Some thinking required

An interesting group meeting last night. We visited a large N scale layout, and I got a chance to run some rolling stock. The layout was sizable with reasonable curves and some grades. First up the Da's. these seemed to run OK, with 1431 a bit faster than 1410. Then it was time to try the Ed's. This was not quite so good with some problems with the 4 wheeled bogies tracking. I might have to put some thought into springing them onto the track, though there might also have been problems with the swing arm 'hitching' on the inner pivot. They struggled up the hills at times. The wagons were OK, but need some work with the fixed couplings, which was not really a great surprise. Finally, I brought out the railcar, which ran OK, but struggled with some of the curves which did not surprise me. So, a few pluses and a few minuses.

One thing it has reinforced in my mind is that avoiding any sort of grade on a layout is a good thing. This is just my opinion of course, and I'm very much in the 'KISS' school of model railroading.

Oh, and the chopped Dj chassis passed its run test with flying colours, despite some miss givings about the spring drive shafts. I'll have to get on to a center bogie for it, and pass it back north before the springs break down so that I can claim it wasn't my fault.

UPDATE; Sorry, forgot the biggest clanger last night. the 2 Da's had been running round the layout, so i decided to add the ed's on the front. turned on the power and nothing moved, but a wee bit of wheel slip. Hmm, that's odd. I detached the Ed's and placed them on the track 12" away from the D's. Applying the power and...Its a 'cornfield meet'. somewhere along the line the motors have been reversed, Or maybe its a thing between Kato and Atlas so that you have to buy one or the other...
I'll have to flip the Ed motors at some point, as that's the easiest solution.