Poor power pickup on Atlas RSD-4

[Steveruger45]

Ah! Cosmoline.  Wonderful stuff 

[SP-Wolf]

I have a few of these beauties. And, yeah - I was having pick up issues as well. What works for me: Neolube. I neolubed the axle pockets. Now, they run extremely well. For how long --?? That is yet to be determined. As the Neolube is a new experiment. Applied this afternoon. I felt is was worth a try.

I too, installed TCS CN-GP decoders. However -- I cut channels on top of the frame for the wires.

And - yes.... I made sure the track, wheels, pick up strips and the tips of the pick ups (coming out of the trucks) were all "shiny".
And - that the decoder is making contact with the frame halves. As well as the strips along side the frames.

Wolf

[nickelplate759]

...
Here is a new caboose I picked up, tell me what you see.



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2711156


I hope Atlas gets back on the right track!

Having grown up near the B&M main in the 1970s - mostly it's just far too clean and not nearly faded enough.  It's most obvious in the white railings, which should look a little rusty.
But yes, the ends should be more red and less orange.

[Point353]

The ends are supposed to be a medium red, on the 2 models I have they are pale orange. Not the end of the world for me, as I will just paint them red before their planned weathering. Some B&M cabooses had bright orange panels applied in a safety experiment, but these are not those numbers.

Do you suppose the same color paint was used on the ends of the B&M cars as was used for the body of the NH cars?

[peteski]

Do you suppose the same color paint was used on the ends of the B&M cars as was used for the body of the NH cars?

While we are getting really OT here, IIRC the ends on those B&M cabeese was painted chinese red.

[nkalanaga]

I never would have caught the end color, especially since colors on monitors aren't always accurate.  It does look like NH Orange, but then, I'm not sure what that's supposed to look like, when it's fresh, either!

Looking on George Elwood's Fallen Flags site, most of the B&M cabooses I found had blue ends, or were in black and white, but the one clearly orange one I found was definitely redder, under the rust and grime.  He doesn't have a picture of the C9, at least that I could find.

The same Chinese Red used by the CB&Q?

My first true N scale boxcar, way back when, was an Arnold/Rapido orange NH car.  At the time I thought it looked weird, because I'd never seen a boxcar anywhere near that color in Pasco.

[tehachapifan]

While we are getting really OT here....

This thread has drifted so far, it's hard to tell if we should keep steering into it or just go ahead and let the back end pass the front end.

[Point353]

While we are getting really OT here, IIRC the ends on those B&M cabeese was painted chinese red.

So you're saying that the paint on the ends of the B&M models looks more like chinese red than the red-orange used on the NH models.
I was trying to suggest that the Atlas factory (for whatever reason) appears to have used the same paint color on both the ends of the B&M models and the body (and cupola) of the NH models. 

[AKNscale]

Does anyone know if this loco can be retrucked?

[coosvalley]

Do you suppose the same color paint was used on the ends of the B&M cars as was used for the body of the NH cars?

I hadn't thought of that, I'd say it's a possibility!

I never would have caught the end color, especially since colors on monitors aren't always accurate.  It does look like NH Orange, but then, I'm not sure what that's supposed to look like, when it's fresh, either!

Looking on George Elwood's Fallen Flags site, most of the B&M cabooses I found had blue ends, or were in black and white, but the one clearly orange one I found was definitely redder, under the rust and grime.  He doesn't have a picture of the C9, at least that I could find.

The same Chinese Red used by the CB&Q?

My first true N scale boxcar, way back when, was an Arnold/Rapido orange NH car.  At the time I thought it looked weird, because I'd never seen a boxcar anywhere near that color in Pasco.

Here are some pics of C9 and C41, both numbers in this release from Atlas. The ends are supposed to be "chinese red". I have some paint diagrams from Accucals, and that is the color they suggest using for the ends.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/70371/2'27'73%20WR-2%20C-9%20Rock.Jct.,NH.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/70371/4'24'73%20WR-2%20C-9%20Rock.Jct.,NH.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/70371/B&M%20WR-2%20C-9%20Rock.Jct.,NH%201'22'73.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/70371/B&M%20C-41%20Fresh%20Concord,NH%2012'17'72.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rrpa_photos/70371/B&M%203051%20C-41%20Danbury,NH%202'4'73.jpg

Sorry about the thread drift!

[Kentuckian]

Does anyone know if this loco can be retrucked?

I don’t understand the question. If you mean the 3 axle trucks replaced with 2 axle, I believe the answer is yes, but I have no reason to try it, and haven’t. How else could it be re-trucked?

[AKNscale]

I mean has anyone tried putting a truck on one of these locos that has 3 driven axles to eliminate the idler?

[nkalanaga]

Coosvalley:  Definitely much closer to CB&Q Chinese Red than to NH Orange.  Thank you!

[danjo]

Does anyone know if this loco can be retrucked?

Yes it can.  In an attempt to dig into the problem further I ordered some Atlas RS-3 two-axle trucks.  Using these trucks the locomotives run perfectly.  That confirms that my problem was in fact the trucks.  Now to see if Atlas will send me replacement three-axle trucks that actually work.

[mmagliaro]

Okay, my curiosity has gotten the better of me.  A friend of mine has one of these with pickup problems.  He sent it to Atlas, got it back, and it's still sputtering (and his other engines, on the same layout, do not).  I asked him to send it over to me so I can see what the heck is going on.  This one is completely unmodified, DC only.