TURNOUT QUESTION HELP!

[darticus]

Why do Locos go around a track 10 times fine than stop on turnouts randomly. What can I check out? Is this the plastic in the middle of the turnout causing it or is it somewhere on the turnout where they loss the power or DCC signal. Is there a way to check this better. Ron

[rrtreerat]

Is this a particular turnout and does this happen with any/all of your motive power?

[darticus]

seems like the Spectrum locos. Ron

Is this a particular turnout and does this happen with any/all of your motive power?

[rrtreerat]

So it seems to be just the spectrum locos doing this and is it happening at random turnout locations on the layout, or are there particular turnouts that they like to stop at, just not consistently.

[darticus]

Seems to be SPECTRUMS only. All turnouts randomly happening. Not all the time.
Ron

So it seems to be just the spectrum locos doing this and is it happening at random turnout locations on the layout, or are there particular turnouts that they like to stop at, just not consistently.

[dtpowell]

What brand of track and turnouts are you using? It just might not be the loco that's the problem.

[darticus]

I am using atlas code 80 track and turnouts. It seems that if I cut the plastic frog area of the track the loco is much better. I'm kinda new to this but can drive me crazy. I can run the track with the Spectrum N&W and the Heavy Mountain now with rarely a problem other than stopping at the turnouts randomly and than starting again. Sometime now it supprises my and run the layout without a stop. My Athearn Challenger and Walthers Heritadge Y3 doesn't give me a problem. Ron

What brand of track and turnouts are you using? It just might not be the loco that's the problem.

[rrtreerat]

Okay... Cutting the frog rails on Atlas turnouts says that the locomotives are very much out of gauge to the track and need to have the gauge of their wheels widened. I recommend you get a Micro-Trains coupler height tool (#988 00 031) for this as it has a built-in wheel gauge and track gauge.
Atlas code 80 turnouts are sloppy enough that anything should get through without a problem.

[ericw95]

Hey ron,
I was having the exact same issue with my bachmann locos on atlas code 80 turnouts. I have a 4-8-4 standard and a 2-8-0 spectrum, both of which would occassionally be fine then stall over the plastic frog. I tried buying peco turnouts, and they ultimately fixed the issue, but then i decided to just go with better quality track and upgraded to kato unitrack entirely. No more issue at all! Great track and much sturdier than the cheap Atlas stuff.

[darticus]

THANKS VERY MUCH! Are these the Peco ElectroFrog turnouts? Will the peco turnouts fit right in or is modification of the track needed? Wanna start with turnouts first. Ron

Hey ron,
I was having the exact same issue with my bachmann locos on atlas code 80 turnouts. I have a 4-8-4 standard and a 2-8-0 spectrum, both of which would occassionally be fine then stall over the plastic frog. I tried buying peco turnouts, and they ultimately fixed the issue, but then i decided to just go with better quality track and upgraded to kato unitrack entirely. No more issue at all! Great track and much sturdier than the cheap Atlas stuff.

[ericw95]

THANKS VERY MUCH! Are these the Peco ElectroFrog turnouts? Will the peco turnouts fit right in or is modification of the track needed? Wanna start with turnouts first. Ron

Yes, i used peco electrofrog turnouts and they worked quite well. very, very sturdy compared to the atlas. Ahm, basically the only modification needed is the rail joiners won't fit the peco turnout if you use atlas and they wont fit the atlas track if you use the peco.

what i ended up doing was removing the rail from an old piece of track and putting the atlas rail joiners completely over it. then i trimmed the rail joiner at around 3/4 of its length with wire cutters so it maintained its shape (if you dont use the rail it will be crushed by cutting it). it fit a little into the peco turnout so the two pieces of track are secured to each other, and then i glued the pieces of track around the turnout down to keep it stable as trains go over top of it. im sure there is a better way to join the two but that's what i did.

[darticus]

Thanks will give it a try. Ron

THANKS VERY MUCH! Are these the Peco ElectroFrog turnouts? Will the peco turnouts fit right in or is modification of the track needed? Wanna start with turnouts first. Ron

Yes, i used peco electrofrog turnouts and they worked quite well. very, very sturdy compared to the atlas. Ahm, basically the only modification needed is the rail joiners won't fit the peco turnout if you use atlas and they wont fit the atlas track if you use the peco.

what i ended up doing was removing the rail from an old piece of track and putting the atlas rail joiners completely over it. then i trimmed the rail joiner at around 3/4 of its length with wire cutters so it maintained its shape (if you dont use the rail it will be crushed by cutting it). it fit a little into the peco turnout so the two pieces of track are secured to each other, and then i glued the pieces of track around the turnout down to keep it stable as trains go over top of it. im sure there is a better way to join the two but that's what i did.

[rrtreerat]

I've built a whole club layout using just the Peco rail joiners. 2/5ths permanent 2/5ths N-Trak and 1/5th T-Trak
That is Peco 'eletro-frog' turnouts and atlas flex track throughout. (with a little bit of KATO in the T-Trak)
1: All joints are soldered, except where our N-Trak modules are jumpered.
2: Both frog rails are insulated, no exceptions. In crossing from one track over to another that will get you four rail insulators
3: To avoid any problems with railhead width miss-match between the three track systems, I filed a small slope to the inside of the railheads of the Peco, Atlas, and KATO tracks (I do this even when joining Atlas to Atlas as it promotes good running).

Caveat: Now with our most recent batch of Peco rail joiners, they have been found to be looser than they used to be on Atlas track but a quick squeeze of the needle-nose and they are ready to be soldered.
Caveat II: All Peco turnouts are power routing that is why the frog rails are insulated and power is fed on both sides of the turnout for all mainline installations, if this is not done you will shortout the railroad. And their points will get dirty and stop conducting but a quick swipe of a piece of paper between the points and stock rail helps keep this in check.

KATO turnouts are just as sloppy as their Atlas conterparts just more 'Bullet Proof' with their built in power routing switch but most can still benefit greatly from some tuning of the points.

[darticus]

Great help!  Maybe I'll have to switch. Where is the best place to order turnouts? Ron

I've built a whole club layout using just the Peco rail joiners. 2/5ths permanent 2/5ths N-Trak and 1/5th T-Trak
That is Peco 'eletro-frog' turnouts and atlas flex track throughout. (with a little bit of KATO in the T-Trak)
1: All joints are soldered, except where our N-Trak modules are jumpered.
2: Both frog rails are insulated, no exceptions. In crossing from one track over to another that will get you four rail insulators
3: To avoid any problems with railhead width miss-match between the three track systems, I filed a small slope to the inside of the railheads of the Peco, Atlas, and KATO tracks (I do this even when joining Atlas to Atlas as it promotes good running).

Caveat: Now with our most recent batch of Peco rail joiners, they have been found to be looser than they used to be on Atlas track but a quick squeeze of the needle-nose and they are ready to be soldered.
Caveat II: All Peco turnouts are power routing that is why the frog rails are insulated and power is fed on both sides of the turnout for all mainline installations, if this is not done you will shortout the railroad. And their points will get dirty and stop conducting but a quick swipe of a piece of paper between the points and stock rail helps keep this in check.

KATO turnouts are just as sloppy as their Atlas conterparts just more 'Bullet Proof' with their built in power routing switch but most can still benefit greatly from some tuning of the points.

[ericw95]

If you're talking about peco track, it is cheaper from N Scale Supply. Here's the link:
http://www.nscalesupply.com/PEC/PEC-.html