I have three or four #6 Atlas turnouts (code 83) that derail almost all of the time. The filing of the plastic frog I read about may be the problem. Are they refering to the top or the bottom of the groove?
Thanks in advance
Run the affected cars over one of the turnouts slowly to see if anything is happening. The filing of the frogs is usually for fixing short circuits. Make sure the point track is throwing all of the way and that nothing is hanging up in them. Also inspect the turnout for a piece of dirt or ballast. That would easily cause problems.
Springfield PA
Be aware of kinks where the adjacent tracks meet the turnouts. Very often, misalignments in the approach tracks will lead to a derailment on the turnout, although the turnout itself is actually fine.
It sounds obvious, but take a close look and make sure all your rails are actually slid into the rail joiners. I know I've laid down track only to find that one rail is not in the joiner, but instead on top of it. This gives you a "step" rail which is just asking for trouble.
Also, check the level of all the tracks. If there is a dip on one side or the other, very often the trucks will ride up and over the rails at that point.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
check the wheel gauge on the affected cars.
Where does your cars derail? At the points, at the frog??
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
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If you don;t have one, get an NMRA standards guage and check your wheels. In my case, 100%, no exceptions, of the cars that derailed on Atlas code 83 turnouts had out of gauge wheelsets. Every. Single. Time. Replaced the wqheelsets, usually with Proto 2000 metal wheels unless the axel length wasn't right, in which case some specifically sized Reboxx wheelsets were used, and never had a problem.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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I have commented on this before. Please see:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/104331/1211045.aspx#1211045, 2/3 down the page.http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/142458/1586074.aspx#1586074, 1/2 way down.
one at the point and two at the frog. I have 12 turnouts on the table but these three are at the end of a 20" radius coming off the mainline with only a few inches of straight track before the turnout.
Thanks
It's two SD-35s, an SD-40 and a Mikado 2-8-2 that keep derailing.........Very few problems with rolling stock.
If the derailment happens at the junction of the switch and the adjacent track, it may be caused by loose joiners. I use N scale joiners on my code 83 HO track. The N joiners make a much tighter fit. You will have to file the the rails to make the "pushing on" snug, but not difficult. Be sure to trim the ends of tracks, on curves, so that there are no gaps. Bob H
Gauge is sure to be the problem, but it may be in wheelsets or in flange-path at the frog. The guard rails in some commercial turnouts are bad for not doing their job and the result is that the flange attempting to pass through the frog impacts on either the wing rail beside the frog or the frog point, itself. Either way, you are going to derail.
If we accept that your turnout doesn't rise, sink, or wobble in any way either through loose joiners or faulty roadbed, and that it maintains grade accurately with the three tracks that leave it, then the problem is one of gauge, possibly the height of the flange path shelf if it is a filled frog. Generally this last problem just causes a bucking, or a lurch, as the car passes ove the frog...not a derailment. A derailment means the axle is being forced to change its attitude, and being inflexible, it causes the entire truck to pivot and lift = derailment.
No More Harley It's two SD-35s, an SD-40 and a Mikado 2-8-2 that keep derailing.........Very few problems with rolling stock.
Fix the gauge on the wheels of the engines, and I'll be you fix the problem. If the radius is too tight, that might be impacting your long wheel base engines, too.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net