The Canadian

[Narlie]

Dwight in Toronto
Sorry to hear of your frustration. I too have felt it.
Take a look at this video

/>Provides some perspective and help.
I have realised, as many have said that my radius are too tight.
In my pre Rapido world of Kato and Atlas all seemed fine or passable.
I now know that my track work is not up to snuff. A rebuild is in the works.
 Dave B

[Dwight in Toronto]

Thanks for the video narlie … I saw this back in the spring, had some communication with Grant, performed his suggestions etc.

Others have been saying that wider radius curves will enhance performance.  I absolutely agree with this, and my (now disassembled) layout had used nothing less than 20” radius, both for better operation and more prototypical appearance. 
But Rapido’s specifications for The Canadian state that it has been engineered so as to accommodate 11” radius curves, so I wouldn’t have thought that testing it on 12 3/4” radius sectional track would be asking too much, but clearly, it is.

But yes, when I get around to a new layout beginning, curves will again be generous with smooth transition segments etc.

[peteski]

Dwight, the flickering interior lights indicate poor electrical contact.  That could be dirty wheels/track or even the pickups inside the cars.
If the same thing happens with the locos, their electrical contact also seems intermittent.  Again, it can be dirty wheels/track, or the electical pickups inside the models (or combination of both).

[Angus Shops]

As much as I appreciate Rapido’s attention to detail, which is outstanding, I can’t help but think that it might be overdone in this example. The center frame bulges that represent the draft gear and etc., and the plumbing that catches the wheel flanges on the coaches, are completely invisible unless you’re examining the underside of the cars with a microscope and are the source of annoyance for many. I didn’t find it much of an effort to to fix and my Canadians now roll perfectly, but many hobbyists are not comfortable messing around with these sorts of issues and, with some justification, are annoyed that they need to. Bottom line - Rapido has a habit of over complicating their products.

Incidentally, I’m not interested in interior lighting as I have no intention to do any ‘night running’ and in my experience riding the real Canadian there are almost no interior lights on except dim corridor lighting some accent lighting in the lounges in the Park car during the day, which are not noticeable from the exterior. I found the (flickering) glowing lighting in every window during my sunny Rocky Mountain days a bit weird.  I was also annoyed that the lighting was set up to be ‘default on’, so I disabled the lighting by removing the ‘springs’ that conduct the power for the lighting from the floor of the cars to the light components at the top of the cars.

One of my favourite Canadian experiences is to be up in the dome at night and watch the string of lights in the car windows curve back and forth in the cars ahead, and the light from the windows playing on the snow alongside the train as the train moves along. The lights in the dining car are by far the brightest; most of the bedroom windows are quite dim. Add the signals falling to red  and reflecting on the stainless steel roof… Magical.

[Dwight in Toronto]

Hey Peteski, thanks for the input.  My test loop is brand new Kato sectional track, which I have cleaned several times, and the Rapido coaches and locos are, of course, also new with maybe two or three hours running time. 

With all of the troubleshooting I’ve done regarding coach rollability, I can attest that I’ve spent a lot of time examining the wheels and they are consistently shiny-clean.  I’m not ready to investigate electrical pickups within the car interiors just yet … not only do I not want to damage any of that fine detail when removing the shell, but I also think that finding something amiss in this area is a bit of a long shot. 

But yes, agreed … flickering lights HAS to be indicative of momentary electrical discontinuities of some sort.  I can live with inferior model coach interior lighting, and could also do without Rapido’s obsession with underbody detail, but shoddy rolling performance for the reasons we are experiencing here is unacceptable.

[w neal]

In the video, he mentions replacing the wheels with Rapido's wheels. Does Rapido only make them in one axle length?

[greenwizard88]

In the video, he mentions replacing the wheels with Rapido's wheels. Does Rapido only make them in one axle length?

Er, wouldn't they come with Rapido wheels by default, since... you know... they're made by Rapido?

[Mark5]

On the flickering, is it possible to fit these cars with some sort of capacitor to eliminate the flickering?

[thomasjmdavis]

In the video, he mentions replacing the wheels with Rapido's wheels. Does Rapido only make them in one axle length?

I heard him say "Tangent wheels" when talking about the replacement wheels. (starting about 5:10)  Is that the same place you are talking about?

[w neal]

Duh. Right. He did say Tangent wheels indeed. (I hadn't had my morning coffee yet). Does Tangent make 36" wheels in only one axle length? Which one would be correct for these cars?

Thanks

[thomasjmdavis]

Duh. Right. He did say Tangent wheels indeed. (I hadn't had my morning coffee yet). Does Tangent make 36" wheels in only one axle length? Which one would be correct for these cars?

Thanks

The only ones I know about are these:
https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/product-category/n-scale/n-wheelsets/

I will leave it to those with a Canadian and a caliper to determine if they fit.