gdelmoro Ok lost me. SL-86/87? Set track? Seems I have more to learn about turnouts
Ok lost me. SL-86/87? Set track? Seems I have more to learn about turnouts
SL-86 and SL-87 are the part numbers for PECO code 100 turnouts that have a 60" radius normal route and a 30" radius diverging route.
Set track turnouts use PECOs Eurpean line of track radii based on the metric system. They have a R2/R3 curved turnout. The inside curve is something very tight by US modeling standards, 16" radius or something like that. The outside is 17.25 or so.
Gary
gdelmoroI guess the other engines didn't mind the bow but if you ever want to check your track work run a six axle dieasel with some six axle rolling stock. You will find problems you never knew you had!
Accurate statement.
Also are you using the SL-86/87 or the settrack version of the turnout?
I had a similar problem with just one of my five Walthers-Shinohara code 83 #7-1/2 turnouts. It is laid on cork roadbed. But I usually don't caulk down (well, sometines a tad) my turnouts and let them pretty much float between adjoining track, in case of maintenance needs.
Following advice from the forum, I used a round bubble level and traversed the long turnout with it and I could readily see that it was significantly "twisted" from flat. It is not much caulked to the underlying roadbed and tends to float. I have it working well with some paper shims at several spots under the edge of some ties, pending final adjustment before (eventual) ballasting.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
HA I still have that same water tower. Look at my avatar I
Good for You...it pays to be meticulous.
I learned that lesson back in the 50's. I was a teen, basement two level layout in parents house. All hand laid Atlas code 100 brass track on cork and Tru-Scale plain milled roadbed for curves. Running steamer Mikes/Pacific's and Athearn HW six axle passenger cars. Derailment free after learning. No internet back then or PC's.
Take Care!
Frank
Good Stuff.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
gdelmoro I decided to recheck everything turnout, loco, track gauge, etc. Turns out there were TWO things wrong. The Air tank on the bottom of the diesel was loose and hanging up and the turnout was not exactly level it had a very slight rise in the middle. All working now. I guess the other engines didn't mind the bow but if you ever want to check your track work run a six axle dieasel with some six axle rolling stock. You will find problems you never knew you had!
I decided to recheck everything turnout, loco, track gauge, etc. Turns out there were TWO things wrong. The Air tank on the bottom of the diesel was loose and hanging up and the turnout was not exactly level it had a very slight rise in the middle.
All working now.
I guess the other engines didn't mind the bow but if you ever want to check your track work run a six axle dieasel with some six axle rolling stock. You will find problems you never knew you had!
Excellent! It's a great confidence builder to take a steely look at what you have and to find the problem. You get to salvage your other work, salvage the turnout, and salvage your enjoyment of it all.
Whew!!
Or get a decent-sized steam engine!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm going to remove the turnout and make sure the subroadbed is smothe and level and reinstall it. May take a while.
Sorry Code 100 track.
A number of things to check:
Like others have posted, Peco turnouts are usually very good.
cuyama zstripe Are You using a Peco #7 SL-8377 code83 insulated curved turnout? If so...the problem is the inside radius is 17 1/4, outside 19 7/8. I believe that it measures out much broader than that. The template is here.http://www.peco-uk.com/imageselector/Files/Track-templates/c83/SL-8376%20&%20SL-8377.pdf
zstripe Are You using a Peco #7 SL-8377 code83 insulated curved turnout? If so...the problem is the inside radius is 17 1/4, outside 19 7/8.
I believe that it measures out much broader than that. The template is here.http://www.peco-uk.com/imageselector/Files/Track-templates/c83/SL-8376%20&%20SL-8377.pdf
Byron,
Thanks for bringing that to My attention.....I was coping the info from the wrong turnout. I believe what is happening, is what You described though. Six axle engines do not like abrupt transitions in trackwork, let alone long cars.
zstripeAre You using a Peco #7 SL-8377 code83 insulated curved turnout? If so...the problem is the inside radius is 17 1/4, outside 19 7/8.
(Note that this must be printed on larger than letter size paper or on two sheets. If printed on a single letter-sized sheet, it will be reduced in size and not accurate.)
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Are You using a Peco #7 SL-8377 code83 insulated curved turnout? Any six wheel truck or long cars for that matter, will have a hard time negotiating any kink or abrupt transition in curved turnout arrangements. Take a look at Walthers Shinohara DCC friendly curved turnouts and check for inner/outer radius routes.
EDIT: It is out of stock at Walthers and somewhat pricey, but will work, Some other distributor may have it in stock should You decide on using it:
https://www.walthers.com/code-83-nickel-silver-dcc-friendly-7-1-2-curved-turnout-left-hand-inside-radius-28-quot-outside-radius-32-quot-empty
Assuming HO, which PECO? Code 75, 100, or 83? Is the derailment actually happening within the turnout itself, or at the entrance and/or exit? The latter would suggest a kink of the track as it enters the turnout (which is very easy to do inadvertently). If within the turnout itself, on both paths? Or only the inner or outer path? At the frog itself, or elsewhere?
In general, PECO curved turnouts have worked very well in my experience – actual problems within the turnout itself are a bit rare. As Selector mentioned, making sure that the track is level across the rails is important, especially when cutting a turnout into a curve.
If your rolling stock are precisely as you like them, and you have problems with the one location/turnout, you could always try to adjust the bedding under the layout to ensure the layout is very planar in support below it. Any sagging, torsion, or rise near the frog, will cause you no end of grief, often with just one item of rolling stock.
Or, draw out your parameters as an outline, complete with the curves in real size, and pay somebody to build you a hand-laid turnout that you know will work because it doesn't confound the engineering of your rolling stock.
Said differently, and acknowledging that you have 'tried everything', something must change if you are stuck on this track geometry.
Where, precisely along the turnout, do you see the problem commencing as you run the item across the turnout from either end? And what is the item if it tends to be just one car or locomotive, or combination of the two?
I have found the trouble by getting down on my knees to eye level with the rails, and I get good light behind and in front of the turnout, again at track level. I get on my Opti-Visor and I watch as I make the item move back and forth very slowly. You'll catch a wheel lifting, a truck getting snagged, the frame lifting, a coupler sagging enough that the trip pin catches on a guard rail...something sets the derailment in motion.
Edit (added as an afterthought...) I purchased several Walthers/Shinohara curved #7.5's in both directions about eleven years ago. I needed the curvatures they advertised at the time for that frog number. It was quite a bit less than advertised, so I had to mangle them all by cutting the webbing between the ties after inverting them, and then spreading them wider on both sides of the frog. It wasn't a gratifying experience, let me tell you, but I got them to work that way. It wasn't until I purchased a #8 curved that I got something close to what I wanted without having to mangle it.
Hi, I have consistant problems with derails of 6 axle SD7 and rolling stock on my PECO curved LH turnout. I've. Tried everything. Anyone have a replacement recommendation?? Atlas, Shinnora? Try PECO again?