So, posted about this problem some time ago and not wanting to be one of “those guys” who never shares about any resolution, I wanted to get back with an update.
After driving myself crazy checking everything (so I thought) I could, I decided to build a new turnout to see what would happen. Did so and it worked perfectly in all aspects, mechanically and electrically. Then went and compared it carefully bit by bit to the old one and discovered that I had mistakenly cut the isolation gaps at one end of the frog one tie off from where they should have been (Wazzy, you were right). So, I filled the incorrect gaps, cut new ones where they should have been, and success! Everything now works like a charm.
Can’t tell you all (but I suspect many of you know the feeling) how good it feels to have finally found the problem. Stupid mistake I know, and I can’t figure out how I missed it all those times checking, but I did. Now I feel I can proceed with making more turnouts felling pretty confident I will at least avoid making that particular mistake again.
Thanks again to all of you that took the time to respond and try to help me out. I really, really appreciated it.
Dan
BTW - very impressed with the mechanical smoothness of the turnout. Hope I can achieve that with all of the rest that I’ll be making.