ps matt... just watched your video a few times, and to me the front "lip" of your e8, where there would be a snow plow on geep or sd engine, looks extremely close to the railhead. i also see that it looks like you have either the kato or bachmann "unitrack" with plastic ballast, so if the track is connected correctly, and i think it is because lighter cars are NOT derailing, it is either the coupler gladhand, the front "lip" of the engine right next to the coupler, or then there must be something either on the truck or gas tank area that is hitting the track... hope this helps, please keep me posted ! denny
hi matt !!!i am a big "old" p2k engine lover and i have at least 40 of them, all modified to dcc of course, and i can tell you this for sure...if your e8 is derailing every time in a certain area of your layout it must be a pretty substantial problem. p2k's are very heavy so check the gladhands on the coupler as it might be hitting the railhead when it passes over it at the switch.... if the cars behind the engine make it thru, remembering they are MUCH lighter, your problem should be relatively easy to fix. i run my p2k consists right next to friends super expensive scale trains, rapido and athearn genesis engines and they are just as smooth and pull the same !!! being older, you might want to lubricate the e8 at all friction points, as i have seen a good lube job turn many engines right around and run much more efficiently !!! sd 50's and 60's abound on my roster, with some newer walthers sd 60m's in soo/avr/up/kcs etc. btw, in case you did not know, walthers purchased life like (p2k) many years ago and their newer drive trains are excellent, too as walthers did not change the p2k "footprint" much !! blessings to you matt... please keep me posted. denny
@@dennisarmes3473 thanks for your info. I'm going to check it out. It makes sense what your saying as it only derails at the end of the crossover in the other direction. Been running it for about an hour straight today without an issue. I have a whalthers Proto SD45 with DCC/ Sound. I can definitely tell it's P2K :) I'm happy they kept it pretty much the same.
@@MatthewsModelTrains sounds good, matt, and i hope you get it fixed. here's a little trick you can try ... put a small dab of acrylic paint ( the cheapies you can get at walmart in the crafts section... they are water soluble) directly on top of the rail head right where the derailment is occurring, leaving it wet. then run the e8 over it and see if the paint is scraped a bit. this would give you a yes or no at that specific spot.... the reverse is true as well... you can put a small dab of yellow paint across the leading lower edge of the front of the UP e8 and then see if, and then exactly where, it might be hitting. btw, is there a gladhands on your coupler ? if you do not know, that is the curved piece of metal that opens the coupler when above a magnet and is used for uncoupling cars. there have been many times on my layout where it is just a bit too low and when it comes into the switch it just hits the rail head somewhere within the switch itself.... BOOM, derail !!! you may want to check your wheel gauge with an NMRA gauge as well. keep me posted !!! ps... nice collection of engines !!!
ps matt... just watched your video a few times, and to me the front "lip" of your e8, where there would be a snow plow on geep or sd engine, looks extremely close to the railhead. i also see that it looks like you have either the kato or bachmann "unitrack" with plastic ballast, so if the track is connected correctly, and i think it is because lighter cars are NOT derailing, it is either the coupler gladhand, the front "lip" of the engine right next to the coupler, or then there must be something either on the truck or gas tank area that is hitting the track... hope this helps, please keep me posted ! denny
hi matt !!!i am a big "old" p2k engine lover and i have at least 40 of them, all modified to dcc of course, and i can tell you this for sure...if your e8 is derailing every time in a certain area of your layout it must be a pretty substantial problem. p2k's are very heavy so check the gladhands on the coupler as it might be hitting the railhead when it passes over it at the switch.... if the cars behind the engine make it thru, remembering they are MUCH lighter, your problem should be relatively easy to fix. i run my p2k consists right next to friends super expensive scale trains, rapido and athearn genesis engines and they are just as smooth and pull the same !!! being older, you might want to lubricate the e8 at all friction points, as i have seen a good lube job turn many engines right around and run much more efficiently !!! sd 50's and 60's abound on my roster, with some newer walthers sd 60m's in soo/avr/up/kcs etc. btw, in case you did not know, walthers purchased life like (p2k) many years ago and their newer drive trains are excellent, too as walthers did not change the p2k "footprint" much !! blessings to you matt... please keep me posted. denny
@@dennisarmes3473 thanks for your info. I'm going to check it out. It makes sense what your saying as it only derails at the end of the crossover in the other direction. Been running it for about an hour straight today without an issue. I have a whalthers Proto SD45 with DCC/ Sound. I can definitely tell it's P2K :) I'm happy they kept it pretty much the same.
@@MatthewsModelTrains sounds good, matt, and i hope you get it fixed. here's a little trick you can try ... put a small dab of acrylic paint ( the cheapies you can get at walmart in the crafts section... they are water soluble) directly on top of the rail head right where the derailment is occurring, leaving it wet. then run the e8 over it and see if the paint is scraped a bit. this would give you a yes or no at that specific spot.... the reverse is true as well... you can put a small dab of yellow paint across the leading lower edge of the front of the UP e8 and then see if, and then exactly where, it might be hitting. btw, is there a gladhands on your coupler ? if you do not know, that is the curved piece of metal that opens the coupler when above a magnet and is used for uncoupling cars. there have been many times on my layout where it is just a bit too low and when it comes into the switch it just hits the rail head somewhere within the switch itself.... BOOM, derail !!! you may want to check your wheel gauge with an NMRA gauge as well. keep me posted !!! ps... nice collection of engines !!!