Remote Turn Out Issues

[furstukin]

Just an update, I replaces all plastic wheels with metal today and those cars still derail, I also tried to file down the end of the transfer rail a nit but still no luck, so I returned it for a new one as I do not have any spare sprint steel or equivalent nor a desire to rip apart something brand new where if I broke it I can't return it.

[jward]

This does indeed seem to be the problem I have filmed it in slow motion and just as it hits the point where the transfer rail meets the main rail the wheels slip in just enough to cause it derail. Not sure why my loco and one tank car make it through fine, but I have even tried adding a load to weigh some cars down and they still derail. That said I am not sure going through the process in the video is worth my time, since I can exchange it for a new one. And given the left one works I can only assume this is just poor-quality control.

But I did have a simpler idea I wanted to run by some people with more knowledge. If the rails are steel alloy, can I lightly magnetize the transfer rail so it wants to hold the main rail when in the transfer position or will that be a problem for the electrical track?

This is a problem often seen with manufactured switches such as EZ Track but the problem is not limited to just them. As they come from the factory, the switch points (what you call a transfer rail) have ends that are way too blunt. There are a couple of things you can do to help the problem. First is that you can block the offending point open with a small scrap of wood or plastic, then CAREFULLY file a taper to the point. Start an inch or two back from the end, and file the inside face of the rail head, where the wheel flanges run. File enough material off the point that it is sharp in the end. I build my own switches, and you could cut your finger on my switchpoints. You don't need to go to that extreme but the sharper the point the less likely the wheels are to catch it and push it over. In addition to this, when I build mine I notch the stock rail so that the point fits in the recess in the rail. The wheels never have a chance to contact the end. That is very difficult to do on a pre-assembled switch but you can do the next best thing and CAREFULLY grip the rails just ahead of the point with a pair of pliers. Gently put a slight twist in the rail. In effect you want to create a little jog in the rail to direct the wheels away from the switchpoint, similar to the recess I file in mine. You have to be careful when you do this. Too much twist will make the track guage too narrow and cause more derailments. The twist is something the real railroads put in their stock rails for the same reason suggested here.


If all this seems like a pain, remember this is a DIY hobby, and little tricks like these can overcome the shortcomings of the manufacturing process. It would cost too much for anyone to mass produce track to the standards I use in building my own, but for the most part it performs pretty well regardless. The two main areas I have found on prefabricated switches are the points, and sloppy tolerances in the flangeways at the frog and guardrails. There is a DIY fix for that problem too, should you ever need to use it.
 

[furstukin]

So, I got a new turnout and this one works when the train is going slow, but everything, including the locomotive, derails at speed. And the wheels generally making a clicking sound as they roll over the frog arms. There are some rough edges I will try to smooth out, but this seems to be really bad quality control. The manual switch for throwing the frog arms is even reversed on the two different right turnouts. For one you move it toward the turnout to engage on the other you move it away. So, they obviously have no "standard" assembly method or at least no one doing inspections to ensure proper assembly. I must have gotten lucky that my left turnout works flawlessly. This is definitely making me want to steer away from the EZ track for the future.

[jward]

Now for the other fix I alluded to in my last post. Often the flangeways on the frog and guardrails are too wide. A hacksaw blade is the proper width for these flangeways. Since yours are plastic, a simple solution is to glue strips of styrene in the flangeways until the hacksaw blade just barely fits. Once the glue has set you can use a hobby knife to trim them down to the top of the rail. Any good hobby shop should stock these strips. Many will have a P;astruct or Evergreen display rack with various sizes to choose from.

[furstukin]

Len's video was one of the best I've seen on YouTube. The guy is competent, he doesn't ramble, and gets to the point..... unlike a lot of swell headed self-appointed windbag experts that appear too often.

Then a weak point spring appears to be the issue.  I have had that problem on one particular number 5 Bachmann switch on my layout.  The only problem is that my switch is completely buried in ballast and scenery so I can't flip it over to work underneath.  With a finished situation like mine, I need to install some kind of external switch stand to hold the points of the switch in place. The only problem is that there's no good place on the Bachmann throw bar to secure it.  As a result, when I'm switching this particular spur, I have to very carefully check the point to make sure it's secure against the stock rail.  It's kind of an aggravation but it's a lot better than ripping the whole thing out to service below.

