Hello all, first post so be gentle 
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I used to have a bunch of trains, and they've been sitting in storage for the past 10 years or so. I opened them up, and the engines (locomotives) wouldn't run at all. they'd move some, but not a lot. I figured hell, these things are old, i wouldn't be surprised if they engines were bad.
So I went down to the local hobby store, and purchased a new Athearn Chicago NorthWestern (more than I wanted to spend,but I liked the way it looked). This runs great (almost). The engine never looses power like my el-cheapo brand ones. but the wheels just turn and turn and turn. They don't actually move anywhere. First off, I checked to see if the wheels were actually on the track (they were). Second, I cleaned the old track with a paper towel, then a kleenex, then with an alcohol wipe. After all three of these, still just spinning. The track is sitting prefectly level on my living room coffee table, and I also tried it on the carpet, and tile floor.
I've searched the boards up and down and haven't found anything that I think would solve my problem, but I'm just starting anew, and was hoping for any expertise that could be offered.
My final goal is to put together a small layout in HO scale with my girlfriend. She used to do a lot of model planes, and when I mentioned this it sounded fun. I loved reading the older posts, especially the ones involving animation.
Pat
One additional note- I have no idea what track radius means, but I noticed that my new engine had the wheels spaced farther apart than my original one, but it still fits well on the track. To check to see if maybe the turns are to tight, I tried to get it to work on 3 straight sections, and still had spinning wheels.
.I used to have a bunch of trains, and they've been sitting in storage for the past 10 years or so. I opened them up, and the engines (locomotives) wouldn't run at all. they'd move some, but not a lot. I figured hell, these things are old, i wouldn't be surprised if they engines were bad.
So I went down to the local hobby store, and purchased a new Athearn Chicago NorthWestern (more than I wanted to spend,but I liked the way it looked). This runs great (almost). The engine never looses power like my el-cheapo brand ones. but the wheels just turn and turn and turn. They don't actually move anywhere. First off, I checked to see if the wheels were actually on the track (they were). Second, I cleaned the old track with a paper towel, then a kleenex, then with an alcohol wipe. After all three of these, still just spinning. The track is sitting prefectly level on my living room coffee table, and I also tried it on the carpet, and tile floor.
I've searched the boards up and down and haven't found anything that I think would solve my problem, but I'm just starting anew, and was hoping for any expertise that could be offered.
My final goal is to put together a small layout in HO scale with my girlfriend. She used to do a lot of model planes, and when I mentioned this it sounded fun. I loved reading the older posts, especially the ones involving animation.
Pat
One additional note- I have no idea what track radius means, but I noticed that my new engine had the wheels spaced farther apart than my original one, but it still fits well on the track. To check to see if maybe the turns are to tight, I tried to get it to work on 3 straight sections, and still had spinning wheels.
