I have a small, switching layout and am having a devil of a time keeping my locomotives from stalling on Walthers #4 turnouts. All switches are ballasted and weathered BUT were "surgically" cleaned. The problem? Unless I frequently use some 800 grit sandpaper on the points, as well as doses of contact cleaner on the “energizing shoes” located below the switch throw, my switching engines stall. As you can imagine, with 21 turnouts, this is a time-consuming task. Abandoning my SW8 in favor of an Atlas MP15DC did improve things - probably due to the MP15’s longer wheelbase. My question is: Have I forgotten anything? A local modeler mentioned that I would have been happier with Peco #5s as they have a different “energizing shoe” arrangement. I have noticed that there isn’t much contact between the stock rails and the pivoting rail…design flaw? The trouble is that I am stuck with what’s there. I am “all ears” for any suggestions.
I assume you have the newer “DCC-friendly” version. In order of ease to accomplish:
check to make sure all rails are at the same level vertically. Check with a straight edge laid across the turnout in various orientations. Look for gaps of daylight under the straight edge where it crosses a rail, or “rocking” on a high point. “Warping” upwards or downwards is not unheard of in commercial turnouts. Could even be a result of the roadbed not being quite level, too. Vertical irregularities will wreak havoc on short engines with rigid trucks as it will cause the wheels to lift and break electrical contact.
power the frog through an electrical contact on your switch machine, ground throw, or linkage.
run jumper wires from each stock rail directly to the adjoining point rail.
It’s impossible to argue with Fred. Depending on the construction (and engineering) of your turnout, it may be that your points are not lying hard against the stock rails, and when the loco traverses the points, it causes the one that should be powered to rock and lose contact with that outer rail. The tiny jumper wire should work.
What I did on a three-way that was problematic was to braid three filaments from a 20 gauge wire, cut 1/2" from the braid, bend it into an omega shape, and then solder the feet of the omega to each side of a gap. Something along those lines that has a bit of flexibility should work between the stock rails and the point rails. That way, only your gapped frog (if it is gapped) will be unpowered, and that normally isn’t a problem. Depends on the separation of pickup axles.
Yes, they are of the “DCC friendly” variety. You all have given me some suggestions I wouldn’t have thought of myself. Now that I am home from a business trip, I will try to solve the problem using the techniques you suggested. I thank you for your time and effort on my behalf.
Ray
Central New England Railway - Pulling Toward the Future
I found on my last layout that Walthers turnouts can come unsoldered at the points, so you have one the moving tracks kinda flopping around. I had to solder them back in place and then they worked OK again. Oddly, I had some engines that would go thru a no.4 turnout but would stall in a no.6. Turned out (no pun intended) it was a problem with the back of the wheels shorting out (these were the “non-DCC” ones).
Long story short, I’m planning a new layout now - no Walthers turnouts on it.