New rolling stock is derailing on fastrack switch

If it’s in warranty, send it to Lionel to fix. Take a video.

Another thing to check is. How tight are the trucks on the cars?

Can you rock them side to side, and back and forth a bit?

I vaguely recall a thread where a poster had to loosen the truck mount screw a bit to get a new piece of rolling stock to track properly.

I solved the problem by putting a small straight before the switches.  That aligns the wheels before they enter the switch reducing or eliminating the number of times they ride up over the switch rails.

John

If it's only the new stock you can check the wheel gauge or the weight.  If they are too light either add weight or put a heavier car behind the engine and the rest after that.

Compare the wheel spacing to other rolling stock. If the gauge is small, I'd contact Lionel since they are new. I'd assume that Vision line cars are properly weighted but adding a little more weight may solve the problem too.

Do the same cars have issues with either truck leading or just one particular truck on each car?

Thanks all for the replies and great suggestions!

Lionel told me these aren't in warranty anymore as they were released more than three years ago.

The trucks are on the stiffer side but they do have some back and forth motion. I just tried loosening the screws to see if that would help but unfortunately it didn't seem to make a difference.

Good idea on the straights, unfortunately one of the trouble switches has 15" of straight before hand.

I tried flipping the cars so the leading trucks were different but the issue still occurs.

I need to get a new battery for my digital caliper so I can check the spacing more accurately. Using a ruler they don't seem much different when compared to my other rolling stock.

One of the problematic cars is a sound car so it does seem to have a good bit of weight to it.

@PRR Shawn posted:

I need to get a new battery for my digital caliper so I can check the spacing more accurately. Using a ruler they don't seem much different when compared to my other rolling stock.

You shouldn't need a digital caliper.  The spacing can be a mm off in either direction and still work I have found.

Are the flanges different on those cars compared to the others?

And have you tried a DIFFERENT heavier car behind the engine followed by the reefers?

John

Not familiar with the the Vision Line cars as how they are constructed. You mentioned the trucks being a bit stiff on pivoting. If there are pickup rollers involved. Make sure there is enough slack in the wires going to the truck. They should flop from side to side with no resistance. The truck should have a bit of up and down play. Even with a tightened screw.

I have had a couple of new Atlas cars I had to ream out the mounting hole in the truck every so slightly to allow the truck to pivot more freely.

I wouldn't say the trucks the stiff, they don't have any resistance moving left to right or up and down they just don't have as much wobble as some of my other rolling stock.

The wheels seem to be comparable to my other rolling stock.

I've tried some different configurations and they seem to do best being right behind the engine and speed seems to help some.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and input. I'll keep playing with them.