I appreciate the suggestion, but to be honest these seem like extreme fixes for what seems to be some of the lowest quality track around. And really for the price the charge for the turnout it shouldn't be so low quality. I get that "EZ" track makes it simple to setup a track in minutes with built in power connections and a solid base for you to be able to set it on the floor if needed. But if key parts like a turnout are so shotty they require you to reengineer it yourself, then why bother with EZ track? The base makes it unrealistic for modeling anyhow. Seems like this track is meant for a very simple and temporary setup like a Christmas train scene etc. Once I get my table built, I will likely go for one of the flex track options.

[jward]

What are you going to do when flex track doesn't solve the problems you are having with switches? What I described and how to fix them are problems not exclusive to EZ Track. If you are not willing to fix the problems you are having why ask for solutions here? The problems you are having are entirely related to switches, and using flex track is not going to solve them. What will you do when you switch to another brand of track only to find similar problems there? Despite efforts to make it plug n play, model railroading has always been a DIY hobby. If you are not willing to put in the effort, you can't expect the results you desire.

[furstukin]

What are you going to do when flex track doesn't solve the problems you are having with switches? What I described and how to fix them are problems not exclusive to EZ Track. If you are not willing to fix the problems you are having why ask for solutions here? The problems you are having are entirely related to switches, and using flex track is not going to solve them. What will you do when you switch to another brand of track only to find similar problems there? Despite efforts to make it plug n play, model railroading has always been a DIY hobby. If you are not willing to put in the effort, you can't expect the results you desire.

Well, if you read the OP you would know I was asking if the switch was defective, and how to trouble shoot that. I never asked how to fix something brand new. And the answer is yes, the piece is defective, and the replacement is also defective. So again, I do appreciate the advice on how to fix some issues, but if I am paying just as much for an EZ track switch as I would for flex track switches, I would expect it to be a plug and play piece that doesn't require modification, hence the label "EZ".

That said from what I have read of other brands, the switches are pretty solid. But if I did have to make a modification on flex track, well that is expected given flex track is a totally manual setup where you literally cut track to fit remove ties etc. as I am sure everyone here knows far more about than me

[Len]

The manual switch for throwing the frog arms is even reversed on the two different right turnouts. For one you move it toward the turnout to engage on the other you move it away. So, they obviously have no "standard" assembly method or at least no one doing inspections to ensure proper assembly.

This is alluded to in the video I mentioned earlier. It's a matter of whether the gear moved by the throwbar was installed with the pin in the 'up' position, or the 'down' position. It works either way, but reverses the direction of the throwbar. The fix is to adjust the gear pins to all be in the position you prefer for 'normal through' operation. Annoying, yes, but most kids don't notice.

Len

[trainman203]

The OP has hit the truth button.  EZ track is basically toy train track that a kid can put together and is stable enough when connected to work under a Christmas tree, neither of which apply to standard Model Railroad sectional track or flex track. 

Repeating what Jeffrey ward said, this is not a DIY hobby, he said it very well about quality vs expense. Model railroads have hundreds of pieces of parts and any one of them can be a problem.

There are hobbies that have no intrinsic maintenance issues and those are good for people that don't want to handle them.

[willis]

where does one find flex track switches

[trainman203]

There are no flex track switches. But manufacturers who offer track for more advanced Model Railroads including flex track all offer many different switches in different curvature gradient, some of them curved.

EZ track is an ingenious system very well designed for its intended purpose, which is a sturdy system strong enough to stay together, stay level, and perform well in toy train settings like under Christmas trees.  Not that many model railroads use it on actual layouts but I did because I wanted to be operating fast.  I have at least 10 Bachmann number five switches on my layout and I have to say, they all needed tinkering of some degree to finally operate perfectly but once there, they were there and still are. Model railroading is not a hobby that you just plug together and go, there's always stuff needs doing.  And some of us like doing that stuff.  The rewards are there if you do it.   I don't think Model Railroading is alone in the tinkering factor. I don't know much about remote control cars or RC airplanes or drones but I bet they all need the same level maintenance or more that Model Railroads require. 

