Tape railroading

[Late Boomer]

I got a set of pre-recorded cassettes, wound with BASF chrome tape. I put one in my deck — a 40-year old Panasonic/Technics — and was horrified when I heard the sound of tape being chewed and the sound all distorted. I pulled it out, and it was railroaded! Then I recalled that since I got this deck I found two cassettes railroaded as well, at that time I thought my older machines had done that. I FF/REW'd the cassette, played it again — same thing! More chewed tape! I put it in a cheap Sony boombox, and it played just fine. I FF/REW'd again, now with the boombox lying on the floor, so that the cassette would be oriented horizontally. Then I cleaned capstan and the roller on the deck. Then I cautiously put the cassette in the deck... and it played fine.

Now I am afraid of using tapes that are of any value to me in this deck. Any recommendations what to check, clean, fix, throw away?

This brought back the quarter-century old recollection of why I switched to CDs when they became inexpensive enough, and then later to solid-state DAP, I got one of the first SmartMedia-based players before Apple came up with iPod. Analog tape sucks. CDs suck much less (but were impractical for on-the-go use until late 1990s, when huge memory buffers were implemented). Solid-state is the holy grail. No real value in analog tapes except for the nostalgia about "the good old 1980s-1990s", which I need to beat out of myself with a monkey wrench.

 

[hbucker]

I'm not clear what "railroaded" means. Can you elaborate?

Never had a problem with any cassette player or deck I've owned not being able to play a tape clearly. (If it didn't play correctly, it was broken.) It's just the quality of play that has varied from deck to deck. I still own about 200 cassettes. But arguably, they don't get as much use as other media, including streaming.

I'm guessing it's your machine that is the problem.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Now I am afraid of using tapes that are of any value to me in this deck. Any recommendations what to check, clean, fix, throw away?

Seems that you identified the issue, which is physical mistracking of tape, caused by mechanical issues of the deck. I would suggest cleaning the entire tape path, going after the pinch roller and capstan shaft again, for good measure. Uneven pressure on tape caused by dirt on the pinch roller and capstan shaft is a common cause of tape railroading.

I would use some 'throw away' tapes. Pick up some at a thrift, for example, if you don't want to damage any of yours. Then play them several times, until you feel comfortable with the odds of damaging your valued tapes. After that, reclean the pinch roller and capstan shaft, and reclean periodically those items. Just routine maintenance for any tape deck.

Of course, you could just digitize the tapes and not worry about them anymore.

 

[Chip Chester]

I'm not clear what "railroaded" means. Can you elaborate? ....(snip)

That term seems to have been used all of twice in this context, on this site. Not sure it's a 'thing', but then I swore off cassettes at an early age...
Sorta like 'tube rolling', which is equally jargon-esque. Neither are bastions of clarity, but neither really bug me that much, either. Carry on!

 

[Late Boomer]

I'm not clear what "railroaded" means. Can you elaborate?

Damage to tape, an indentation or crease parallel to its path of travel.

I swore off cassettes at an early age...

Your age, or the cassette technology's age? ;-)

Uneven pressure on tape caused by dirt on the pinch roller and capstan shaft is a common cause of tape railroading.

That is what I thought is/was the issue.

I would use some 'throw away' tapes.

The problem is, usually tapes play fine. This does not happen always. Two other cassettes are 90-minute, this one is a pre-recorded with BASF tape, I wonder is it the same thickness as 90-minute tape? Maybe the deck does not like thinner tape?

Of course, you could just digitize the tapes and not worry about them anymore.

That is what I did twenty years ago and was happy until I thought I should go back to cassettes, maybe to show my son what the whole hoopla about "cassette comeback" was all about. He did not care, but I got sucked back in He is all digital. Streaming. Ethereal. Non-physical. He does not care for CDs either.

Aside of these tapes that I got as a set, and which make sense only as a complete set, I have only three other cassettes that have any lasting value for me, all were recorded off radio. When I listen to them I recall the radio station that no longer exists, the DJs, the music, and also what happened with me around the time I recorded it. Funny, at that time I wanted albums, in the best possible quality. Nowadays commercial albums - or movies - have no special value, I mean their recordings. Cassettes should have been treated for what they were, a temporary solution for music on the go before something better comes, like CD, which were also a sort of temporary solution until solid-state and streaming came along. Although, when stuff like Universal Studios fire happens, one may thank himself for having an extra physical copy.

