After running my 2 LGB locos for about an hour there is all brass dust on the outer (right side going counter clickwise) wheels only and all the passenger cars pick up the dust on the outside also. Seems like locos are grinding the brass rail on the outside wheels only.I thought it must be comming from the sliding contact between the wheels but after taking them off it still does the same thing??? It doesent make any grinding noise so i was thinking it must be comming ftom the flange sliding along the outside rail on turns?? Any thoughts as to why this might be happening?? I have other brand locos and none of them do this. Im using lionel track indoors. Thanks for any help Tony
Any brass rail will wear over time, if you have tight curves.
The Lionel track is the cause for your wear.
LGB wheels are “Pizza cutter” flanged and this adds to the problem.
I have been running LGB locos for over 20 years on my indoor layout with 6’ diameter curves. All LGB track.
No significant wear on the rails yet. And very little brass dust, if any.
It’s your track.
The track makes a 4’ circle. The locos seem to make this raduis with no problem?? Is the LGB track 6’ raduis standard for LGB?? I’ll have to pick some up and try it Thanks Tony
Tony
the Lionel track is softer then say LGB or USA brass track. the 4 foot circle will have any loco putting a lot of out ward force on the track as it makes the trun. Your going to get wear on the track. The larger the cercle the less stress the less wear but your still going to get wear. I have only 16 and 20’ cercles and I still get wear on the track from the loco’s. I’m willing to bet its the lionel track. try and find some LGB or USA they have 4’ cercles and see if that helps cut down on the dust.
There is some LGB R1 (4 ft dia) listed cheap in the For Sale forum.
Thanks for all the help guys!!! I know the lionel track is pretty flimsy but never gave it a thought that it could be softer then the solid rail stuff. I wonder if the rail profile might be different also??? I will try to get some solid rail track and see if thet makes a difference. What brand might be the best for track??
I like USA or Aristo craft track have had realy good luck with both of those and the LGB is good as well. It might all come down to the price. See witch one you can get the best deal on.
tony try getting a hold of Dan here is his email Contact me at [email protected]
he has 4 foot stuff for 30.00 thats a good price.
Is the usa and aristo craft solid brass? and do they all join up the same way??
Yes Tony they are solid. LGB, Aristo and USA will all work well with each other. I do not know how they will work with lionel track.
The only thing to be advised of is that the USA/LGB/Aristo rails & joiners have different profiles. While they will work together, depending on which two you are mating, it can take a bit of force to get them together.
All three are solid brass. The LGB is more expensive, but I think it wears a bit better and has a smoother finish than the Aristo stuff. At an all-gauge train show, I had my pacific (old) sitting up on 9v batteries to allow it to clear the railhead. After three days of having it sit there running the drivers for the show, I found that the two floppy axles had managed to burn indents into the rails. I believe it was Aristo rail… i know it wasn’t LGB. There was no damage to the wheels. However, this would have been a good place to use rollers (which I didn’t have at that time, hence the batteries.). As this was special circumstances, I don’t feel its fair to downgrade the aristo rail for this as I think even the lgb rail would have shown abrasion effects after having the wheels spin for several consecutive hours, three days in a row, without ANY movement of the engine.