Hi Eddie,

What do you mean by "the shakes"? Is it a "swing from side to side" sort of shaking or an "up and down" movement, or it it a "lunging back and forth" type of action?

Whenever I get jerky running it is usually worse on the straights than on corners, but this sounds like something else.

Hello Eddie and Ray

Yes, through the years I have indeed witnessed the same phenomenon on several copies of the E63s

It is just a little more sensitive than other locos, because of the predominance of the weight distribution on the third axle (the one with the tires)

Originally (1950's) this fault did not show up , as the tires were made of nylon and were still somewhat "slipery"

But with the better performance of the current neoprene ones, the long nose/front axle has a tendency to lift and even derails if the lok pulls a load.
Not a real problem (except visually) in the straights, but annoying in curves.

**The difficulty is amplified when the lok is converted to digital**:the weight of the decoder is usually far less than the original electro-mechanical inverter...thus there is less "ballast" on the lok's nose which has then even more of a tendency to lift.

I simply solved the problem by adding some additional weight under/around the decoder (I use lead putty, available in the model aircraft trade)

Also the slightest (angular) shift of one or several wheels will cause a jerking effect...but that would then just be also very visible in straights!

Hope I guessed right, short of seeing a video...??

Let us know.

Cheers

Thanks ,Ray,John and Jacques, I just ran it again and it runs not too bad with short end first, [traction tire first], but with long end first it leans to outside of curve and shakes side to side and on one curve front wheel jumped track. Which leads me to think that Jacques suggestion that one end is heavier than the other so I will get some weight and see if that sorts thing out. I dont think I will take to doc as he would want an arm and a leg to sort it out. Its not one of my favourite locos but came with some others in a package deal, but would like it to run ok.When I first got it everything was frozen and took a good hour to free up the wheels and axles and re oil etc. Thanks again guys. Eddie

Hi Eddie,

I think we're on the right track with the weight distribution. I had a similar problem on an older Br38, which has a tendancy to be light on the rear axle. When I converted it to digital the loco would not stay on the track when running backwards in curves.

I used the same solution as Jacques has suggested, and added lead weights over the axle that was "jumping" the track. It now runs perfectly.

By the way, I believe the front of these locos was the end with the short hood, so I often run my E63 and also my E60 like this. Both locos run more smoothly in this direction.