I have a small switching layout with only 2 Turnouts. Them being PECO #5s.
I love them and have had no issues with them. Just recently I noticed my engines stalling on the bakery turnout. The slightest nudge would send it moving again. Not the worst issue but very frustrating. Especially when running an opperating session. The worst part is it worked just fine for months after I ballasted it.
So running in DC using a RailPower1300, Engines sputter at any speed. Crawling they stall.
Ussing DCC through an NCE PowerCab, it’s hit or miss. Sometimes my engines creep by on speedstep 1 and other times they stall on the turnout. Whats weird is sometimes its a hiccup where the headlight and becon will turn off and the prime mover will stay constant ( with a breif cut out) and others it’s enough to make the engine go through it’s whole start up sequence.
Smallest DC engines are either my Genesis MP15AC and Atlas MP15DC. Both stall at the same point. Tried with my longest, athearn RTR SD40-2, still stalls
As for DCC, it dosent matter if its my GP35 or F45. All either stall or make it though at random.
I had a similar issue with my Peco turnouts several years after they were installed. I believe your issue is with the point rails not making sufficient contact with the stock rails. I have since installed jumpers between the stock rails and the appropriate rails on the other side of the frog. No more stalls. I even did it outdoors with my G scale turnouts that had a similar issue.
Put another engine few feet down the track, idling but with the headlight on. When you get a “stall” at the turnout, does the other engine’s light also go out? If so, you probably have a short, not a stall. The solution is to get a Goth girlfriend and borrow her black nail polish. Paint the spot on the frog where the rails are very close together. The engine wheels are bridging the gap.
Have you powered the frog? That’s a common cause of stalls at turnouts.
Can’t power an insulfrog. I’m going with poor/dirty contact between the point and stock rail. Jumpers between the stock and closure rails will help, but also needs a flexible jumper between the closure rail and point (around the hing - also a place for contact to go bad over time and use).
Option 1 and Option 2 called out on the Wiring for DCC page:
Red or pink polish just wouldn’t look right. Clear is OK. But black is optimum. In a decade or two, you can see if black is wearing down. Not so with clear.
It’s almost certainly the electrical routing through toward the frog. I know the frog is dead if it’s an ‘insulfrog’ type, but you MUST have good power all the rest of the way along the closure rails and after the frog, the frog rails. If you get a stall, and not a short indication from your electrical system, then it’s a break in power throughput along the intended path.
You might benefit from a single gentle swipe of 600 grit sandpaper between the inner point surface and the inner flange surface of the stock rail to improve contact, or try a CRC type contact cleaner. I use the paper sparing, then wipe with alcohol. That usually cures the problem, but for all turnout types and makes.
Note that it could be something else entirely, but still a problem with electrical throughput. It could be that the weight of the engine changes the lie of the turnout sufficiently that the formerly adequate contact of one of the joiners becomes inadequate, and that means a loss of power to one rail of the turnout…or both. Joiners could be the issue, or the supporting roadbed on which the turnout lies.
Instead of nudging the locomotive try pinching the point rail against the stock rail with your finger. If the locomotive moves then you’ve found the problem. I used a jumper wire to check for this, another alternative. A short piece of wire with bare ends touched to the aligned route rails (stock rail and matching closure rail) bypassping just the point rail contact point.
Your symptoms sound like those we experienced in our Peco #5 yard ladder. I failed to clip off enough from the end of the throwbar on one turnout and it was just barely touching the end of a tie on adjoining track. The hairsbreadth and invisible gap caused that conflict caused the turnout closure rail to be dead.
My guess is a scrap of ballast or maybe a tiny bit of glue is causing the throwbar to hang up and the point rail isnt completely contacting the stock rail.
If the turnout works perfectly in one route but not the other it’ll be electrical contact problems with the one point rail.
Tried that. If i push on the drawbar the whole time the locomotive is crossing the switch, no issues. Think I found my problem. I will clean the contact tonight with some 600 grit and CRC contact cleaner. I will post an update later
Peco throwbars need to be completely free to allow the hairspring to snap completely overcenter for the electrical connection and to prevent point picking derailments.
ME use a similar hairspring system although ME are much stiffer in operation. Also, ME quality control is not good. Many of these ME turnouts have plastic flashing and moulding defects which can interfere with the throwbar operation.
Peco work flawlessly right out of the package unless you install them incorrectly.
One added note, if you fit the extended pin Peco turnout motors (the E series) it is critical to align the pin throw accurately or the throwbar won’t throw properly in one direction. This seems at first to be an electrical issue but isn’t.
I mention this in case you have powered the Peco turnouts. The regular motors that clip directly under the throwbar cannot be installed incorrectly but the under table versions (there are now three varieties of E motors) certainly can. If off by even a mm these Peco E pin motors won’t work.
Peco power route so when leading to a dead end siding stalling on the closure rails is a dead giveaway.
Har har.
Power to the closure rail comes only from the point rail contact on the stock rail if there’s no power back from the siding. For DCC you don’t want power back from the siding.
I think the new Unifrog now provides jumpers from the stock rails to the closure rails. These are affixed at the points in the handy coloured schematic posted above. To restore a Unifrog to power routing Peco instructs you to clip those jumpers.
Unifrog now power the point rails back from these closure rails, no longer relying on the stock rail contacting the point rail. Plus, the point rail hinge has been redesigned for improved electrical reliability.
Any turnout stalls I’ve ever had occur on the frog itself, your’s seems to occur on the closure rail between the points and the frog.
As others have said, it must be dirt on the INSIDE, not the top, of the contact points or rails. Or, you might have dirt on the inside of the closure rail… Its not a big stall, just a little hiccup, so make sure the inside corner of the rails are clean and free from any little dried glue bump tht might lift the wheel off of the track.
I’d use a finger nail or some type of mild scraping device rather than a liquid.
