Consolidation Voltage??

[moore02]

  I have just received a new Consolidation--it is a great model by the way--and I have to turn the throttle on the power pack to about half way before the locomotive begins to move and then it jerks and takes off at a pretty good clip--I can then reduce the voltage and it will run fine at a slower speed--and then when stopping it does not seem to slow down much before coming to a sudden stop??  I have been running an Anniversery locomotive on this same track and with the same power pack and did not encounter any of these problems--Have also ran an LGB locomotive on the track and with the same power pack with no such problems--Is this normal or do you think there might be a motor problem??
Thank you

[altterrain]

It's probably a power supply problem. The Connie has a bigger motor than the Annie. If you only have a starter power supply only putting out an amp or two, you'll need to upgrade for better performance.

-Brian

[moore02]

Thanks--

[Kor Elzenga]

Hello Moore02,

I don't entirely agree with Altterrain: I have a Connie myself that runs quite smoothly on a starter powerpack from LGB that only provides 1 A current. Even outdoors on a 75' loop with a single electrical connection to the track and many ordinary rail joiners!.

My suggestion would be to check whether there is no mechanical issue causing the jerky behavior.
- Perhaps a coupling rod that's binding or bent or one of the rods of the valve gear.
- Check if the drivers are quartered correctly.
- I seem to remember that some of the Connies had an issue with the motor not being mounted properly. I don't remember it exactly but I think it had something to do with the screws with which the gearbox was mounted. (search through this forum) 
- Last but not least, check if the screws that secure the counter weights to the axles are tightened. On my Connie one of the screws had come loose at one time and she would exhibit a similar behavior as you are describing now. In compliance with Murphy's law it was the screw on the first driver, behind the piston rod, so it was a bit tricky to tighten it again, but after the fix she would run as well as before.

Basically Altterrain is right, that the power of your powerpack can cause problems with larger engines and especially on larger layouts. However, such an engine would probably not suddenly jump start, but instead just crawl or simply refuse to run at all. In those cases the thermal protection of the powerpack would probably be activated because of the power draw and cut the power alltogether.

My $0.02 worth of advice.

Kind regards,

Kor Elzenga
Wassenaar, Netherlands

[Loco Bill Canelos]

If it is new and nothing seems to be binding, try running it for ten minutes forward and ten minutes reverse, but only after insuring that you have completely lubed the loco following the instructions.

I agree with Kor as my starter powerpack works fine with mine.  There was a problem in the early runs with loose gearboxes, so if you continue to have problems I would check that next!

Best of luck