# Kato N Scale Track -- Code 80?



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Is Kato track in N scale code 80? I am not sure why I want to know, and everything runs on it except one Kato passenger car, a slumbercoach. The slumbercoach makes a noise, and jerks when running over a rerailer piece of Kato track.


----------



## PRRrailfan9708 (Mar 6, 2019)

Yes I believe it is code 80 track. I just compared it to my atlas code 80 track and the rails are the same height. I'm not exactly sure why one of your coaches isn't running well, is there a defect on the wheels or is one of the axels not properly on the truck?


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

I have looked closely at this car for some time. The axles appear to be properly located in the truck. When the car goes into any radius curve the wheels get off the track and rattle until the car goes over a rerailer, when the wheels get back on the track, jerking in the process. It seems I should replace the truck with a new Kato passenger truck. The car is lighted, and Kato passenger trucks have wipers that protrude through the car floorboard, so I couldn't replace the truck with a Micro Trains truck, for example.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

This issue ie with a Kato N scale Slumbercoach I bought used on ebay about fifteen years ago. I noticed that going into a curved piece of track, any radius, all Kato track, the leading track's front wheels would come off the rail and rattle, pulled along by the car in front. When the trailing truck's leading axle's wheels got into the curve, the leading wheels would go off the rails. The cars ahead and behind seemed to keep the Slumbercoach going along. When the Slumbercoach goes over a rerailer, the wheels go back on the rails until the next curve. I have eight other Slumbercoaches that work perfectly, and all appear to have the same trucks, some silver, some black. The rattling of the wheels led me to sideline this Slumbercoach. The wheels on this car roll perfectly with no apparent play, and the axles seem perfectly retained by the truck.


----------



## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

pmcgurin said:


> This issue ie with a Kato N scale Slumbercoach I bought used on ebay about fifteen years ago. I noticed that going into a curved piece of track, any radius, all Kato track, the leading track's front wheels would come off the rail and rattle, pulled along by the car in front. When the trailing truck's leading axle's wheels got into the curve, the leading wheels would go off the rails. The cars ahead and behind seemed to keep the Slumbercoach going along. When the Slumbercoach goes over a rerailer, the wheels go back on the rails until the next curve. I have eight other Slumbercoaches that work perfectly, and all appear to have the same trucks, some silver, some black. The rattling of the wheels led me to sideline this Slumbercoach. The wheels on this car roll perfectly with no apparent play, and the axles seem perfectly retained by the truck.


It sounds like the problem slumbercoach has trucks that don't swivel enough to make the curve. Get your eyeballs down to rail top level, and push a few coaches, with the problem coach in front, very slowly into a curve. You may see the leading wheel climb up & over the rail. Try loosening the screw that attaches the truck to the bottom of the car. Compare the maximum swivel point of the problem car with a car that doesn't derail. Does the good one swivel more than the bad one? Is there some underbody detail that the truck on your bad car is hitting?

Good Luck;

Traction Fan


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

traction fan said:


> It sounds like the problem slumbercoach has trucks that don't swivel enough to make the curve. Get your eyeballs down to rail top level, and push a few coaches, with the problem coach in front, very slowly into a curve. You may see the leading wheel climb up & over the rail. Try loosening the screw that attaches the truck to the bottom of the car. Compare the maximum swivel point of the problem car with a car that doesn't derail. Does the good one swivel more than the bad one? Is there some underbody detail that the truck on your bad car is hitting?
> 
> Good Luck;
> 
> Traction Fan


Thus makes sense to me and I did see that the trucks didn't seem to move as far as trucks on cars that work. It does look like the bottom of the car goes in too far and the trucks can't move properly. Unfortunately one of the truck screws fell out and U can'
t find it yet. I'll have to borrow one from another car to further test this car. Thanks for your analysis.


----------



## Conductorkev (Nov 5, 2021)

pmcgurin said:


> Thus makes sense to me and I did see that the trucks didn't seem to move as far as trucks on cars that work. It does look like the bottom of the car goes in too far and the trucks can't move properly. Unfortunately one of the truck screws fell out and U can'
> t find it yet. I'll have to borrow one from another car to further test this car. Thanks for your analysis.



Was just going to suggest using another ones trucks. This will tell you if it's tge trucks or the car itself maybe it's not allowing for some reason the trucks to swivel right.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Conductorkev said:


> Was just going to suggest using another ones trucks. This will tell you if it's tge trucks or the car itself maybe it's not allowing for some reason the trucks to swivel right.


I took your suggestion, and I took the trucks of an identical model of car, a Kato Slumbercoach, Baltimore and Ohio, and I put them on the B&O Slumbercoach, and the car ran fine through curves. I have at least four of this same car. Three have black trucks, while the malfunctioning car has a silver truck, which makes one of the other cars go off the rails. So, it is the trucks. The silver trucks on this car must be for another model. I think I have found some more spare parts.


----------



## Conductorkev (Nov 5, 2021)

pmcgurin said:


> I took your suggestion, and I took the trucks of an identical model of car, a Kato Slumbercoach, Baltimore and Ohio, and I put them on the B&O Slumbercoach, and the car ran fine through curves. I have at least four of this same car. Three have black trucks, while the malfunctioning car has a silver truck, which makes one of the other cars go off the rails. So, it is the trucks. The silver trucks on this car must be for another model. I think I have found some more spare parts.



