Removing traction tyres

The NW-2 is a good puller but can only manage two light passenger or freight cars up my grades befopre the wheels start slipping. It does not have traction tyres so a little extra weight improves it slightly (it is already pretty heavy) but as I have said, If I had a farly level layout then traction tyres would probably not be neccesary as most locos (excepting Bachmann Annies) have more than enough grunt. Steep grades = the need for lots of driven wheels (multiple heading), carefully weighted locos and probably the use of traction tyres if available.
There is also the the possibility of covering one or two wheels with 'BULLFROG SNOT' (in effect a liquid plasticy rubbery traction tyre that forms on the wheel).
 
Well, I wondered about this, so I looked at one of my UB25s, look, no tyres! Where they gone or when I dunno. But the thing runs happily enough without derailing, much
 
i like tires
i consider them the scale equivalent of sanders

but i think they are probably most effective on clean, residue and grease free track-and the tire itself must also be clean-then they work especially well

i can only say that on my n scale layout-my mikados were all metal drivers-and didnt pull well on grades-then i retrofitted traction tyres and the difference was significant-i think what happens is that there is simply more area for adhesion and tractive effort-even on a single driver-the tires is soft enough to slightly flatten and give added contact area

as for the example with the austrian rod loco (zillertall?)
one thing i have noticed that makes a great difference-is how the loco is weighted-not simply amount of weight but distribution-my forneys will pull much better going forward up grade then in reverse-presumably becuase the center of gravity is shifted away from the traction tire

sometimes traction tires can interfere with conductivity especially on points -but i have always heard that the real electrical contact point is the inside edge of the rail to the driver flange-but i imagine this is more the case on curves than on straights as the locos do have a bit of slop gauge wise
 
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