The top problems on the BCSJ when it comes to rolling stock are:

1. Athearn cars with the metal clip holding the pocket together. Either the clip fell off or is in the process of falling off allowing the couplers to droop. The solution is to either put a small screw through the lid of the metal clip to keep it in place or to remove the coupler pocket and replace it with something more robust (like a Kadee).

2. Older Accurail cars where the trucks are held in place by bolster pins. The pins fall out and may wedge between the trucks and the ties causing a derailment. Or if there's no immediate derailment, these cars may survive multiple op sessions before the car and truck becomes separated...  The solution is to replace the bolster pins with a screw (2-56).

3. Older Accurail cars didn't have screws to hold the lids on the couple pockets. These could work loose if just pressed in place resulting in drooping (or missing couplers). The cure is to either screw the lids in place with a small screw or since I'm using Kadee couplers which are generally ultra reliable (don't break except for the knuckle spring disappering once in a blue moon) use a TINY amount of glue to encourage the coupler pocket lid to stay in place.

4. Some of my older Intermountain tank cars came with a plastic Kadee compatilbe glued into the coupler box. Ugh. These couplers used a plastic 'tang' to hold the knuckles closed. But when these cars are left in a train with the slack in the couplers compressed (so the knuckles are trying to be open) the plastic tang 'remembers' it's open position resulting in a break in two when the slack is removed from the train (such as by an engine trying to make off with the train). Solution: UGH - the reason I still have some of these is the detail on these cars is so freakin' delicate that turning them upside down, even in a very soft car cushion (foam) wrecks havoc on them. ANd the MORONS that selected these couples THOROUGHLY glued to coupler pocket closes so it takes some major prying to get the lids off the pockets and remove the couplers. My advice is to check ALL RTR rolling stock before purchase to ensure that the couplers are at the right height, swing side to side properly, that the knuckles open and close properly, and that there is a METAL knuckle spring. Plastic tang couplers disqualify a purchase on the BCSJ if the coupler pocket is glued closed.

NOTE: I wrote to Intermountain with my frustrations some time ago and they were no longer using the plastic tang couplers with their HO RTR stuff so more recent models shouldn't have this issue.

Cheers,

Charlie

"digitally tested for rolling quality (ok, we spun them with our fingers)"

LOL!

I tell people we have digital dishwashers at home.  They just don't get it until I wiggle my fingers.

As I have just gotten back into the hobby, I have a fleet of mostly old cars.  The majority of them are in good shape, but a few are trouble makers.  How do I tell if new wheels are the answer, or new trucks are needed?  Will metal wheelsets from one manufacturer fit another or do I have to get them from each? 

My five car passenger train was givng me trouble, so I cleaned the wheels and loosened the truck tension.  It helped, but the coach in the 4 position still derailed at the same swicth.  I turned just that car around and it stopped derailing.  Any thoughts as to why changeing direction of the car helped?

Thanks guys.

http://tinyurl.com/yyongf

From Micro-Mark:

Our Truck Tuner reconditions your HO gauge railroad truck bearings so cars roll smoother with less friction. Simply insert the tool in place of a wheelset and rotate the shank. Truck Tuner's extra-sharp tool-steel cutter reshapes the bearing to the NMRA's recommended 60 degree contour and cleans out burrs and grime. Repeat for all bearings and your car is ready to really roll. Increases train lengths that locomotives can pull by up to 20 percent! For HO standard gauge trucks only.

I recommned replacing any plastic wheels with metal ones. It helps keep the crud levels down.

As for why turning the car around may have helped - it's possible that the leading (now trailing) axle/wheels was the problem. Following is a lot easier than being first.

The reason turning around helped is because the flanges in one of the trucks are attacking the railhead at a slight angle. By flipping the car around, you completely changed the angle of attack.

Ideally, the wheels roll so that the flanges are completely parallel to the railhead. If the wheels are canted at a slight angle towards the railhead, the flanges will find every imperfection in your track and climb the railhead. If the wheels are angled away from the railhead, the effect is less, but you will still have problems.

I recommend you turn the car back around and then study the derailment up close - figure out which truck is the problem. Now turn just that truck around. You will also find that probably improves things, just as turning the car around helped.

