I so far have about thirty Walthers/ Shinohara turnouts on the layout. As I was laying track I noticed about a handful did not lay flat. They bowed up in the middle created a hump for lack of a better explanation.
I like to caulk down the track on either side and leave the turnouts easily removable. This works well and holds the turnout in place. However on the bowed ones I used a “T” pin or two, to flatten the turnout and they work flawlessly until they work loose after a few months and the hump is rather unkind to my BLI 2-10-4. I then caulked down the troublesome turnouts and have had trouble free service ever since.
My question is, as I proceed with building my yard and may encounter some more of these bowed turnouts, should I just flatten them and caulk them down or should I, or can I, tune them up some how? Like I said the ones I have caulked down have given trouble free service for a few years now.
I have several of that particular brand/kind of switch on my railroad, along with other brands and I have not had a problem. However, I don’t caulk them down, I use HO spikes and fasten them to the homabed, letting the ballast/glue then hold them in place. I really can’t give you a solution, only tell you that I don’t have that problem and do use the switches.
If you don’t want to glue them down, is there a point near the top of the “hump” that you could drill a small hole. Insert a long narrow screw and tighten down just enough to hold it flat. This would be easily adjustable to get the pressure right, so your turnout works properly. It could also be easily removed, if you needed to change or work on the turnout. A little ballast over the screw head could be chipped away fairly easily, if you needed to disguise the screw. If yu could locate the screw other than between the rails a small bit of clump foliage, looking like a small bush could hide the screw.
Batman, I too use the same turnouts and have never seen this before. Mine were placed on blue foam using diluted white glue for ballast. The use of a small screw on the hump area sounds like a good fix to me. Good Luck. Wayne
I have used several of the Walther’s/Shin “DCC Friendly” turnouts and have run into the same problem. I did some research, and found where someone had suggested to VERY CAREFULLY hold the ends of the turnout (one in each palm) and use slight pressure with your thumbs to work the turnout flat. I have done that a couple of times without any issues, and it worked out well for me. I can see, however, where this method can get you in trouble fairly quickly if you are not careful enough.
I have at least a couple of dozen Walthers/Shinohara turnouts on the layout and have never seen that problem, not to mention the several hundred we have in use on the club layout. Personally I would take a different approach. If the turnouts were purchased new from what ever source I would first give Walthers customer service a call and ask them if they are aware of this problem and if so what are your options.along with contacting the seller be it your LHS or internet store. Sounds to me like perhaps a batch of them were stored incorrectly or there was some sort of glitch in the manufacturing process.
I seriously doubt you’ll find any where on the packaging Walthers DCC friendly turnouts with the new and improved hump! Know the people at Walthers customers service only through having dealt with them if there is some sort of issue with them that is in any way shape or form with their product I can’t see how they wouldn’t be willing to bend over backwards to accommodate you.
All that being said if you purchased them used etc. the idea of spiking them down is probably the best solution they do make extra long spikes so that possibly you may be able to tack into the plywood subroadbed.Latex caulking is also a good idea and it’s not as horrible to remove track or turnouts when it is secured with Latex caulk as everyone makes it out to be. One thing that is has to be done is leave enough room on the rails leading into and away from the turnout so you can slide the rail joiner away from the turnout when and if you need to remove it, found that out the hard way… hope this helps
Though being another quality control issue in the hobby, it seems to be one easily taken care of with a little caulk and a can of Moosehead Beer to weigh it down. Just like gluing a loose part or two back on a brand new coach. Thanks everyone for your thoughts on the matter.[C):-)]