I just received a Stationsounds Diner advertised by Lionel as “Minimum Radius:
O-31.” In the manual is the Caution: Be sure that the switch motors on your
track turn-outs are placed on the outside of the curves. The car will not
clear switch motors placed on the inside." I can’t believe this information
isn’t available until after you receive the car. Well my loyout cannot
support the switch motors on the outside and clearance is short by a fraction
(1/8"?) of an inch. Any ideas or other solutions? I’m using original Lionel 3-
rail tube track and have 022 switches. Are there remote motors that would run
these switches?
mseifert,
Bummer! I sympathize with the problem but don’t have a solution short of major surgery. For what it’s worth to you and more so to others, the Owner’s Manuals can be read online and/or printed out at www.lionel.com under the Customer Service tab.
Except for the limitations that sometimes the manuals do not appear online until well after the product is released (Hogwarts isn’t up yet, for example) and that they sometimes contain serious errors, it seems to be a good idea to read the manual before purchasing the product.
If that is not possible, sometimes one can pose a question about a proposed purchase on this and/or other forum and ask if anyone knows of any cautionary information regarding pitfalls.
You could always remove the switch covers and trim them down / cut them back so that the cars will clear the covers. If you have the space you could then look at gluing some thin styrene over the tops of the cut-outs.
Replacement covers can be purchased from parts dealers.
Not an ideal solution, but it might allow you to run a wider variety of trains.
Good luck,
Chris
Chris, I had the same idea of cutting down the switch cover. I like the idea of purchasing a replacement cover so if I ever swap the switch out, I can restore the switch. Thank you.
bf, Thanks for the link to the manuals. I will look next time before a purchase.
I’m guessing that the interference is at the middle of the car, when it swings to the inside of the curve. I have had to deal with this many times with O27 switches.
The solution for some Williams heavyweights was to shim the bodies very slightly above the trucks so that the bodies swung over the switch motors rather than hitting them.
For a Lionel 9100 60-foot extruded aluminum baggage car, I cut the skirts off the car, again to get over the motors. (The prototype Amtrak cars have no skirts, anyway.)
For Rail King Superliners (and some other cars), I moved the truck center bearings toward the middle of the cars, actually slightly inboard of the innermost axle. Some Lionel trucks actually have what seem to be alternate center-bearing holes, which I have also used. This approach might be best for you, since you don’t seem to need much of a correction. The car could not be completely restored, but the modification and its aftermath would not be very noticeable.
Bob,
Aha! Your secrets revealed… Years ago I read in one of your posts that you enjoyed finding out what you could make run on O-27 track. I have always wondered how you did it. If you posted your methods before I missed it. Thank you for this post.