Trouble with 50th Anniversary Santa Fe F-3 A-B-B-A set

Look at the trucks to see how easily they swivel and rock with your hand. There could be a wire out of place inside the shell that is restricting the truck movement. look at the track at eye level when the trucks derail and see if one end is lifting off the track. Take off the shell and run the loco over the same spot to see if anything is fouling anything.

The cause may be at the switch. Put gargraves pins in all the exposed ends of the black rails within the switch. Bend slightly downward so the rollers have a smooth roll up to the rail. I've had to do this on several switches that caused derails. I hope that's the problem cause it's an easy fix.

Rod Miller

Pictures?

MikeMcL posted:

I am experiencing derailing and track short problems with my A and B powered units.  I have the Lionel TMCC 50th anniversary set running on Gargraves track and Ross switches.  All of my curves are 0-72 and both units are derailing in the same sections or tracks.  The derail problem is primarily after a turnout switch.  Shorts seem to be a bit more random. 

I have adjusted the pick-up rollers that seemed suspect.  And I have examined wheels.  and I looked closely at the track sections.  I also have the Lionel Texas Special F-3 re-release and it is almost an exact twin of the Santa Fe F-3 A.  It does not have any of the same problems.  However, it does not have rubber tires like the Santa Fe.  And I recently changed out the tires on both the Santa Fe A and B units. 

Are there different rubber tires required for the Santa Fe perhaps?  They do seem a bit thicker than necessary.  I am really not ever sure why Lionel felt it necessary to have Magna-Traction and rubber tires on this train.  Seems like overkill to me.

The shorting problem is really hard to diagnose. I suspect the pick-up rollers, but they seem fine and are exactly like those on the Texas Special and it runs great. 

I hope someone can help before I throw in the towel and send it off to be repaired.  For the record, I have cleaned the wheels and pick-ups rollers, cleaned the top of the armature, oiled and greased everything per instructions. 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

Did this start happening after you changed the tires?  Are they set in the groove correctly?  Try taking the tires off and run it that way for a couple trips, does it work?  It won't hurt it, it will just have less pulling power.

Gene Anstine

grfd59 posted:

MikeMcL posted:

I am experiencing derailing and track short problems with my A and B powered units.  I have the Lionel TMCC 50th anniversary set running on Gargraves track and Ross switches.  All of my curves are 0-72 and both units are derailing in the same sections or tracks.  The derail problem is primarily after a turnout switch.  Shorts seem to be a bit more random. 

I have adjusted the pick-up rollers that seemed suspect.  And I have examined wheels.  and I looked closely at the track sections.  I also have the Lionel Texas Special F-3 re-release and it is almost an exact twin of the Santa Fe F-3 A.  It does not have any of the same problems.  However, it does not have rubber tires like the Santa Fe.  And I recently changed out the tires on both the Santa Fe A and B units. 

Are there different rubber tires required for the Santa Fe perhaps?  They do seem a bit thicker than necessary.  I am really not ever sure why Lionel felt it necessary to have Magna-Traction and rubber tires on this train.  Seems like overkill to me.

The shorting problem is really hard to diagnose. I suspect the pick-up rollers, but they seem fine and are exactly like those on the Texas Special and it runs great. 

I hope someone can help before I throw in the towel and send it off to be repaired.  For the record, I have cleaned the wheels and pick-ups rollers, cleaned the top of the armature, oiled and greased everything per instructions. 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

Did this start happening after you changed the tires?  Are they set in the groove correctly?  Try taking the tires off and run it that way for a couple trips, does it work?  It won't hurt it, it will just have less pulling power.

Gene Anstine

Yes it did.  That is why i suspect the tires.  And they look thicker than necessary.  Could be holding the train too far off the track making it derail at the switch.  I think i will try your suggestion, but i hate to take the tire off, they were so hard to get on.

And if that solves the problem, what do i do?  Look for new wheel sets, sand the tires down?  Look for thinner tires?  Lots to consider.

Thanks.

Mike

Ross Switches are not supposed to derail anything; the frogs and points are ground down by hand to avoid derailments.

However, if the engine's wheels are running slightly higher then the guiding rails they dont guide the wheel and the rollers.

Try MTH traction tires.

Thank you all for your great help!  I think my Santa Fe F-3 problems are solved for now. Taking the rubber tires off solved the derailing problems.  The new tires on the A unit were much thicker than the older ones on the B unit.  I guess I will need to look for some thinner tires.  Or maybe I will replace the two wheel sets with ones without the tire grooves and run with Magna-Traction only. 

The shorting problem turned out to be a problem with my layout resulting from the power draw from the four Pullmore motors all running at once and shorting out the LZ-W.  The engines are running fine on a different track with the  A-B-B and A all pulling a load.  That track is also running off of the ZW-L. 

Looks like I have some layout circuit testing to do.

Thanks for all of you OGR Forum participants for getting me through my problems so quickly.  Hope I can return the favor soon.

Mike