[jward]

EZ track is an ingenious system very well designed for its intended purpose, which is a sturdy system strong enough to stay together, stay level, and perform well in toy train settings like under Christmas trees.  Not that many model railroads use it on actual layouts but I did because I wanted to be operating fast.  I have at least 10 Bachmann number five switches on my layout and I have to say, they all needed tinkering of some degree to finally operate perfectly but once there, they were there and still are. Model railroading is not a hobby that you just plug together and go, there's always stuff needs doing.  And some of us like doing that stuff.  The rewards are there if you do it.   I don't think Model Railroading is alone in the tinkering factor. I don't know much about remote control cars or RC airplanes or drones but I bet they all need the same level maintenance or more that Model Railroads require. 

I was fortunate enough to come from a family of modellers, and the techniques I suggested were taught to me by my grandfather who started the hobby back in the 1930s when everything in HO had to be scratchbuilt. He took the time to show me in person how the real railroads did things, and how to scale that down for use on the models. His railroad was full of things that people to-day wouldn't even think of doing. The yard switches were operated by a system of bell cranks and push rods that mimicked the system used by the real railroads before electric switch motors, activated from a central control panel using levers bought at an electronics surplus store. They were probably war surplus. Under the layout were quite a few home made twin coil switch motors with hand wound coils. Who would even try to do this to-day? And yet, they worked at least as reliably as anything on the market now.

I took all of this stuff for granted when he was alive. Looking back from 50 years or so in the future, I now realize amazing what he thought of as normal truly was. Trainman, you often lament what was lost on the real railroads. What I described is what we have lost in the hobby as well.

[trainman203]

I know some of which you speak, Jeffrey.  I remember the magazines in the early 1960s when a lot of of those early craftsmen were still active and writing in the magazines, guys like Bill Schopp, The Layout Doctor, Jack Work, and Eric LaNal.  Everyone in Model Railroading was an adult older than me and I was awestruck by the maturity of the entire hobby.

I took the deep dive off of the train set diving board into the actual Model Railroading pool in early 1961.  My daddy brought me a copy of Railroad Model Craftsman and that was it. For a train set kid, Model Railroading at that time was astounding. 

People were still scratchbuilding steam locomotives out of brass, and plastic railroad cars had just begun to appear in numbers. I would go to the G&G model shop in Houston when we visited our relatives there.  My mother and aunt would drop me off for two glorious hours of Model railroad paradise while they went shopping. Silver Streak and Ulrich wood craftsman kits outnumbered the plastic ones.  I bought the first of several diecast steam locomotive kits there, there's nothing in the Model Railroad world today to compare to them.  They didn't have the best detailing or running characteristics, but when you built them and got them running and painted them, they created your dreams and visions of Railroading, which at the time still had a lot of romance and power of imagination about them.  There were Suydam metal building kits you had to solder, they looked great, but I was never able to build one. There were Alexander craftsman building kits, and of course, the $49.95 brass steam engines were behind glass, unattainable dreams of glory for a kid like me.  I think the most I ever had in my pocket there was 15 1963 dollars.  I do remember when I converted to Kadee couplers and on one trip there, I spent nearly all my money on couplers and couldn't buy any cars, although at the time I probably had a dozen, which was riches untold. They had a little layout in the shop with complete scenery, probably one of those atlas plans that had a track running diagonally over the board, crossing over the other track on a trestle and then disappearing into some tunnels.  Those guys were unbelievably nice and let me open all the kit boxes to see what I'd be getting. 


Today I have a lot more and a lot better stuff, but somehow I really miss those days and the magic that model railroading had back then is gone to a great degree today.

Sorry to diverge from the topic of the post, but Jeffrey pulled a huge nostalgia trigger from me.