How To Improve Lionel Rolling Stock Reliability - Getting Down And Heavy
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- When sharing some O gauge layout time with my son recently, he asked why it is that when I build a Lionel train consist, it usually runs fine, but we HE builds a Lionel train consist, there are often derailments. The answer, of course, is that time and experience has taught me which cars are heavier, and should be placed at the front of the train, and which cars are lighter, or less stable, and need to be placed at the rear of the train. But what can be done so that we don’t need to consider these things when assembling a consist?
For example, in the 1970s, Lionel MPC produced a variety of rolling stock that represented contemporary railroading. Lionel MPC’s tri-level auto rack cars are good-looking, though slightly undersized cars that represent cars that were common on US railroads in the late 1960s and 1970s. But, the cars can be unreliable in actual operation on the layout.
One tool that helps these cars, and all three-rail trains, stay on the rails are the deep wheel flanges. But sometimes, this is not enough. Another tool that can help considerably is weight - but how much, and where?
*As an Amazon Associate and a member of other affiliate networks, We may receive commissions on qualifying sales generated from the links on this channel.**
Visit Our Virtual Storefront! walmrt.us/3sIUMQu
Wheel Weights: amzn.to/3U64mYH or walmrt.us/3J4D8LQ
Toy Train Tips And Tricks is a channel devoted to the operation, repair, history, and collecting of classic 3-rail O and O27 gauge trains made by Lionel, Marx, K-Line, Menards, and other manufacturers.
Keep the trains running!
Music and Visual Effects Courtesy of Pixabay.com
Facebook: / ttttlocomaniac
Twitter: / ttttmike
Instagram: / mrmoore2001
#Promotion #Lioneltrains #Trainset #Trainrepair #Traincollecting #Ogauge #Oscale
![[Live] ศึกมหึมันส์มวยไทยสังเวียนเดือด เวทีมวยชั่วคราวสวนสยาม | จันทร์ 30 กันยายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pM1k6f7JXUc/mqdefault.jpg)
Replacing plastic wheelsets with metal ones will substantially improve operations of the cheaper MPC cars. One part of weighting is keeping consistency. Even if you didnt weight fully to those targets, even having those cars around the 9.5 to 10 oz range so they are similar to others will help.
Lion O Marx American Flyer Ho N
I recently read something interesting in an '80s Model Railroader magazine.
It was suggested that rather than using lead as a weight, instead a modeler should use pennies. Those by far are lighter (about the only thing that gets close to lead is gold, and there ain't a model railroader out there who would do that!), but they were actually cheaper than lead. Additionally, inflation is heavily in play today and so lead is even more expensive. Pennies are not.
The problem in O is that it takes SO MANY pennies to make the necessary weight.
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks I suppose, especially since I spent all of mine on coffee.
Great information
Glad it was helpful!
This is something I have been addressing with my MPC stuff for years, and I've been in the process of eliminating those pesky plastic truck snaps they used. My Hi-Cubes were bouncy on switches and crossovers, until I removed the plastic snap, and replaced the Symington-Wayne trucks with metal trucks. Some, like the Penn Cental hi-cube got sprung Bettendorf trucks, to represent the cash strapped PC using older trucks, some got the newer (mid-late 1990s on) metal roller bearing trucks. I found some metal tubing, cut to length, then used a screw to hold the truck to the floor. Similar to how earlier standard O cars had their trucks mounted. The earlier auto racks with plastic snap rivets were even worse. If you want to use the original trucks, a machine screw and hex nut will work, but cut a length of tubing so you can make the nut nice and tight against the tubing, but let the truck still pivot. That will also go a long way in reliability.
Thanks for the tip!
Another great video. Keep them coming.
Thanks!
Great video!
Thanks!
Do you still have the videos up of the Sandy Andy “Ore Loader”? I can’t find it. I remember you were looking for the darker color re release of them in the middle 80’s. I’m putting my two up on Ebay in the next week. I just put up two videos on this channel. I normally post from my other channel mustangstrainsmowers (Boyd The Goofball).
th-cam.com/video/nRTvXOC-Xmk/w-d-xo.html
Thanks - great video Can you use hot glue to attach. .
I guess you can if you want to permanently attach the trailers to the flat cars.
I have the same problem with a Menards 279-3914 TTX Auto carrier (Ford trucks). I run an O27 setup and no matter where its placed I will have a derailment plus I've removed the top three vehicles. No joy.
Make sure the weight at the bottom of the car is greater than the weight of the diecast vehicles in top. That should help.
Good info with practical advice about car weights. The MPC-era 'fast-angle' wheelsets roll so much better than traditional Lionel, but it's preferable that they have the heavier metal wheels instead of plastic wheels to add weight low down. The heavier drag of traditional Lionel wheelsets can contribute to 'stringline' derailments of long trains on sharp curves. Lighter cars and/or longer cars on sharp curves can have a similar problem. I basically avoid running those longer cars on O27 and O31 curves because I don't like the looks of such long cars on relatively sharp curves, along with the potentially increased risk of derailments. I have a separate layout with wider curves to run the longer cars.
