PIKO VT98 RAILBUS ISSUES ?????

[Madman]

I am curious about the tracking of the VT98 railbus. Have any of you that own them had any issues with the motor block, skates, truck sides or wheels catching on LGB in track appliances?

 

[casey jones snr]

Absolutely.

I've had to remove the special skates from the set and fit standard skates. The lead unit(powered) was generally alright but the trailer kept derailing through points and on crossings. When the trailer was the leading unit, it would even derail on straight track.

Now that standard skates are fitted, the unit remain on the track.

 

[Madman]

Thats interesting. So you have not had any problems with switches etc, after changing the skates to the standard LGB type? The truck swing seems to be stiffer than the swing of the trucks on the LGB railbus. Which makes me think that the special skates were designed to help turn the truck into curves. Plus these units have a longer wheel base than the LGB railbuses. I'm trying to cover as many "what ifs" as I can think of.

 

[mole]

Not had any problem's with this loco or the with the skate's fitted to any switches etc, all my track is LGB no trouble with radius one curves, a couple of the radius one curves are S curves (one curve going one way followed by another curve going the other way) I did cut the long thin bit's of plastic tail's of the coupler's as these seamed to help to derail the trailer. On one of the circuit's on my layout which is all radius 3 and pretty much level it will run ok pulling or pushing the trailer. But on the other circut's with radius one cuve's then I always run the railcar with the motor pulling the trailer All in all one of my better loco's The most frustrating item on this model I find is putting the wiring in place everytime you use it for the lighting

 

[mike]

same as mole, cut the long plastic tails off the couplings.. sorted any problems i had ,re derailments off trailing car

 

[whatlep]

I am curious about the tracking of the VT98 railbus. Have any of you that own them had any issues with the motor block, skates, truck sides or wheels catching on LGB in track appliances?

Only one thing relevant on mine. The axle box moulding just catches the top of an LGB track connector (see my review of the railbus), as Piko have designed it to match their lower profile connector. I did think my railbus was snagging on an LGB R3 point, but found that the point was out of gauge. After installing a new point, the problem disappeared.

Otherwise it's rock solid and a great performer. The railbus skates are specifically designed to guide the wheels around tight curves, minimising flange and track wear, so removing them or changing them for ordinary ones is not a great idea unless you have 1200mm radius curves as a minimum.

 

[casey jones snr]

I've started running mine as a single unit. I've completely removed the coupler. The trailer I use with the V60.