Hi a newbie Q

jonesejm

Hello All, I am new to this and trying to build a small set for my daughters. I bought some new trackmaster trains for the blue rails last week (they were on sale!). They seem to ground on every joint and stop - is this normal? Thanks

ripley802

Hello, and welcome to BPT.

Are these the newer trackmaster 2 trains? (The ones with the “spiked” wheels?). Is so, those typically do not run well on the blue plastic track without some modifications to the trains. There is a certain track that they run best on. Hope this helps. Thanks.

jonesejm

Hi Ripley, yes they are the trackmaster 2 with the spiked wheels. I bought some second hand trains off eBay for £8 each - see pics - how do you know if they will run well. Sorry I'm soooo new to this

ripley802

No problem. Yes the regular trackmaster (wheels have a rubber tire) should run fine in the blue track as well as there is a tan track. The trackmaster 2 runs best on the trackmaster 2 (also called trackmaster revolution) track which is sort of dark grey. There are some who file down the activation tab (piece of plastic on the bottom of the trackmaster 2 trains) to run them on the blue track or you could possibly do a wheel swap for one.

jonesejm

Great, thanks for your time, currently trying to find cheap track to buy. I have bought 4 trains from this seller. The ones in the photo you think will be good with blue track?

Super

Yes, those trains that you pictured are made to run on the blue track and for the most part are the favorites of the members here. We are always happy to help you in any way. For further inquiries , ask in one of our Forums.

Welcome to the Community. 🙂

jonesejm

Hi All, which is the best place to see your layouts, love getting ideas from them

Ucwepn

Hi Jonesejm, The trains pictured with rubber tires on the back wheels will all work on the blue or brown track, The problems started in 2015 or so with the rebranded Trackmaster (grey track, spikey rear wheels and no free rolling) These newer ones can run on the older blue and brown track but you need to file down the tab that hangs underneath to stop them bottoming out. I made a youtube video about it a long while back.

Super

Wow...Ucwepn it has been 5 years...sure doesn't seem that long.

Here is the video Jonese

Trackmaster Revolution trains, how to fix them to run well on blue track.

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAzUF52rjD0[/video]