Minor CC Berk Issue

Also, check the gauge of the wheels. I had an engine where the pilot wheels were too close together and it would derail running straight through a switch.

Yep, too wide or too narrow gauge. Compare them against some you have that does not derail.

Rob

You might check the spring pressure on the front truck. Berks need pressure to keep the front truck on the rails, gravity alone won't cut it.

Neil

I run on Gargraves and have 32 Ross switches.  The Berk runs beautifully with no tracking problem.  If you are using a "hand held", try to follow your train and see what is happening.  Is it de-railing at the same spot?  If so, there may be a slight track problem.  If de-railment is random then it may be that the spring on the lead truck is the problem.  Finally, are the wheels in gauge?  Sometimes they simply are out of alignment.  Look closely at your switch.  I have found that over time the switches experience wear not unlike the real thing, particularly if you are running some heavy steam engines.  Take note of the condition of the swivel rail, at the contact points opposite the frog. Finally, what is the radius of the curve when the derailment accurs. The Berkshire, though able to run on O-31 really doesn't do well on those tight curves.  Though not to scale, the wheel base of that engine is actually longer than on the scale Hudsons.  When traveling on an O-31 curve, only two of the four drivers will be making full rail contact.  Be patient, you will solve the problem. 

Good solid advice about Lionel berks from knowledgeable operators on the Forum. It doesn't get any better than that.

This thread helped me as well.

Thanks.

Ed Boyle

If you read my post you would have realized that it did not derail on the switch but on a straight section of track just in front of the switch. Since it did not derail on a curve there was no reason to post that the curve is a Ross 054. That would have been redundant.

The only other steamer I have is a Lionel scale M1a and it has never derailed neither has my Williams scale GG1.

I had a derailment problem on fastrack switches with my new 726. the wheel gauge was too wide. Tapped the axle a little bit and now no problem. All though I didn't have a problem with this, the ground wire on the front truck could cause binding on curves and derail the truck.