Saturday, November 29, 2008

How To Prevent Derailment In Your Model Lionel Train Set

By Russell Perry

This is a pretty common problem with railroaders, no matter how experienced they may be. It can be quite an annoying problem as well if it happens often, but it is fixable. There is no doubt that derailments will happen especially in the designing stages of your track layout, it will even happen with excessive speed on occasion.

Its when it happens constantly in the one spot that there is a problem. This means something very specific is wrong.

If regular derailments keep happening in the same spot and you are about to rip your hair out, don't stress just yet. You first need to determine exactly where its happening. If it happens that your train derails on a curve, don't just assume the curve is too extreme. It could be that the wheels could be hitting something on the track.

Take all the cars off the locomotive and run it without any excess. If it still derails. If it runs ok, add more cars to see if its one of them that is the problem. Check the track thoroughly as well.

If your track is uneven, this will also cause the train to constantly derail. This could lead to bumps and loose bits of track that will knock your train off its tracks. This happens when you are using tables and the connection between the two table is not even.

Also make sure that the switches are running properly. You may just need to clean the rails and the frog. Even the smallest tiniest bit of dirt in just the right, or wrong spot will derail your train every time. - 16003

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