Crossover help

[Ty.the.railroad.guy]

So I recently bought a right hand and left hand crossover for my layout but I'm having a slight issue with the left hand track. For some reason some of my locomotives and cars will pick at the track when going straight and will try to crossover onto the next track intitially causing a derailment and short circuit. Has anyone else had this trouble? And are than any solutions that don't involve completely replacing the track?

Thanks

[Terry Toenges]

I had that problem with one that I had. The locos would do ok for a number of laps then just try to take the diverging route occasionally.  It happened mostly with my Bachmann F7's. I didn't come up with a fix for it. I just got rid of the crossovers.

[jward]

WHat I'm going to say here doesn't apply specifically to your crossover but is a general guide for what to look for and possible solutions based on years of experience. I lay my own track, and one of the big reasons is that I've never come across a bought switch that was built properly. They all have shortcuts taken in the manufacturing process that detracts from their performance. So what should you do?

First step is to rule out causes other than the switch, such as wheels out of guage. Run your trains, and every time a locomotive or car derails set it aside. WHen you have all the problem children weeded out, GO over them all with an NMRA guage looking for wheels that are not in guage, If they are out of spec, on diesels locomotives, you can usually remove the offending wheelset and gently twist one wheel to adjust it. While you are at it, also check the movement of the trucks to see if they swivel without binding. Can they rock a little? If not, you can loosen the truck screws by a quarter turn or so and that usually solves the problem. WHile you're at it, turn the cars over and give each axle a spin to see if the wheels wobble. If they do, you'll want to replace that wheelset.

Next, use the NMRA guage to see if the track coming into the switchpoints is in guage. If it isn't you'll want to replace the offending piece as I don't think there is a practica; way to reguage EZ track. 

Next, assemble a train of the locomotives and cars that derail, and run them around the layout. Using a bright light at rail level, carefully watch the wheels as they approach the crossover. The flashlight on your cell phone is great for this. Look for any wheel that climbs the rail before the switch points. Keep running the train until you find exactly where the wheel climbs on top of the rail, as they can travel surprising distances this way before they drop off and derail. Look over that spot for rail out of guage, or a twist in the track. A good bullseye level can help in finding twists.

Finally, now that we've eliminated all other causes we take a look at the switchpoints. Chances are if nothing else is wrong the wheels are catching on the points themselves and derailing. DO the points fit snugly against the stock rails? If not, look for anything that might be preventing this, such as a piece of lint or grit between the point and stock rail. Are the points solid? Or do they wobble a little? That instability can also be a contributing cause of derailments. See if you can put a small shim under the point to stabilize it. The next step will often fix the problem completely. Use a matchstick or somoething similar to block the switchpoint open so it can't move. Take a small file and gently file the point itself to remove the blunt end almost all bought switches have. WOrk carefully and slowly, and only remove material frim the inside edge of the point rail. You want that blunt end tapered down to almost paper thin. This will help hide the end from the wheels. On my own handbuiult switches, I take the additional step of notching the stock rail so the points fit in the notch. That is almost impossible to do with the bought switches though. But there is one final step you can take to hide the point. Grip the stock rail with pliers just ahead of where the points sit, and give it a gentle twist. You don't want to kink the rail enough to throw it out of guage, just enough to guide the wheels away from the end of the switch point.

I know this is a long drawn out process but going through these steps in order until the problem disappears will help eliminate derailments anywhere on your layout.