Need professional advice update

[railtwister]

And I have to agree with James in FL. I would start by shimming the guard rail as well. The method he described is spot on correct in my books, and far easier than cutting into the rail.

Sid

Sid,

In this case, shimming the guard rails would only pull the wheel closer to the opposite rail, thus increasing the chance of a short, while also creating potential derailment problems. The short is occurring because of the back of the wheel contacting the vertical surface of the opposite rail. Painting the inside surfaces of the rails with nail polish or insulting lacquer is the easiest solution. Pacific Fast Mail used to sell insulating lacquer for use in it's loco sound system installations, but they are long since out of business. It looked, smelled, and applied like nail polish, but it was black in color. It worked pretty well for painting the wheel backs of a loco to make an electrical cam for the "chuff" wiper.

Bill in FtL

[electrical whiz kid]

James in Florida has the right idea.  shimming the surface of the guard rail that is facing the stock rail will tend to pull the wheelsets away from the frog, thus avoiding hitting both polarities at once.   Hint:  Nail polish, paint, etc., can/will eventually fail and you will be right back to the problem.  James has nailed it.

Rich C.

[jbrock27]

...on my list of things to buy...the coupler height gauge.

Also in the top 5.

[Mr Mechanic]

Paint dried,running through the turnouts no problem. If it wears off,next time i will paint it with POR-15,the gear heads out there will know what that is, that will never wear off. I don't switch tracks that often,so I'm happy again. No more problems to fix.I really thank all that have offered options to fix,and every one was good ,but I chose the easy way out. One last thing, I am really surprised that no one caught what not to do in my static electricity post. Will be lurking to see who's the next post to be deleted. Surprise what stays and what goes.

[jbrock27]

...see who's the next post to be deleted. Surprise what stays and what goes.

I know.  Pay attention long enough and you will be amazed...

[Jhanecker2]

To Mr. Mechanic  : Your static post is still  there .    Micro-electrical  parts are composed of  parts the size of dust and are packaged in anti-static packaging . Most people  who work with those type of devices know enough  to utilize static suppression devices and operate in areas  that are grounded .  Most people don't realize
how much static voltage that can be generated by moving about . John2.

[railtwister]

James in Florida has the right idea.  shimming the surface of the guard rail that is facing the stock rail will tend to pull the wheelsets away from the frog, thus avoiding hitting both polarities at once.   Hint:  Nail polish, paint, etc., can/will eventually fail and you will be right back to the problem.  James has nailed it.

Rich C.

That could be true if the problem area was indicated to be at the frog, but the OP pointed out with his screwdriver that the problem area was where the rails come near each other as they approach the frog (coming from the points). In this case, shimming won't help (unless the short is actually occurring where the metal rails are close together behind the frog, as they lead away to the two divergent routes, not where the screwdriver indicates).

Bill in FL

[Mr Mechanic]

I read posts about people that can't figure how to take their engines apart to service,lube them when needed. That post about static was posted for them. Most people here know the damage that static can do to electronic boards. It was meant for for those that don't know. The mistake that I was surprised that no one caught was to ground their motor before working on it. I will give an example.....someone that doesn't know reads that post and connects a ground to their engine, finally gets the shell off and then needs to go do something. When they come back to continue working on it after walking across their carpet and reaches down to pick up their engine,ZAP, they just discharged the static build up in their body to the board sitting on top of the frame. They need to know that your body needs to be grounded first to disperse the build up before touching what they are working on. It was meant for those that don't know.