I like my CDs, they still offer the best sound quality out of all popular formats (I did not have DAT or DVD-Audio). No chewed tape, no wobble, no worries about deck adjustment or Dolby position. Seriously, why for all the pre-recorded tapes with Dolby NR, there were only a handful portable players with Dolby decoder? I got one of these off eBay, and the tape wobbles. I changed the belt, it still wobbles. Meh.

CDs either work or not, no need to think about what should be adjusted, cleaned or replaced (just don't touch the lens). The important parts of the mechanism are so small, that if something goes wrong, it is not repairable, throw the damn thing away and get one that works, it is an easy binary decision, no need to try fixing this or that on a tape deck. Got myself a couple of portable CD players off eBay, just in case, in perfect condition, for $20 each, with power adapter. The same model. There is line output in addition to the regular headphone output, there is track programming, there is 10-second buffer, which is enough for all real-world situations. The only downside, when I program the tracks, they play with a tiny gap between them, even if they are consecutive. But played start to finish like a tape, there are no gaps. Bliss!

 

[FONSguy]

I always called it "Eating the tape".

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I got a set of pre-recorded cassettes, wound with BASF chrome tape. I put one in my deck — a 40-year old Panasonic/Technics — and was horrified when I heard the sound of tape being chewed and the sound all distorted. I pulled it out, and it was railroaded! Then I recalled that since I got this deck I found two cassettes railroaded as well, at that time I thought my older machines had done that. I FF/REW'd the cassette, played it again — same thing! More chewed tape! I put it in a cheap Sony boombox, and it played just fine. I FF/REW'd again, now with the boombox lying on the floor, so that the cassette would be oriented horizontally. Then I cleaned capstan and the roller on the deck. Then I cautiously put the cassette in the deck... and it played fine.

Now I am afraid of using tapes that are of any value to me in this deck. Any recommendations what to check, clean, fix, throw away?

This brought back the quarter-century old recollection of why I switched to CDs when they became inexpensive enough, and then later to solid-state DAP, I got one of the first SmartMedia-based players before Apple came up with iPod. Analog tape sucks. CDs suck much less (but were impractical for on-the-go use until late 1990s, when huge memory buffers were implemented). Solid-state is the holy grail. No real value in analog tapes except for the nostalgia about "the good old 1980s-1990s", which I need to beat out of myself with a monkey wrench.

The worst offender for me, has been post 1988 TDK SA in C-90 and up. That era was well known for railroad problems. And it was the tape and not the tape machines in my experience.

 

[hbucker]

This is obviously a problem. No doubt.

I would still suggest that it's machine related and not cassette related.

39 years of using cassettes here and have never experienced anything like this that wasn't machine related. Yes some cassettes are just bad. But that looks more like binding in the machine (Depending on the machine it either warbles and slows down or just auto stops.), screeching or generally sounding terrible.

Thx for the definition of Railroading. Like FONSguy, I've also just called it "eating tapes".

Good luck!

 

[hbucker]

This is obviously a problem. No doubt.

I would still suggest that it's machine related and not cassette related.

39 years of using cassettes here and have never experienced anything like this that wasn't machine related. Yes some cassettes are just bad. But that looks more like binding in the machine (Depending on the machine it either warbles and slows down or just auto stops.), screeching or generally sounding terrible.

Thx for the definition of Railroading. Like FONSguy, I've also just called it "eating tapes".

Good luck!

P.S. 90-100 minute tapes have never been a problem for me. Sometimes 120 minute tapes can get sketchy. I have always avoided those.

 

[audiojones]

Sounds like the take up spindle randomly stops turning and the tape unravels inside the machine. Once the tape gets all folded up like an accordion it’s never the same.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Once the tape gets all folded up like an accordion it’s never the same.

I hate accordion music too......

 

[pustelniakr]

What is railroading? I have a few new cassettes that drag lines of oxide off and crease the tape parallel to the tape edges? Is that it?

The problem is in the tapes, likely in the housing (assembly seams on the inside or such). I have cases of brand new TDK SA-90s that do that. Well, not new new, but new old stock from near the time when they quit making it. They were new enough to have ceased putting the housings together with screws.

Rich P

 

[KentTeffeteller]

You described railroading perfectly, and how it happens with TDK SA of 1988 and onward often.

 

[pustelniakr]

You described railroading perfectly, and how it happens with TDK SA of 1988 and onward often.

I don't want to give up on the tape. I think I'll eventually buy new housings (they are available), and move the tape to them. I have cases of this stuff , and 3 out of every 4 do this.

Rich P