Thanks for the feedback!
I'll occasionally pick up junk lots of postwar cars; cars beyond hope but with salvageable trucks that I can then transplant to MPC. usually all that is needed to fix the issue.
Thanks for the tip.
Mike: Great vid, but I have a question for U. On a K-line S-2, what is the switch for on the underside? I'm think of adding one, and installing a bluenami decoder.
If there's just a single switch, it's the reverse unit lockout switch.
I have the tri-level auto racks. I had to remove the top level, as they wouldn't clear tunnels or bridges.
They will clear standard Lionel trestles.
Nice tip I should get some. Just an FYI the link to them on Amazon did not work.
Ok. I'll check the link. Thanks!!
This video came at the perfect time for me. I knew I had to add weight, but wasn't sure how much. Running some long hopper trains at the club layout. The newer, lightweight ones were at the end of the train, but I was getting derailments. I'll add the harbor freight wheel weights and see what happens. Thanks.
Happy to help!
The cheaper cars with plastic trucks can be replaced with post war metal trucks for instant improvement staying on the tracks. Heavier post war cars stay on the tracks better with longer consists. I even weight them about twice the formula weight for more realistic anti rocking side to side.
Thanks for the tip!
I have never been a fan of those auto rack cars. they are way too lomg and very unstable and since the only cars that fit on them are closer to HO scale than O it pretty much disqualifies them from my layout. I wound up with two of fhose and many trips to swap meets found no one was interested in them. I did sell one because the buyer was getting it for a Chessie fan. I have several of the TOFC cars and haven't had any issues with them. Your tips for making those big racks may be just what they need to bring them into favor with Railroaders.
Thanks for the feedback!
They don't call it consist....ency for nothing. Haha, dad joke. I have one for country music as well, but that's not appropriate here. Haha. Great video!
;-)
Those plastic pinned couplers are a pain in the neck. Nice tips, I need to get some of those stick-on wheel weights.
Thanks for watching!
Another great tips and tricks video. Thanks for posting. Definitely good information to help ‘fine tune’ our trains.
Glad you like it!
I added a bunch of the stick on 2oz weights to my autoracks and haven’t had any issues since i have had them in front of postwar cars and other heavier cars no issues
Excellent!
Interesting topic and great tips!
It's interesting they say low and wide. When I raced RC cars, they said keep the weight centered.
RC cars have to be concerned with on and off power rotation and corner speed. Model rail cars just need to stay on the tracks.
Different purposes. With the rail cars, we are trying to overcome external lateral forces on the car. Race cars already have a low center of gravity and a rather wide stance. The weight is to counteract internal forces generated by the motor and drivetrain.
My couplers don't always line up, one cars coupler is lower or higher and causes the car to uncouple, any fix for this problem?
Lionel's Postwar metal coupler shafts may be bent up or down with pliers. There's not much you can do with plastic.
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks thank you very much!
Hot Wheels cars are too small as well as Matchbox cars are like the size of a golf cart. They are more for HO scale. I glue plastic couplers shut. I also cut off the thumb tack so it doesn't snag on the 3 rd rail.
Hot Wheels cars are too small for o scale. But these Auto racks actually measure out closer to S so hot wheels are about right.
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks they are still too small.They are not all the same. A Road Signature car is smaller than 0 scale but larger than S scale. They fill up a MPC car carrier where an 0 scale car is too wide. Hot Wheels cars are too small for 027. They are also not realistic,too bizarre paint jobs. Beep people are undersized for 0 scale. The adult figures are more like teenagers. Put one of them next to a HW car and the car looks like a clown car from a circus. Put a 0 scale figure next to a HW car and they look 10 ft tall. Road Champ cars and trucks are true 0 scale, but they are too wide for MPC car carrier where Road Signature car just fit. They will also fit inside the gas station service bays.
@@frankmarkovcijr5459 First, Matchbox cars tend to be more realistic. Secondly, they are produced for 1:64. I would recommend them for something in the background on a larger layout or a particularly semi-scale (think O27, especially Marx) train.
Another way to fix the couplers from unwanted openings is to file a flat spot on the coupler pin where the knuckle makes contact with the pin. That creates more surface tension to hold the coupler shut. Great video. I’ve been looking to standardize my car weight like the HO guys do and this was a great introduction to that concept. Thank you! 🚂
Thanks for the feedback!!
Road Signature cars fit inside MPC car carriers. Beep people fit in them w/o amputation. Smaller size fits 027 size buildings.
Great tutorial! Next time I'm at the hardware store I'll look for some weights.
Other than harbor freight, you are more likely to find them at an auto parts store than a hardware store.