Is There a Different Take on Derailments at Turnouts?

[jward]

brad,
one of the drawbacks to using sectional track of any variety is that you often run into areas where track must be custom cut to fit. the problem is worse with roadbed type track because whem you make a custom piece you lose the interlocking feature that is the main selling point of this track in the first place.

my advice to you is that you are thinking along the right lines in using regular track for the problem areas, with roadbed underneath. however, i would advise using flex track in these areas custom cut to ensure it fits perfectly. you can bend this track so that the joints at either end line up perfectly with the adjacent pieces, then solder the joints to ensure they don't move.

HO track is really not much harder to work with than larger scales. and the derailment issues can be worked out. once you get the bugs worked out of your track, provided you have a good foundation under it you should have very few further problems. as an example, my dad laid out a yard in 1978. outside of a few additional tracks added over the years, this yard is still in operation 32 years later with the original switches and track. and this is on the layout of a person who takes running trains seriously, and he regularly backs cuts of 20 cars over this track.

[EZ-Ryder]

Have you checked the track at the switch. I just bought a Digital Commander set and have had some issues with derailments on the turnout. I looked at the track and noticed the track at the switch was not level. I could see that the track at the switch was higher than the adjacent track. When I hit that point I derailed going from the lower side to the higher. From the other direction I did not have any trouble. Should I file it down? Being new at this I am not sure how that affects track performance. I also noticed that pressing lightly on the tie at that point leveled off the track. Also since the set only comes with one turnout I do not know how frequently this occurs.

[spanky30]

 I believe I have learned more about turn outs in this thread than I have in all the others combined. Thanks guys.

[Joe323]

I noticed that the trip pins on the EZ mate couplers were causing my locos  and some cars to derail at turnouts by adjusting the coupler and the wire (and in few cases cutting the pin with a wire cutter, as I do not use magnetic uncouplers). eliminated the problem.  Also some of my rolling stock just seemed to like tp derail no matter what so I have pulled those out of service until I get a chance to check them with an NMRA gauge. I also filed the points so that everything is level.

[EZ-Ryder]

Hunt,
      This flaw is not at the rail joiner. it is at the switch itself. I bought some expansion pieces and they do have nearly as big a flaw as this. hopefully it is rare thing.