Model Railway Forum

I guess the correct wording is the track needs to be perfectly flat. No lumps or bumps or twists. Points can be a problem as they tend to bow with the middle higher than the ends. A central track pin can cure this.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:34 pm I guess the correct wording is the track needs to be perfectly flat. No lumps or bumps or twists. Points can be a problem as they tend to bow with the middle higher than the ends. A central track pin can cure this.

I will double check but I’ve placed the spirit level across the points using different axes and all shows level.

I’m becoming increasingly convinced meticulous cleaning is the answer - track, locomotives, carriages and wagons.

Sounds like it. I rarely clean my track, just the odd mark is rubbed away. One of the advantages of DC I guess.

Haha how true - DC has become more attractive as a proposition. Too late, controller purchased, wiring soldered, sound chips fitted!

It does seem a DCC system is, shall I say, more sensitive.

I had similar problems and tried most things including a grease called no ox Id which worked brilliantly and applied very very lightly on the flat but with obvious problems on inclines ,I can hear people shouting nooo from hear but it's widely used in USA with good results. I then tried cheap stay alives which I found totally useless, Next I tried TCS stay alives and they do what they say on the tin, with my smaller stay alive I can lift loco off the track and its wheel will run for a couple of seconds,more than enough to get past a little dirt on the track I even tried paper on the track and it ran over it with out problems. I understand that the purists dislike them and prefer to get everything perfect. I still go around now and again and give the track a clean but a least now I have a lot less problems with stalling or stopping when at slow speed.
I also agree with the above comments that wheels,pickup and points need to be clean and I have dropper on every piece of track and extra droppers on points, I use insulfrog point so I found extra droppers helpful.
No animal were harmed in this testing and I hope the more experienced modellers didn't pull out to much hair.

Can't agree more Roger O. Countless droppers and extra ones on points are the way to go.