Modelling Tip Of The Day – 6

Modelling Tip Of The Day – 6

This Modelling Tip Of The Day is a new article series, in which we’ll be posting a modelling tip that may be of use to the newbie right up to the seasoned modeller.

Today’s tip is:

Running in

Running in a new model or after servicing a model will help all moving parts to bed in. Run in for at least an hour with the loco running light engine (Not hauling anything). This can be done on your layout or on a rolling road. Start off with slow speeds & gradually building up to medium speeds during the running in session.  Run the loco 5 minutes in one direction & then five minutes in the opposite direction, & so on during the session.

This will give all the gears, bearings etc time to nicely bed in & result in a much smoother running loco. If it’s a loco that’s just been serviced, it’s worth doing a running in session as it’ll give chance to check for any issues after servicing.

If you don’t have a continuous run here are a few ideas:

Try using a rolling road or fit an auto shuttle unit such as one by Gaugemaster. This will automatically stop the loco, change the direction & set off again. On DCC some decoders  & DCC control systems have a built-in shuttle mode which allows automatic running.