Not cross overs but fixed crossings. HO Scale.
I bought a 19 degree crossing at a trainshow to play around with. I set up a test track and ran a Bachman 45 tonner, an Atlas S2 and a Bowser V-1000. The Bowser rocks and not in a good way, thru the crossing.
The Bowser was the first engine I tried and I thought oh no, I don't want this. The 45 tonner no where near as bad.
At speed step 1, they all stall out on the crossing but at 5, they make it thru with no problem. What is your experience with crossings?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy Not cross overs but fixed crossings. HO Scale. I bought a 19 degree crossing at a trainshow to play around with. I set up a test track and ran a Bachman 45 tonner, an Atlas S2 and a Bowser V-1000. The Bowser rocks and not in a good way, thru the crossing. The Bowser was the first engine I tried and I thought oh no, I don't want this. The 45 tonner no where near as bad. At speed step 1, they all stall out on the crossing but at 5, they make it thru with no problem. What is your experience with crossings?
Is this an Atlas crossing?
Check the plastic frogs, they may be raised up a little - file them down. This can lift the wheels and cause the stalling - and the rocking. I don't have "speed step 1" but I don't have trouble with slow speeds.
One of the benefits of my Aristo PWM DC throttles is that any throttle position that will start the loco is usually pretty stall proof.
Is it code 83 or code 100?
Check the flangeway width and depth with an NMRA gauge - the flangeways may need to be deeper.
I used a bunch of them on my last layout, and will be using a few on the new layout. In fact I had a 19 degree one at a double track diverging wye, worked great.
I also used a number of 12.5 degree crossings.
Yes, sometimes these little tuneup things I mentioned, but they work fine afterwards.
Again it would be helpful to know what brand.
Sheldon
In HO scale I have only ever used Walther/Shinohara crossings, and had no problems at all.
Note, my sample size is low. SGRR #4 had only one crossing (30 degrees), and SGRR #5 had two (both 60 degrees I think, one might have been 45 degrees).
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Incorrect wheel gage can cause rocking through the crossing flangeways by causing the wheels to bind and jump up.
Wide flangeways on the crossing can allow wheels to drop in. This can be corrected by placing shims in the bottom of the flangeways to support the wheel flanges. Don't shim so much that the wheels are lifted as this will cause loss of electrical contact.
Incorrect track gage in the crossing can also cause wheels to jump up.
Mark
I bought an Atlas Code 83 30 degree crossing. I began having shorting problems with it. I decided through measurements with a meter that the crossing had an internal short that triggered when an engine went over it. I replaced it with a Walthers crossing and never had another problem.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Weird about having a short on the 30 deg interchange. I need to check mine b/c it's been fine. Did you run a wire to address the short before replacing?
Crossings have been an integral part of all my layouts. I run a double track mainline, and I need a way for trains on the outer mainline to reach yards and passenger stations by crossing the inner mainline.
On my earlier layouts, I used Atlas Code 83 flextrack and Atlas Code 83 turnouts and crossings. On my more recent layouts, I have used Atlas Code 83 flextrack and Peco Code 83 Insulfrog turnouts and crossings because I like the spring loaded throwbar feature.
I have never had any problems with the crossings, both Atlas and Peco, no shorts or derailments and no loss of power. I do wire all four ends of every crossing.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrainI have used Atlas Code 83 flextrack and Peco Code 83 Insulfrog turnouts and crossings.
I have never used Peco HO scale crossings. I might need to on the next layout as W/S crossings are getting pricey on the secondary market.
I never had trouble with any N scale Peco track piece that I can remember.
SeeYou190 richhotrain I have used Atlas Code 83 flextrack and Peco Code 83 Insulfrog turnouts and crossings. I never had trouble with any N scale Peco track piece that I can remember. -Kevin
richhotrain I have used Atlas Code 83 flextrack and Peco Code 83 Insulfrog turnouts and crossings.
kasskaboose Weird about having a short on the 30 deg interchange. I need to check mine b/c it's been fine. Did you run a wire to address the short before replacing?
The short was internal to the crossing, and only showed up when the weight of an engine went over it. Rolling stock wouldn't cause a problem. For the cost of another crossing back then, I just went to my LHS and bought another one.
It did short out a new steamer and disabled the decoder, which basically seemed dead. I brought that to the LHS too. My LHS guy had a decoder programmer for that decoder, and was able to go through a lot of steps and recover it just fine.