This has been a recurring issue for me, and I tried fixing it myself but couldn't. On my Daylight, the engine is pushed by a tender with two motors, and at full speed, it still crawls. I tried starting out slow then increasing speed but nothing works. On my T-1, the engine is pushed by two tenders, two motors each, total of four, and it is still extremely slow. I even tried adding and removing weight and nothing helps to increase speed. I see videos of larger engines and even the same model Daylight from Sava just rocketing around layouts using the same setup, but my results are just poor. So, I'd like to ask if there are any tips for fixing this issue.

Hej storms26,

 

 would be helpfull to know what kind of motor you are using. 9V, PF Train, PF-L / XL ? If PF, what power-source?

 

 

....and the gearing ratio. Can you post some pictures?

I use four standard PF motors that you would find in the standard city sets, and I don't know what you mean by gearing ratio.

First question: if you remove the engine, does the tender still run slow?

If the tender itself runs fine then you have friction somewhere in your engine. Take off the rods and see if each axle spins freely.

If the problem is mostly in turns, try removing rubber bands from the wheels on one side of the engine.

Gearing ratio would be the sizes of gears used between the motor and the wheels if you had used, say, an L-motor and a custom drive mechanism. Irrelevant if you are using standard train motors. 

I don't mean to patronize, but have you got the motors on the same way around? It sounds like one could be facing forwards and the other backwards, so they'd be fighting each other and you aren't getting anywhere. Lift the tender off the track and run the motors. Do they both run properly? Do they both run in the same direction?

When running without the engine, it goes a bit faster but not too much. I've tried swapping the motors with every motor I have (around 15) and I'm using the best I have. I frequently check the wheel spacing and such on the engine to relieve friction but the difference is slight. 

ColletArrow: all four motors run in the same direction, I have two on each channel since I only have one switch cable.

If you are running four motors off one battery and one receiver, you haven't got enough power to go around. Go down to just two motors, or get another Battery Box/Receiver.

For your locomotives, I would check your wheels and rods to make sure they can spin freely. I've seen a lot of people who have built Tony's trains using the black Friction Pins for their drive rods, and that will absolutely devour your power. If your wheels won't free spin for a few rotations you have things too tight.

The four motors are split into two pairs, each with their own battery box and receiver. I have the light grey pins installed, and the wheels on the engine are loose and have a good amount of space to move around.

Similar to what ColletArrow stated earlier, be sure all four are going the same direction.  Is each motor independent?  How have you got them set up via channel on the remote?

Also, did you just position them or have you used the reverser switch to make them run the same direction?  If you didn't use the reverser switch and the motors are not on the same channel, your motors could be running at different speeds and that can also cause some major friction.

I use 2 PF train motors on the tender of my Sava Berkshire (one blue and one red, gears atop each side of the controller and I linked them together with a technic chain) and that beast flies around the rails!!!  Snap a few pics of the wire set ups, that should help explain a few things.  At least we can try to rule some possibilities out.

When running without the engine, it goes a bit faster but not too much. I've tried swapping the motors with every motor I have (around 15) and I'm using the best I have. I frequently check the wheel spacing and such on the engine to relieve friction but the difference is slight. 

ColletArrow: all four motors run in the same direction, I have two on each channel since I only have one switch cable.

Stash2Sixx: See the above comment, and I only have one reverser switch so I ditched it. I have the front motor in each tender hooked up to red, and the rear two hooked to blue, on the same channel. I'll run both at the same notch and it'll be super sluggish.

Have you tried pushing each unpowered car and engine individually by hand to get a feel of any unwanted resistance?   Or removing the motor and turning the motor connection point by hand?   I've ran 4 motors off one battery box for my GBCs. No slow down unless the batteries are worn down.

I think a video might help to see what you are doing and happening...

 

 

I have pushed them and I feel barely any resistance. Tomorrow I'll buy brand new batteries to see if that was the issue, even though the ones I had in it weren't all too old. I'll also try to take a few videos.

hmmm, what version of the PF Receiver do you use?

V2 can handle somewhat more powerconsumtion. Might be the reason why your setup works for others while it didn´t work for you?! Found a video on youtube for further explanation:

 

Another thing to try is flipping the tender over and run the motors. Do the two motors run in the same direction? Do you see any evidence of slow moving motors when there is no load like this?

Deleted already answered question.

 

Edited November 17, 20177 yr by peterab
Deleted because my suggestion had already been ruled out