Welcome to the forum   
Welcome Guest! To enable all features please Login or Register.

Notification

Icon
Error

Share
Options
View
Go to last post in this topic Go to first unread post in this topic
Offline Zme  
#1 Posted : 25 May 2023 04:43:48(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hello everyone, hope all is well.

I was wondering if anyone purchased two 88136 locomotives?

Though perhaps not prototype, how do these perform as double traction? Seems they would have impressive pulling power.

Thanks. Take good care.

Dwight
Offline Poor Skeleton  
#2 Posted : 26 May 2023 20:37:02(UTC)
Poor Skeleton

United Kingdom   
Joined: 09/10/2015(UTC)
Posts: 550
Location: England, Cambridge
Originally Posted by: Zme Go to Quoted Post
Hello everyone, hope all is well.

I was wondering if anyone purchased two 88136 locomotives?

Though perhaps not prototype, how do these perform as double traction? Seems they would have impressive pulling power.

Thanks. Take good care.

Dwight


I don't and I haven't, but I'm pretty sure the pair would have impressive pulling power and, I suspect, not altogether unprototypical.

Having said that, and no-one is more obsessed with locomotive pulling power than me, as you know, I suspect it's a bit academic. In my experience, once you've loaded enough wagons (13 bogie coaches or thereabouts) things seem to start going wrong - random derailments, uncouplings etc. so loco haulage is no longer your concern. Admittedly my layout has 3% inclines but modest (220mm radius) curves but I don't expect you'd do much better on the flat and definitely not if you have tighter curves. A 13 coach train does look impressive, though!

Cheers - have a great weekend, everyone!


Chris
Offline Zme  
#3 Posted : 27 May 2023 02:48:43(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hello, hope all is well.

Have you seen Rolf’s YouTube videos? He likes long trains. It seems the problems you described are attributed to the Marklin coupler and spring. Sorry his video is in Germany but you can choose CC then click the gear next to it and Subtitles/CC and finally auto translate to English.



Seems to me, this explains and solves the issues with exceedingly long Z Scale trains. I don’t know where we could get these couplers since they are a 3D printer produced. Maybe they are available someplace.

Watch and subscribe to his videos and you will enjoy many long train scenes and good discussions on many Z Scale topics you will find useful. Rolf is a great enthusiast.

Take good care.

Dwight
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by Zme
Offline parakiet  
#4 Posted : 28 May 2023 15:21:15(UTC)
parakiet

Belgium   
Joined: 20/02/2017(UTC)
Posts: 280
Location: Flanders!
If long trains are really your thing than you could start hooking em up permanently. Just leave a hook for the loc :)
Offline Zme  
#5 Posted : 28 May 2023 19:47:42(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hello, hope all is well.

I am certain, there are an equal number of long and short trains, out there everyday.

I am sure when Marklin came up with the current coupler design, it was never envisioned that it would eventually be possible to have extremely long trains like are seen now. The design of the coupler has only changed once since release. It has done an exceptional job for the majority of users that is for sure. Now, another alternative is possible for some Z enthusiasts expecting more.

My take away about this discovery is that it is not always the first and obvious solution. Had I this problem, I would be thinking my track construction was flawed in some way. Perhaps I might have studied the condition of my wagons to see if something is wrong or broken. I have many used pieces, so this would seem a logical issue. I have made the mistake thinking only heavier locomotives are a solution to my hill. Turns out, it is more than that. We are all learning in some way.

Sure I like long trains too but I am very happy to just have a string get to the top of the hill. Pulling power and weight are often significant and important topics, especially when a new locomotives is released. When I was informed of its heavy weight I was very happy with the BR 232, and the BR 96 in terms of the ability to climb a hill with more wagons than others

We all have things which we think are important concerning our hobby. Some things make us happy, other things cause us grief and disappointment (like the high prices we experience now). That is what keeps us interested and excited.

It is our therapy, our Z Scale hobby is a good one. Take good care.

Dwight
Offline husafreak  
#6 Posted : 29 May 2023 18:46:41(UTC)
husafreak

United States   
Joined: 09/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 558
Location: California, Bay Area
Thanks for linking that video. It would be fun to do it for a one off long train if we could get the couplers. I had thought that the reason Marklin cars were so prone to derailments in long trains was due to their light weight. I noticed that inserting short/light cars in trains with longer/heavier cars was particularly prone to derailments at those couplings and guessed that the light cars were being pulled off the rails around curves or at track imperfections by the heavier cars. It sounds reasonable that the stock couplers and springs are doing the real damage but I never questioned them before seeing this. One thing that has worked for me is repetition and deletion, repeat the trains until the derailing cars are identified and delete them! Eventually I can get a long train (over 13 cars) that is reliable. The short/light cars are usually gone by then.























thanks 1 user liked this useful post by husafreak
Zme
Offline Zme  
#7 Posted : 29 May 2023 22:02:09(UTC)
Zme

United States   
Joined: 02/10/2013(UTC)
Posts: 760
Location: West Texas
Hello, hope all is well.

Yes, I would do the same. I sometimes noticed if I turned the wagon around to use the coupler on the other side, that would make a difference but it didn’t always. The crane car and tender wagon, and the three wheel passenger wagons, seemed the worse.

I never thought about the mix of different weights causing issues. Seems keeping all the wagons similar would make a difference but are not always seen in real life, although it is common for coal wagons or tank wagons trains to just have one type of wagon. Other freight trains usually include a variety of different wagons weights and sizes.

I reached out to Rolf, we will see if I get a reply. If there is a vendor in Germany, most likely they don’t want to ship to USA, but we will see. Besides, they would have to be black. I never worried to much about this topic because as I mentioned earlier, I would just be happy to get any wagon string up my hill. Honestly I did throw many different locomotives into the mix, trying to solve this one by myself. I know, I know, traction wheels, traction wheels!

Appreciate your comments, have a good day!

Dwight
Offline Poor Skeleton  
#8 Posted : 29 May 2023 22:57:28(UTC)
Poor Skeleton

United Kingdom   
Joined: 09/10/2015(UTC)
Posts: 550
Location: England, Cambridge
Originally Posted by: husafreak Go to Quoted Post
One thing that has worked for me is repetition and deletion, repeat the trains until the derailing cars are identified and delete them! Eventually I can get a long train (over 13 cars) that is reliable. The short/light cars are usually gone by then.



Funny you should say that, because you have just reminded me that my experience is similar. I usually make up a train with all the same style of coach but have noticed that derailments often afflict a certain coach in the train. Usually, simply reversing that coach or placing it elsewhere in the train will be all that's required to get things running nicely. I have spent a lot of time trying to identify the what's different with the problem coach but have never found anything.

Cheers


Chris


















thanks 1 user liked this useful post by Poor Skeleton
Zme
Users browsing this topic
Forum Jump  
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.

| Powered by YAF.NET | YAF.NET © 2003-2024, Yet Another Forum.NET
This page was generated in 0.300 seconds.