I have a few Atlas code 100 curved turnouts on my layout and I have been having some problems with at least one of them. Some of my rolling stock derail when they traverse them.
On close inspection it would appear that the guardrail on the turnout is higher than the stock rail. I am going to assume that should not be the case, correct?
If that is correct I am wondering what technique any of you would recommend to shave off (file down) the guardrail so it is at the same height as the rest of the rails on the turnout.
My concern of course is that I don’t want to mangle the turnout by filing too much and create a worse problem than when I started.
On a somewhat related topic, I have issues with rolling stock and my steam locomotives traversing an Atlas 30 degree crossover on my layout as well.
Reason I ask is all of the LH Atlas turnouts we bought have similar quality control issues.
We filed down the high spots on the guard rails and frogs. Machinists flat file works well.
However, ours were so bad the flangeways ended up too shallow. !!! We had to cut those deeper also which was a rpita.
Our RH curved turnouts were fine.
Careful examination revealed that the frog area of the turnout was distorted and raised relative to the rest of the turnout. The distortion is fairly obvious from the underside and if you sight along the rails with the turnout in your hand.
It looks like the run of LH turnouts we bought were moulded too hot.
I also bought two Wye turnouts with high frogs and throwbar too short to use the clip on style Atlas switch motors. My dealer replaced them but the frogs on the new ones were still too high.
No more Atlas track for me.
I now buy Walthers or Peco.
Our Micro Engineering ladder system turnouts have similar distortion issues. Had to file those frogs very aggressively and I’m still not done. There is a 1 mm or do bump as the trucks hit the frog from either direction. Pretty bad. Not buying any more of those either. Tired of handworking pre made turnouts.
I had to use a sharp knife and a very thin file to get material off the bottom of the slot of the guard rail. The flanges on some of my cars would bottom out on the turnouts, causing derailments. Taking material off the bottom of the slot worked.
A slightly high guard rail shouldn’t be much of a problem since the backs of the wheels don’t generally have a shoulder on them.
You might try checking the wheel gauges on your rolling stock. Maybe some of them are too narrow or too wide. It’s not all that uncommon to have some that aren’t in gauge from time to time.
In the following diagram, there are guard rails and there are wing rails:
It can be convenient to maintain the different terms. For example, the height of the “guard rails” is unimportant, since the wheels never interact with the top face. That is not true for the “wing rails”, where the wheel tread rolls over part of the top face.
The two items each perform a different task. The guard rail is there to keep the flange from straying into the wrong route through the frog. The wing rail is there to minimize the drop of the wheel as it crosses the gap in the frog.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will go back to the layout and reassess the situation to see which fix I should employ.
Thanks for pointing out the functions of the different rails. I’m a big advocate of understanding the “why”. It makes troubleshooting easier and offers a better chance of success.
Could the gap between the guard rail and stock rails be too wide allowing the opposite wheel pick the point of the frog? A handy tool to clean out gaps is a piece of hacksaw blade. I cut a half inch piece from a worn out blade from the ends that never gets used. A mini set of vice grips for holding it works great.
On the crossing that is derailing steamers. Is there a curve leading into or out of it?
You could try to put a short straight section on each leg of the x over. It sounds like a spaghetti bowl layout where you are trying to stuff as much track as you can in a given space. We’ve all been there. I built a 2x4 module and stuffed 3 main tracks, a scale track and runaround,and a five leg stub ended yard on it and had nothing but problems.
Steamers on small radius curves can be a problem. It is really easy to put an unseen kink where the radius is even tighter.
Mark Pruitt’s comment is quite cogent here, in reference to the OP’s initial question. The backs of flanges, the side of wheels that face the opposite wheel on the same axle, are smooth and should glide along even substantially high guards. IOW, the height of a guard would only be a problem if it snagged the axle itself passing over it.
So, this must be another sort of problem…or two. Axles out of gauge, guards not in gauge, flange paths not correct depth or width, points out of gauge or wobbling,…
