What causes my freight and passenger cars to “jump” switches? By “jumping,” I mean that if the switch is set either to go straight through or to diverge, the loco gets by OK, but the second or third car will take the other route than what the switch is set for. Any ideas?
Note that all my freight cars are “weighted” with those little lead weights you can buy.
Thanks–
There are numerous things that can cause it.
What brand of turnouts do you have?
Try a different, heavier piece of rolling stock behind the loco for starters.
Tun the train very slowly over the offending turnout and watch what is happening. You’ll usually find the cause there or at least the exact spot where it’s happening.
While watching keep an eye on the pin under the coupler. Sometimes they grab the rail and derail the car.
If the problem isn’t obvious you’re going to hear several suggestions including checking the gauge of the track and wheels, etc. Also take a closeup pic of one of the problem turnouts and post it here if possible.
The three most likely causes:
Wheels out of gauge. The flanges have to be so thick and so far apart. Too wide and they will pick on the frog point…bounce and out…or if too narrow, they will bump on the guard rails.
You need to guage all wheelsets. Get an NMRA blade-type metal multi-gauge. It has gauges for coupler height, clearances beside the track, flange separation, and track gauge.
Secondly, the frog may be too high. During construction, the item is pulled from a press where the rails are inserted into the tie structure. It is sometimes the case that the small frog rail component is lifted a bit. If you are adept with a soldering iron, you can heat the frog carefully and press it down into the softened plastic. This is not for the faint of heart. Your other option is to file the top of the frog.
Thirdly, and by no means least in likelihood, your points rails are not thin and flush against the stock rail, or if they are, they are not held there sufficiently with any friction. Hinged points rails get wobbly, and when they wobble the point top or bottom moves away from being flush to the stock rail…bounce and out.
You can sometimes insert thin cardstock under the throwbar to provide a brake so that when you slide the throwbar to one side, it wants to stay there. However, most of us have to fiddle with the points on commercial turnouts, and the snap type and plastic ballast ones, especially the EZ-Track, almost always need some sharpening. You place a wooden match between the point and its stock rail mate, press the two together gently, and then file the point with a needle file running from the direction of the frog toward the end of the turnout, past the point tip. Make it knife edge thin.
-Crandell
Or…maybe it’s not really the turnout at all. How is the track approaching the turnout? Is is straight, or is it curved? Does it meet up with the turnout smoothly and in a straight line, or at least a clean tangent? Or is there a small kink where the tracks come together?
Is the track and turnout on a nice level base? Or, does the surface have a slight slope on one side or the other?
Very often, these situations show up, which actually cause derailments before the train even gets to the turnout. But, the wheels haven’t shifted enough yet to notice, so they appear to be fine until they get to the turnout, where the strange geometry is too much for wheels that have already gone astray.
What scale is this and what brand track is it?
Are any couplers hanging just a bit too low?
They can hit the points or the diverging rail and derail the car as well.
John
Wheels gauge and truck swivel is the common picking problems. Make sure the trucks are not too tight. It is better to have one real loose and the other just snug enough to take the wobble out.
Pete
Jumping cars???
This may make me sound dumb but I don’t know how many times I’ve had that problem. After checking I find that I didn’t have both pieces of track properly engaged in the track` connector. Maybe I need new glasses.[:-^]
Lee
It sounds to me as if the points are moving as the train passes over them. In what scale are you running? Are your switches controlled by a motor of some type or by a manual ground throw, like those offered by Caboose Industries? The only switches that I can think of that don’t require some type of similar control are Pecos, which have an integral spring to keeps the points aligned.
Wayne
Most possibilities covered. Now wait and see if feedback comes.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned, (and that is why some of the responders have asked what brand of switches you are using) is the clearance from the guard rail to the point of the frog.
I use primarily Peco switches and thoroughly enjoy them. However, they are prone to having the bearing face of the frog guard too close to the frog’s point. I think this is because of the HO/OO rating. I haven’t seen this on my code-83 Pecos; they are not spec’d for OO gauge. You can see this using the NMRA trackgauge’s “wheels” notches. With one notch set so the backside of a wheel flange would be against the guard, see if the other notch just shows the frog point… If so, the guard is too close, and properly-gauged wheels will nip at the frog, and occasionally ride up on it. That’s a derailment.
The fix is simple: just glue a strip of 10-thou styrene to the bearing face of the guard, and after the glue hardens well, trim it to the height and length of the guard with a hobby knife. If the white colour of the styrene bothers you, simply paint it black or tarry brown. A marking pen works for me.
Give it a try. Have fun, George
I have this problem with one of my Athearn coal hopper cars. It does it on a couple of my switches but it is the same car in the same direction out of the 30 pieces of rolling stock I have so i am sure it is wheel out of gauge… the poor man fix I found is to turn the car around and it works fine and buys me a little bit of time until I get around to replacing the wheel set
Athearn wheels are easy to re-gauge: simply remove the out-of-gauge wheelsets, grasp one wheel in each hand, and while applying a twisting motion, pull or push the wheels out or in as required.
Wayne
Where is the OP? We have many, many suggestions, but no feedback…
David B
And if its an Atlas it could be slightly warped and need a extra track nail near the middle of the switch,I’ve had a few that were bowed up in the middle and did the same thing until I nailed it down, Jim.
Probably forgot to bookmark the location. He’ll find us eventually if still having the problem. This happens quite often
Thanks everybody for your replies. Looks like I have quite a few things to check out the next time I work on the layout (I don’t work on the layout every week) – I’ll check the wheel gauges of my cars – if they are out of gauge, how do I get them back in gauge? I also may just trash all of my Atlas switches and switch machines, and get Pecos or some other brand, plus Tortoise switch machines – as soon as the $$$$$ allows it!!!
Several of my switches do not yet have working switch machines connected to them, and I have been setting them “manuallly” until I can figure out how to properly install under-table switch machines. Maybe that is part of the problem… but even on the few switches that actually have working machines (side-mounted Atlas ones), I still have the problem.
Thanks again–
Railroad Rich
There’s nothing wrong with keeping the Atlas switches. Depending on what’s going on, if there’s a problem with a switch you can almost always tune and/or fix it. Just switching the manufacturer doesn’t mean you won’t have problems.
Wheelsets are not all adjustable. If they are plastic wheels on a metallic axle, you can usually grab one wheel and, while twisting firmly, attempt to slide the other along the axle. If the wheels are metal, try to see which one has the plastic insulating bushing, and try adjusting that one. Otherwise, you’ll have to trash the offending axle/wheel set.
Are the turnouts you are having trouble with all Atlas? You mention not having switch motors installed on some of them. Seems to me that the Atlas switches require tension full-time to keep the points from moving. You can make tensioners temporarily with a map pin and rubber band arrangement. Cheap and dirty, but look terrible!
Have fun, George
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is a Tortoise actuator wire that protrudes just a snick too much. In my case, it must have been grabbing something, because after I ground it down as much as I dared the problem ceased.
Rick Krall