Ever Have One of These Days?

[tehachapifan]

The following has to do with running model trains, so in the grand scheme of things it's certainly no big deal... 

So, I was running my LL SW1200 I detailed and painted as an SP unit (pictured below), complete with decoder and operating gyralight, last night and was thinking to myself how nice it runs (I have a half dozen or so of these LL gems, all of which run about as smooth as silk). While I was admiring it creeping along at speed step 3 making hardly a sound and seldom ever even a headlight flicker, it suddenly stopped...having lost power entirely. I chuckled, thinking how ironic the timing was since I was just thinking how well it ran. I nudged it and it ran only briefly and stopped again. Ok, don't panic...maybe the wheels are starting to get dirty I think (although going from near perfection to not running hardly at all seemed a bit odd). Yeah, looks like the wheels are started to get some gunky spots on them, so I clean them. Pickup is now absolutely terrible. OK, maybe the track got dirty, so I clean it too. Nope...I might as well be trying to run the loco across the cat's litter box, it's so bad now! I check the contact strips and all look good. Scratching my head, I decide to check the gauge of the wheels. All are gauged really narrow. OK, don't know why I never noticed this before but maybe they're too narrow and are not making solid contact with the axle cups. So I widen the gauge. Ok, pickup problems seem to have improved but know the loco growls really, really bad. Maybe I went too wide and somehow changed how the gears mesh, I think, so I start to narrow them incrementally until I'm close to where they were originally. Growling doesn't go away....

...Before I go further, keep in mind this is heavily detailed, custom-painted, DCC'd unit with custom brass handrails, front and rear headlights and an operating gyralight that took a lot of effort to get all the wires tucked away so the shell would seat down nicely (there's virtually no extra room inside the shell for anything at all). Wires for lights run from the decoder mounted on the drive to SMD LEDs installed in the shell...meaning removing the shell is a huge PITA and something I try to avoid if possible....

So, I decide the pull the shell off enough to release the trucks so I can check the worms. They look somewhat misaligned with the truck openings in the frame, so I adjust them outward and replace the shell. Growling seems to have gotten better but now there's a loud clicking noise. Pull the shell again, swap the trucks and try again. Still clicking...LOUD clicking with even some loco jumping. Pull the shell again, break a solder joint on one of the handrails in the process, adjust the worms inward again incrementally one by one. Clicking goes away but the growling returns but only while running forward. LOUD growling, but pretty smooth in reverse. Pull the shell again, seeing some paint wear occurring with all this continued handling, swap the trucks and try again. Growling in both directions now. Pull the shell to see if the motor contact leads are possibly extending too far thru the decoder and hitting the front worm and I clip them shorter just in case. Still growling. Pull the shell again....I had already completely cleaned between every gear tooth somewhere in there too, BTW...and look once again for another possible cause. I see the .010 piece of styrene I slipped between the decoder and the frame and notice the front worm looks like it gets pretty close to it. I remove the styrene insulator and see evidence of some possible contact with the worm, so I trim it and replace it. Loco finally running nice and quiet once again in both directions! But, I'm almost afraid to keep running it as the original, sudden problem with power pickup was never really completely identified. Going to need to do a lot of paint touch-up too!

This is supposed to be fun and relaxing, right!

Similar experiences?

Picture taken before apparent possession...

[Dave V]

I know I've had modeling days where absolutely nothing goes right.  Unfortunately on those days I never have the common sense to stop and walk away.  Often for me, though, the outcome is much less positive than what you ended up with.

[JMaurer1]

Never let a locomotive know that you are thinking good thoughts about it. This will happen EVERY time.

[Big Train]

I feel your pain.

I think to really be successful in N scale I found you need to be slightly OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) because that can be the only reason to explain why we do the things we do in this scale. Whether its troubleshooting electrical and mechanical gremlins, or trying to understand the "Dark Art" of DCC, or trying to get all the prototype details right on our models, or scratch build a locomotive, can be the only reason why we do this, and continue to do this repeatedly. Most other people would have given up a long time ago and moved up to HO where things appear to be a little easier. Not us though....and the results of that relentless pursuit of "getting it right" and that brilliance is often seen here on TRW.

The secret is to know when to shut the OCB off when it goes into overdrive and back-off for a while even just to save some of one's sanity during these times.

Hope this helps
Terry

[coosvalley]

I've never liked the LL SW's power pickup system. They don't run bad, but I don't personally consider them good runners either. (YMMV!)I am currently in the process of repowering mine with Bachmann NW2 mechanisms, which I find to be excellent runners, even if the shell is a little funky looking.

To each their own!

That SP SW1200 came out awesome though! 

[thomasjmdavis]

I am still a bit surprised that you did that much work on the locomotive, and no manufacturer came along 2 days later with a mass production announcement.

My days like that tend to be paint/finish related.  Had one in the late summer- intricate decal job, everything looked perfect, slight flaw after a coat of top coat to seal the decals, did a second coat, looked perfect wet, when dry a few minutes later, looked like it was in a snow storm. Had to start over.  One of these days, someone needs to invent a finishing system with a top coat that can be stripped without damaging the decals and paint underneath....

I think that there is a problem with N scale manufacturers, as they seem to be competing to develop a locomotive shell that is impossible to remove from the chassis.  When I do need to do it, it invariably is harder the newer the loco is.  And even out of the box locos nowadays have so many delicate details, it is difficult to get the body off without busting something.

In any case, that is one beautiful model, even if it makes funny noises now and again.

[C855B]

... My days like that tend to be paint/finish related. ...

Tell me about it. The more I touched it, the worse it got. Damn Tru-Color.

[coosvalley]

Tell me about it. The more I touched it, the worse it got. Damn Tru-Color.

Tru color is the only paint I airbrush with, but, yea, you can't brush paint it on!...But the yellow looks great!

[Curtis Kyger]

As you do the touch-up painting on your SP unit, remember, real locomotives have paint touched up all the time. 
It may make your model look even more prototypical!  Good luck.

[DKS]

Similar experiences?

More than I can count.

Worse, I've had it happen with cars. I'll be driving along feeling good about my ride... and suddenly it's in the shop.

[up1950s]

Here would be a likely facility to house almost all my work .

[pjm20]

I know I've had modeling days where absolutely nothing goes right.  Unfortunately on those days I never have the common sense to stop and walk away.  Often for me, though, the outcome is much less positive than what you ended up with.

+1

[Santa Fe Guy]

Here would be a likely facility to house almost all my work .

Thats a great shot, you can see the feeder wire to power the track on the right side of the  of the L / H rail.
Don't know why we bother to hide all of ours.
Rod.

[Mike the Modeler]

Great thread. Like group therapy. I too have "improved" more than one locomotive by making it run like crap.
The early days of DCC were the worst with having to seemingly deconstruct the entire locomotive to get a decoder to fit and run.
I found the engineering on the Arnold SW1 to be a huge improvement: one can remove the shell and insert a decoder without disturbing the chassis or any running parts or electrical connectivity.
Awesome locomotive. Keep it up. ( the good stuff I mean, not the growling gear stuff)

[strummer]

Indeed.

I posted a while back about how I was running an MT FT, thinking how nice it is, when I proceeded to drop it on the slate floor...

Haven't touched it since...

Mark in Oregon