More than likely they are not in gauge. Do you have a nmra gauger?
If do test the wheel spacing you will probably find your answer there.

You can put on different trucks on cars. For the most part theay interchange unless they are different type like passenger train trucks are not going to fit on a box cars without problems since passenger train trucks usually have more space between the two axel thus making the truck longer which would cause it not to turn good on the box car.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

The silver trucks that ran off the rail in curves are Kato N scale passenger trucks. They have Kato's electrical pickup from the wheels that powers light kits, and I had working LED lighting in this car, a Kato LED module from the 11-212 set of six light kits. I assume the prior owner switched the trucks for some reason. Because the trucks are Kato I had thought they must be OK, but, when you buy something used, you really don't know when you will find something squirrely. Like these trucks. Maybe these trucks came from some JNR car. ?Quien sabe?


----------



## Conductorkev (Nov 5, 2021)

pmcgurin said:


> The silver trucks that ran off the rail in curves are Kato N scale passenger trucks. They have Kato's electrical pickup from the wheels that powers light kits, and I had working LED lighting in this car, a Kato LED module from the 11-212 set of six light kits. I assume the prior owner switched the trucks for some reason. Because the trucks are Kato I had thought they must be OK, but, when you buy something used, you really don't know when you will find something squirrely. Like these trucks. Maybe these trucks came from some JNR car. ?Quien sabe?



Could be not in gauge due a number of reason why I said to check the width with nmra gauge if you have one which everyone who runs trains should.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

I don't have any NMRA guage tools, but it's clear the trucks do not work on that car, so I will have to get the correct trucks to run this car. Thanks for all tour help.


----------



## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

pmcgurin said:


> The silver trucks that ran off the rail in curves are Kato N scale passenger trucks. They have Kato's electrical pickup from the wheels that powers light kits, and I had working LED lighting in this car, a Kato LED module from the 11-212 set of six light kits. I assume the prior owner switched the trucks for some reason. Because the trucks are Kato I had thought they must be OK, but, when you buy something used, you really don't know when you will find something squirrely. Like these trucks. Maybe these trucks came from some JNR car. ?Quien sabe?


The recommendation to get yourself an NMRA gauge, and use it to check the gauge of the wheels in the problem truck is an excellent one. I second that recommendation. Kato "wheelsets" (meaning two wheels on the same axle) are known for being a bit tight. They often don't meet the standards incorporated into the NMRA gauge. They can be adjusted by holding one wheel tightly and rotating the opposite wheel back & forth a little, while pulling on it. (or pushing it if the wheels are too far apart, instead of too close together)

An NMRA gauge can check other things besides wheel gauge. The gauge of the track, and many critical areas of turnouts, as well as clearance for structures, platforms, and tunnel portals. I consider it an essential tool for any model railroad. You can order a gauge from www.modeltrainstuff.com or www.trainworld.com. The gauge costs about $12 and is money well spent.

All that being said, and while I think you will find some wheels out of gauge, I think your derailments have more to do with truck swing than with out of gauge wheels. Since the problem moved with the trucks, when they were put on a different car, that tends to indicate that I'm wrong about the swing issue. Its also quite possible that you have more than one problem. You did find that the truck swing on the problem car (with its original trucks) was less than your other cars. The NMRA gauge will tell you if the wheels are out of gauge. Its possible that the truck frames on the problem trucks are bent slightly, or that the couplers attached to those trucks are a bit too high and snag on something. The "bolster" (the side-to-side beam that the screw goes through) may be lower on the silver trucks than on the black ones. This would put the silver trucks up closer to the bottom of the car, and possibly interfere with their swing range.
A lot of things to check!
Order an NMRA gauge, and start with the wheel gauge, then move on to the other possibilities. If all else fails, order new trucks for that car and junk the problem ones.

Good Luck;

Traction Fan


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

traction fan said:


> The recommendation to get yourself an NMRA gauge, and use it to check the gauge of the wheels in the problem truck is an excellent one. I second that recommendation. Kato "wheelsets" (meaning two wheels on the same axle) are known for being a bit tight. They often don't meet the standards incorporated into the NMRA gauge. They can be adjusted by holding one wheel tightly and rotating the opposite wheel back & forth a little, while pulling on it. (or pushing it if the wheels are too far apart, instead of too close together)
> 
> An NMRA gauge can check other things besides wheel gauge. The gauge of the track, and many critical areas of turnouts, as well as clearance for structures, platforms, and tunnel portals. I consider it an essential tool for any model railroad. You can order a gauge from www.modeltrainstuff.com or www.trainworld.com. The gauge costs about $12 and is money well spent.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I'll check the wheel guages when I get a guage. I know the trucks are not the right ones for the car, and they were not swivelling enough, apparently caused by the car body sides impeding movement. To make this car work I will have to fine the right trucks. Thanks for the help. Now that I see the problem I won't be endlessly trying to make this work.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

My LHS informs me that Kato N scale track is indeed code 80….Kato does not make code 55….


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks Old_Hobo for confirming that the Kato track is Code 80. 

The real problem with this Slumbercoach is that the Slumbercoach body shell is stretched out to the sides, and the floor sinks in too far, allowing the sides to restrict truck movement in curves. Ordered new body shell from Kato, undecorated, but who cares? I had put the floor part with trucks into another Slumbercoach's body, and it worked and didn't go too deep into the other car's body. I was about to load this car into a potato gun and shoot it into the woods, but that won't be necessary.


----------

