I have mostly old HO steam and the wheels have the large flanges. I’ve put down some new Atlas code 100 turnouts and crossovers and I’ve notice that when the engines and even some of my older cars ride over the plastic frogs they bump up and over quite a bit.
As an experiment on one turnout, I used a cutting disc on my Dremel and carefully deepened the groove. and now everything runs smoothly through it.
I’m going to do this to the rest of the layout but I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience or am I creating a bigger problem for the future?
Had the same problem with just about every locomotive except the Atlas ones’ .Go figure!. I tried the same thing and have had no problems so far, after about 6 months of operating frequently. I went carefully like you as to not grind down to the metal under the plastic as it could cause a short. I’m not for sure how they are constructed or the various properties of the plastic so maybe more informed individuals can opine on if it will compromise the structure over more time.
Wow, I just came on the forum today to search for this very topic. I just bought a bunch of used cars off e-bay and alot of them have old couplers and wheels with deep flanges. I’ll eventually get to replacing them but it will take time. A lot of them ride up on the Atlas turnouts and it looks real “clunky”; not smooth at all. I was just thinking of grinding the plastic parts down and wondered about the consequences. Thanks for the post!
First of all, I’ve mostly noticed the problem with the atlas crossings and not so much the turnouts. I’m not sure that the deep flanges on the cars or locomotives is the issue. I think the plastic part of the crossing and turnout. Additionally, if you run your finger over the surface of the rail, it bumps up a bit when it hits the plastic, so its not just the deep grove either. All of my equipment is modern with scale flanges and I still noticed the roughness of the way they travel over some of the atlas track. Some pieces are better than others, too.
Instead of using a Dremel or other powered grinding machine, simply use a broken piece of hacksaw blade to deepen the grove through the frog. I cut a slot in a metal block to hold the blade, allowing the teeth to protrude .035, which should accommodate deep old flanges. I also drilled and tapped a hole in the block to allow a screw to clamp the blade in position. (I also use it in scratch-building all the switches on my layout).