Hornby Pendolino derailing

Thanks david - I just checked, and all looks ok on that score. The dummy power car is 15mm, the front of the power car is 16mm and the suspect rear is 15.5mm.

I did a load more tests - I think it is a jolt going up the incline when the whole 4 car train started the rise that caused a judder (when the DCC extra uphill power kicks in?), which in turn caused the wheel to derail under strain, and it only became painfully obvious later on the points at the top. I spent some more time smoothing the incline and that really did seem to help - by the end of the session the whole 4 car unit was roaring up and down at a very healthy speed with no problems. In the end, I figured much of my issues could be down to temporary track arrangements - not tacked, imprecise test inclines, too quick to full incline % etc etc.

Despite that, I'm still a little suspicious though - whenever there is a problem it is always that bogie that goes without fail. It seems to me that logically either this is because of weight and loads that this is the weakest link in all Pendolinos and therefore always the first bit to go under any strain, or there is something up with it. Has anyone else experienced the rear power car wheels being disproportionately prone to derailing?

Ressurecting my old thread! A year on, and I still have some issues with the Pendolino. I think this time I've definitely found a "fault" - at least what's causing our latest derailments.

The problem happens when pushing all cars round a 2nd degree bend. Without fail, the power car derails at the train end round this bend. This time, no amount of track fiddling / tacking can make it better - only a third degree bend solves it, where the angle is less acute obviously.

After endless sessions, I finally located the problem. When pushing, the power car and adjacent carriage actually come into contact on this bend. As the carriage straightens out, the inter-carriage concertina thing (excuse the terminology!) juuuust scrapes the power car's inter-carriage concertina thing. It then more conclusively knocks the edge of the carriage itself, causing the wheels to derail.

I've had a look at the underside of the carriages, and the mechanisms aren't jamming - they seem to be working well. It's just that, when pushing, the two carriages are just physically too close by a millimetre or so. Does anyone know of any way of adjusting this gap? I'll be honest, I'm not brilliant with this sort of thing, if necessary I'd get it fixed by someone if it was a remotely tricky job, or else I'm sure I'd permanently wreck it!

Thanks in advance for any advice.