0-6-0s dead over turnouts?

[xero1123]

Hey all, I was just wondering if anyone was having similar experiences with the bachmann ez track turnouts. My 0-6-0's (Mavis and Thomas) are dying while going over the straight part of bachmann turnouts. With Mavis it seems that if her right, front wheel hits the plastic part of the turnout, she dies. If I run her the opposite way so that the left front wheel goes over the plastic, nothing happens and she runs fine. I was wondering how I could fix the problem/ if anyone else has had this problem. Also the 0-4-0's seem to have the same thing happen to them.

[SodorAdventures]

Thats odd, and your sure they are bachmann, not atlas or kato's version of e-z track. Check you engines and lubricate, lubricate, lubricate is all I can say.

[shining time]

i dont have that problem with my thomas and percy. and i have atlas R/C snap switches

[PasqualeCS96]

I just have EZ Track, I have no problems with any of my engines.

[xero1123]

The turnouts are definitely bachmann EZ track. I'm thinking it could maybe be some connectivity issues with the wheel except its happening on all of them. Like I said, its only when the right wheel hits the plastic part on the turnouts.

[PerfectPercy]

The turnouts are definitely bachmann EZ track. I'm thinking it could maybe be some connectivity issues with the wheel except its happening on all of them. Like I said, its only when the right wheel hits the plastic part on the turnouts.

This happens with all switches if you are running the engine slow enough over the point-work. Are you running the engine slowly over it? I couldn't imagine anything else resulting in this.

[xero1123]

Yes I'm running them and pretty slow speeds. The only other things is that even at faster speeds they kind of stop for a second and then keep moving.

[RGC]

On mine I believe the wheel is coming in contact with the bottom of the plastic frog which lifts the wheel off the track. I'm going to test this by grinding a tiny amount of the plastic off of the bottom of the frog. 

[PerfectPercy]

Yes I'm running them and pretty slow speeds. The only other things is that even at faster speeds they kind of stop for a second and then keep moving.

Congrats, there's your problem.  Running the shorter engines at slow speeds over the switches will result in loss of electrical flow. There are fewer points of contact with the small engines because... well, fewer wheels. Larger engines (Gordon, Henry) can handle it because when one wheel is isolated without power, others are with power. The small engines won't work in this way.

You can probably invest in a product to power the frogs (the plastic part of the turnout), but for the sake of saving some money, just run your smaller engines a bit faster over the frogs/plastic to prevent the stopping of your trains.

Hope this helps and have a happy new year.

PerfectPercy

[fighter4luv]

Yeah, I have to have them going quite fast over my 30 degree cross track or else they just freeze up. The track should've been built with perhaps small pieces of metal running in areas of the plastic to keep the connection

[PerfectPercy]

Yeah, I have to have them going quite fast over my 30 degree cross track or else they just freeze up. The track should've been built with perhaps small pieces of metal running in areas of the plastic to keep the connection

Actually, the whole reason for the plastic is to prevent a short in the electrical connection, or a cross in the connection. If you think about it, the negative and positive power (or vice versa) cross over each other in a switch/point/turnout to get the two lines/tracks to connect.

[RGC]

They make turnouts that you can power the frogs, but that involves adding switches to change the polarity of the frogs based on the direction of turnout. EZ track can not be used as powered frogs since they are plastic.

[klunker]

On mine I believe the wheel is coming in contact with the bottom of the plastic frog which lifts the wheel off the track. I'm going to test this by grinding a tiny amount of the plastic off of the bottom of the frog.  

I also have the same problem with my Bachmann 0-6-0. I have EZ Track DCC turnouts. How did grinding down the frogs work? Mine runs smooth over some switches and not at all over others.

[PerfectPercy]

Technically, they are all Bachmann 0-6-0s  (Thomas, Mavis, and your third engine). It is all because of the short wheelbases. I'd bet Percy, Toby, Edward James, Salty, Bill, Ben, and even Emily all have there same problem here and there.

[jward]

On mine I believe the wheel is coming in contact with the bottom of the plastic frog which lifts the wheel off the track. I'm going to test this by grinding a tiny amount of the plastic off of the bottom of the frog. 

a word of advice. don't try grinding the frog for 2 reasons:

1. a grinding tool such as a dremel does not have the precision control you need in an area like a switch frog. grind away too much, or the wrong area, and you've ruined the frog. take it from somebody who builds switches from scratch, it is very easy to mess up using a motor tool.

2. with plastic frogs, the grinding will melt the plastic. once again,  you've just ruined the frog.

so....what to do? the solution is elegantly simple. a standard hacksaw blade is the proper width for cutting flangways in Ho guage. and it gives you much more control on how much material you remove. it's hard to mess things up using a hacksaw blade. note: you don't use a hacksaw, just a short piece of the blade.