If you study the truck very closely, the wheels are probably all in gauge (I assume you checked that), but you will find one of the wheelsets has the wheels at a slightly different location from the end of the axle. When this happens, the truck marches down the track at an angle, causing derailments.

Turning the one bad wheelset around would also probably also improve things.

If all else fails and the car still misbehaves, I start by replacing all the wheelsets in that truck. If that doesn't help, then I replace the entire truck.

The other thing you mentioned is a derailment always at the same turnout. That suggests there's also an issue in that turnout. Check it very carefully with an NMRA gage and make sure the check gauge is correct. If this is a commercial turnout, I suspect the check gauge is bad. A bad check gauge will often work if the wheelsets are perfect, but if you get both a bad check gauge and a bad wheelset - it's derailment time.

Joe answered your second question; on the first one, the big reason to go to metal wheels is to keep the railhead cleaner -- everyone I know who has converted to metal has few contact problems and spends less time scraping away black crud from wheelsets and the track.

I'd say isolate the troublemakers, check the wheelsets with an NMRA gage, and see if some are too narrow or too wide. Using 'The Tool' Jeff mentioned will help improve rolling qualities. Sometimes there's a burr on the axle end you can clean up with a file.

Kadee and Lifelike replacement wheelsets seem to fit the majority of one-piece trucks that I run across. Reboxx sells wheelsets with a variety of axle lengths that can solve other problems -- they're essentially the same wheels as Intermountain's.

Sometimes you just have to get your eyes down to rail level and see what's  going on at the derailment point.

...on one particular layout that I frequent tends to be worn out in very specific ways. The Moira Valley layout, which I am most fond of, has been around since the mid 80's. The rolling stock is even older than that; some dating back to the early 70's. Most of it is scratchbuilt, some of it is brass. The sole benefit of this is that at least 90% of the wheels are metal. The layout gets used fairly heavily considering its age.

a) The bearing surfaces of the cast metal sideframes are often worn oval. These are not 60º cones, but simple holes in the frames to capture the straight-ended axles. Some of the manufacturers had used small brass top-hat grommets as an insert to improve wear, but this approach will never be as free-rolling as cone bearings. I've seen the thin walls of the brass worn right through as well.

b) The metal in the oldest (and most numerous) trucks has "gone funny". It tends to lose its shape or fracture, depending on each manufacturer's recipe for their casting material.

c) The coupler centering springs are shot. Many of the couplers are very old Kadee's, pre-dating the #802 (or even #5) style. Some of the knuckle springs are missing-in-action as well. I believe the older style couplers did not retain these springs as well as the newer designs.

d) The coupler pockets are disintegrating. Some of the trains are 40+ not-very-free-rolling cars. There can be a lot of strain on the pocket lids & screws. The couplers then droop, fail to maintain centre, or fail to hold when slack occurs.

Replacing all of the trucks could prove an expensive proposition. Keeping in mind that this is S scale and the layout is set in the pre 1920 time frame, there are no readily available archbar trucks that do not employ the same manufacturing techniques as the vintage versions. When you are lucky enough to find a cache of archbars, you may realise that they are new-old-stock and have been sitting around for 20+ years.

One option would be to order brass cone inserts from a company called "Romford" in England. These, in conjunction with pointed-axle wheelsets from NWSL, would greatly improve rolling quality. However, without a ready replacement for the disintegrating sideframes, the point seems moot.

(In S, there are plenty of choices in newer style trucks, but they are not appropriate to the locale/era being modelled.)

Chris

I agreed with Jeff 100% !!  I have always replaced my plastic wheels with metals wheels. It makes a world of a difference.

Is there a comparable "truck tuner" product for N? I did not see one in the micromark catalog.

Chris

The Reboxx site does not list one and all of the references I have seen are HO only.

For testing truck performance Reboxx also has the Reboxx Roll Tester.  I thought it was interesting but $40 seems a bit steep to me.

I saw a thread where someone mentioned putting graphite powder on the wheel sets before re-installing them.  I was wondering if that was a good thing to do, or not?