LGB freight cars and their swiveling bogies

Madman

Madman

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Now that I have extolled the virtues of short wheel based cars in anothyer thread, I have to ask for some advise. My railway is changing from a watch-em-run only to a run-em-myself via R/C and I have installed som sidings for switching. I was outside today running trains to be sure everything operates when I have visitors. I had a string of LGB "Toytrain" gondolas behind the loco. Some of my switches are R-3 radius, while others are R-1. While backing through the R-1 switches, I had derailments, part of the time. So I decided to fix the bogies in a straight position by using one screw from the underside. This seemed to help in the brief time I experimented.
Some time ago, someone posted a method of attaching a bar between the two trucks which caused the trucks to turn into curves on their own. That's the best way I can describe it. Does anyone remember the subject?
 
If I remember correctly it was a length of stiff rodding installed diagonally from the brake-block of one side to the opposite brake-block. The important thing is it needs to be on a diagonal to cause the wheelsets to swivel in the correct direction.
I've seen something similar done with small scale models, although never needed to fit this kind of thing myself.
 
Thanks. Looks like an easy modification. I wonder, however, some manufacturers of short four wheel cars like Aristo and Bachmann, have fixed axels. I can understand the possible reason for swiveling the axels. Most likely to allow less friction on tight curves. Any thoughts?
I'll be back later. It's time to pick up the mother in law for Thanksgiving dinner, so I really should go.
 
A lump of "blue tack" or similar will do the job a lot easier.
 
its nice to know that someone else, and a yank to boot, also appreciates smaller rolling stock and engines-i like them because they are quaint, dont fill up a siding or a layout, and simply are the antithesis of standard gauge- to me somehow the charm of garden railroading is lost with a big boy and a75 cars trains-exciting to watch indeed - but more modeling that gardening -to some extent -here it seems that the trend on some forums is standard gauge and big stuff- i like it but i think it needs many acres, and a maintenance staff, to look integrated-alas, i digress

i understand the issues on points with swivels-but imho it is the swivel that assists in the easy traverse of R1 and easy coupling
fwiw i have found that a straight section before the points on every leg helps, but just a bit
 
Thanks Steve. I too appreciate the smaller rolling stock and locos. To me, there is enough work to do to keep my railway running with my small equipment. I may just replace the two R-1 switches with R-3s. That should alleviate the problem.
 
Toytrain wagons can be very light Dan, and I also had problems shunting them over R1 points

Try adding a load to for extra weight?

Worked for me....
 
when i started to build my own cars, i did some tests.
fixed aixles that are 8 cm or less apart did not give me problems, regardless of weight.
longer cars with fixed aixles on R1 slow down trains running forward and tend to climb the outer rails, when going backwards. ("best" example the caboose from the Bachmann starter set)
weight: i had best results (forwards and backwards) having differently weighted cars. the one nearest the loco the heaviest, the last one the lightest.
(but this does not work, if one is shunting a lot)
.
 
Yes, they are. I fitted the floor of the cars with a sheet of lead. But don't tell anyone. I did coat the sheet with paint, so as not to alarm anyone. It helps a great deal with tracking. I mentioned that I was thinking of swapping the 1200 series, back to back switches, for 16000 series. I picked up a couple last night on Ebay for a reasonable price. I have noticed something with the 1200 switches however. The points take more effort to move, using a 12010 switch machine, than moving points of a 16000 series switch. Sometimes, the rails don't quite make it 100% of the way, leaving a small gap for an errant wheel to ride into. This is another reason why I asked the original question about modifying the bogies on these small cars.
 
I have found that some wagons/carriages do wander on the points and hit or go the wrong side of the vee. This is usually because a) the wheels are no to gauge and/or b) the gap between the running and the check is too wide. The solution I have found is to shim the check rail and re-gauge all wheels - works every time for me.
 
Good Point. :thumbup: No pun itended. :rolf:
 
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