Broadway Limited derails-----

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XavierJ123

Member
Dec 17, 2004
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Lexington, Kentucky
Santa Claus gave me a Broadway Limited for Christmas, a 4-6-4 New York Central. It keeps derailing. I tired to run it on two different sets of track: one was a simple oval of Bachmann EZ track that my wife and I have running through her Christmas village in our living room and the second was on my train table in the basement. The basement track is model power flex track. It doesn't like the curves on either track and constantly derails. What a bummer for such an expensive toy! My cheap engines run just fine on both sets of tracks. What a disappointment! Any words of wisdom???? :confused:
 
Two words---"minimum radius" The EZ Track is probably 18" radius, a no-no for most good steamer models, 22-24" being the usual minimum. Your flex may have been laid to wider radiuses but still have a shorty squoze in there. :eek:
 
I have two of these locos, one exhibited the same problem. Check the side to side play in the front and rear drivers, I bet you'll find little to none. Rather than return mine, because it was already weathered, I disassembled it and found that there were plastic "bearings"around the axles which were too long, preventing side to side movement. I was able to tell this by comparing to the other loco, which ran fine. Unfortunately, you cannot fully disassemble the drive, it is pressed together and you wouldn't get it back together. After trying to just get a replacement mech only (no go) I was able to use an Exacto chisel blade and used the mech to turn the axles, I was able to slice off the extra length and the loco ran fine. You may prefer to just return the loco for replacement!

Gary
 
I checked the play in the drivers and there seems to be some play. Just how much play is needed is hard for me to determine. It's a shame these good expensive steamer models are so "persnickedy."I tried again very slowly this morning and noticed that the wheels begin to spin on this curve and the locomotive does not move forward. I am sure if I ran it faster it would derail again. I have a friend who lives close by and I plan to ask him if we can try it on his track to see how it does. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, how do you lay perfect 22/24 inch radius flextrack. I know about making a compass from a piece of wood with a nail in the end but are there any other tricks that would be helpful?
 
We are running a BLI Mikado on 18" radius EZ track in a Christmas display. We had derailment problems until we moved the tender back to the second hole allowing more play between the engine and tender. We've has no derailments since except when a kid tried to push it around the track. The clue to that was when the boy suddenly hurried out of the room when he had been entranced by the train running around the track. ;-/

However, that said, wider curves are most advisable.
 
XavierJ123 said:
I checked the play in the drivers and there seems to be some play. Just how much play is needed is hard for me to determine. It's a shame these good expensive steamer models are so "persnickedy."I tried again very slowly this morning and noticed that the wheels begin to spin on this curve and the locomotive does not move forward. I am sure if I ran it faster it would derail again. I have a friend who lives close by and I plan to ask him if we can try it on his track to see how it does. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, how do you lay perfect 22/24 inch radius flextrack. I know about making a compass from a piece of wood with a nail in the end but are there any other tricks that would be helpful?
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not having one try what Roger said the other thing is check the pilot truck to see if it is binding,also you can get track radius gauges for laying any curve up to 48 inch from walthers.
 
I would go the process of illimination way if it were me, take two pieces of flex track and a piece of plywood. tack one flex track on a strait line, off the end of this draw out curves using 18,22,24,26, 28 & 30 inch radi. Attach wires from your power source to the long flex track run the loco back and forth a few times slowly and take a good close look at how things are moving and meshing together. Then attach the other piece of flex tack to the end with the drawn out curves, holding or tacking an end to the largest radius, again apply power and watch closely as to how it performs, if it is fine on that one work your way down to the next tighest radi and so on until you observe a problem and watch closely to see what it is. Depending on what you have found you can follow the suggestions that others have made..good luck and let us know what you have found out..Ron..
 
God bless you Roger! I guess I will have to come to Indiana and buy you a beer. I moved the tender back to the second hole and that did the trick. I didn't even notice there was a second hole because my son-in-law was helping me take it out of the box and put it together. It came with an "Operator's Manual" that covers all the technical stuff but not the basics. Also, it came with some extra parts which are unexplained. I guess I need to call them. Thanks again.
 
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