Adding Traction Tires

watemple

Still here... lurking
Hello all. I recently changed the coupler on my Bachmann SP GS-4 and hooked it to a 9 car train. I am running it and the engine works really hard! I was wondering is it possible to add traction tires because I do not want to overheat the motor.
 
It probably already has them if it's not slipping with a 9 car train. Be careful not to overload it though, a while back my MTH Dreyfuss blew both tires while pulling a 16 car train. I replaced them with steel ones and now it just sits and spins it's wheels.

Traction tires don't give the motor more power, they just give the locomotive more of a grip on the rails. It has the same effect as adding weight to the locomotive. Therefore the motor will still have the same strain as it would without them, the wheels themselves would just be able to adhere to the rails more therefore giving the locomotive more tractive effort.
 
Traction tires are like dental rubber bands, that fit in grooves that are cut into the wheel treads, which quickly gunk up with oil and grime, and rot away every couple months.

Make a route that is all on a slight downhill gradient, or add a Athearn HO loco onto the consist ... I pulled a 36 car train with 4 Athearn locos, and it really made a huge wreck when the consist pulled inward, on a curve in a stringline derailment.

An HO train platform with 24" - 36" radus curves has allot of friction, where as a model RR club uses gigantic curves, like 72" radius
 
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My Daylight does not have traction tires, it just runs like it's going 200 scale mph but really it's going 60. I just have a loop of HO track and I don't have any Athearn locos so I don't really know.
 
My Daylight does not have traction tires, it just runs like it's going 200 scale mph but really it's going 60. I just have a loop of HO track and I don't have any Athearn locos so I don't really know.

It sounds like a typical Bachmann locomotive!

The ones I recall used to sound like they were spinning at 4500 rpm but didn't go anywhere fast.

John
 
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