a can motor) that had a slightly bent rod that caused it to kinda lurch. Who knows.