Can running a loco too slowly, with a train attached, burn it up?

If that was the case, my locomotives would have gone up in flames long ago.

Motors draw less current when running slower.  Less current= less heat.  As long as there is no physical binding or stalling, everything would fine.

Rusty

If that were true the engines in most of the videos here would be in flames.

@Rusty Traque posted:

If that was the case, my locomotives would have gone up in flames long ago.

Motors draw less current when running slower.  Less current= less heat.  As long as there is no physical binding or stalling, everything would fine.

Rusty

Thats the key, don’t let it stall,….

Pat

I'd say that running a loco too fast so that it leaves the track and hits the floor would cause more damage.

I run steamers at a slow speed for hours, so far no flames.

Is there some electronics involved in getting the loco to run slow, or is this just a straight variable voltage transformer?  Wave forms other than a standard sine wave can cause a motor to heat.  

Thanks for the answers guys.  David, I use straight variable voltage from my transformer, via the throttle control.

Most of my questions regarding electricity are pretty stupid, I know.  But, in my youth, when I was running HO, I burned up a lot of locomotives and switches.   One time, I ran a UP F type diesel, with just a few cars attached, for about 15 minutes at a fairly high speed.    The top of the shell melted! 

Mannyrcok

I am always puzzled by trains running so slow.  Since there is a huge effort to create realism, firebox glow, whistle steam, chuffs, endless smoke bellowing, enough talking to drive one up the wall, why do not the trains run at a scale speed once they leave the station and I have to assume the urban environs?  With forty plus foot straight runs why can they not be opened up?  How do any of these lines make any money?  Is this the cause of our problems getting toilet paper on to store shelves?

@Mannyrock posted:

Mannyrcok

Breaking in a new forum name?

Sometimes I think this place is a worry wart looking for a place to exist

rockstar: not sure if you are referring to the original post or some other reply.  I personally thought the question was appropriate and the answers informative.  When I read the statement that he had prior experience "melting" an engine that added to his curiosity about bigger stuff and the legitimacy of his question.

walt

@Mannyrock posted:

Thanks for the answers guys.  David, I use straight variable voltage from my transformer, via the throttle control.

Most of my questions regarding electricity are pretty stupid, I know.  But, in my youth, when I was running HO, I burned up a lot of locomotives and switches.   One time, I ran a UP F type diesel, with just a few cars attached, for about 15 minutes at a fairly high speed.    The top of the shell melted!

Mannyrcok

There was an issue in the 1980s, though primarily in N scale, of locomotives overheating at slow speeds, but the cause was the pulse-wave power pack feature that had been introduced to improve slow-speed running performance. That design was corrected to eliminate the problem.

@Bill DeBrooke posted:

I am always puzzled by trains running so slow.

Running slow makes a small railroad seem larger.

Since there is a huge effort to create realism, firebox glow, whistle steam, chuffs, endless smoke bellowing, enough talking to drive one up the wall, why do not the trains run at a scale speed once they leave the station and I have to assume the urban environs?  With forty plus foot straight runs why can they not be opened up?

Even a straight 40 foot main (assuming everyone has one, I sure don't) is no reason to go to warp speed.

  How do any of these lines make any money?  Is this the cause of our problems getting toilet paper on to store shelves?

What model train makes money?

Rusty

@Rusty Traque posted:

Rusty, if we are pretending to be a real railroad with all of the actions and sounds of a real RR then we should pretend that we have a revenue service (ie, make money) and run at a speed that is prototypical.

Now, taking my tongue out of my cheek, I believe, if I recall, that some modelers do run their roads as a real service would.  They build trains, deliver goods and if memory serves, do it in a timely manner.  This would require running at scale speed over the scale distance of their line.  I realize that a lot of people have small layouts and are constrained.  However, when I am watching a video of a huge layout with trains creeping around the track with 80-120" curves, I yawn...

Gunrunner,  . . . I am changing my name to protect the innocent.

@Bill DeBrooke posted:

Rusty, if we are pretending to be a real railroad with all of the actions and sounds of a real RR then we should pretend that we have a revenue service (ie, make money) and run at a speed that is prototypical.

Now, taking my tongue out of my cheek, I believe, if I recall, that some modelers do run their roads as a real service would.  They build trains, deliver goods and if memory serves, do it in a timely manner.  This would require running at scale speed over the scale distance of their line.  I realize that a lot of people have small layouts and are constrained.  However, when I am watching a video of a huge layout with trains creeping around the track with 80-120" curves, I yawn...

Yawn away...

Rusty

This is a legit question for me.  I run prewar standard gauge only and have thought this myself, that running my engines at their low end limit with cars in tow might be stressing them more than I should.  I like seeing a train run smoothly at low speeds rather than bolting around a loop, but sometimes I think I might be pushing it too far.  Of course, for some reason I always have to test their limits, which I try not to do anymore.  Some ponies just wanna run, so let ‘em run.  Great topic mannyrock.

For what’s it worth, I tend to run my trains more slowly on the club layout, where others run ‘em at warp speed. I don’t object either way when it comes to O gauge 3-rail trains.

In N scale, I slow the freight trains down. The passenger trains zip along, though at realistic speeds.

I get to see very few 2-rail O gauge layouts. I prefer realistic speeds there, and so do the operators.

It’s all about the atmosphere.

At the club:

Running freight as scale speeds isn't all that fast, I occasionally sit and watch a long freight go by, takes a lot of time.

I agree with the other comments as well, if I run slower, it seems like I have a larger layout.

@Rusty Traque posted:

Yawn away...

Rusty

So what is the grade there as the track rises up to the Allegheny Plateau?

The Houston area is pretty much a table top with a hill here and there. I was heading out of town on HWY 290 with the railroad on our left. A fast freight was moving at a pretty good clip beside us, so that dips and short rises of the track would bounce the nose of the lead diesel something fierce. The shock absorbers on the lead diesel were really working hard. I'de say the nose was bouncing a foot or so. It was something to see.