Feeders in all those spots will make it pretty much bulletproof.
To power the frog, it's next to impossible to solder to the pot metal Atlas uses, but a brass screw can be put in the hole next to the frog - pretty sure I used a 1-72 and didn;t tap the hole. I put mine in from the bottom, witht he frog supported ont he workbench because pressing too hard will pop them right off. This wire needs to be changed in polarity to match the point position, so you need to use contacts on your switch motor, or if running DCC, you cna use Frog Juicers from Tam Valley to automatically apply the correct polarity.
I have never actually set up power to any Atlas turnouts, I put the wires in place but none of my locos stalled, so I never connected them. I'm not sure what my smallest loco would have been with #6 Atlas turnouts, probably the GP7 or RS3, both had 8 wheel pickup and nothing stalled even on the #6 wthout powered frogs.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks for your replies.
Randy, if I attach feeder wires at the points indicated in the attached picture, will this do the job of wiring rails? How about powering the frogs of the Atlas switches that are dead frogs? What wire do I attach to them?
Mister Beasley, I do have a short in one of my Peco switches just as you described. I’ll pick up some black fingernail polish and paint the frog as you suggested.
Jack
I had the shorting problem, not a stalling problem, on several Peco Insulfrogs turnouts. It is a known issue with a narrow rail gap on the frog being bridged over by wide wheel treads. Paint the frog with clear nail polish, or black nail polish if you have a Goth girlfriend.
On the Atlas turnouts, powering the frog will generally fix a stalling problem.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
For the Aslt - feeders at all 3 sets of rails. ANd make sure your locos are pickng up with all wheels. If they are older locos that only pick up from one side of the front truck and the opposite side of the rear truck, your only real solution is to power the frogs.
For the Peco, if they are Insulfrog, power feeders on all legs. The insulated part is so small, it takes a very poorly performing loco to stall. If they are Electrofrog, then the frog rails need insulated joiners and your solution is again to power the frog. With insulfrog, it might not be a loss of power, but a short, wheels that are a bit wide can touch both rails at the frog just past the little plastic part, which causes a short.
Any more modern locos with 8 or more wheel pickup, or for steam locos, modern ones liek BLI that pick up with both sides of the loco and both sides of the tender, should EVERY stall on a #6 or smaller turnout. If they do, there is a pickup problem.
I have a mix of 30 Atlas HO Code 100 Mark IV #283 & #284 switches, plus four curved Peco Code 100 #6 switches. All of my engines halt, or complete stop, when traveling over about half of these switches, both Atlas and Peco. How do I correct this problem?
Thanks,
Jack Fletcher