My trains are hesitating when they roll over the turnout points. I assume that this is a continuity problem from poor connection, corrosion and or wear. Any fixes?
Thanks,
Dave K.
Dave KMy trains are hesitating when they roll over the turnout points
I don't know N-scale but in general there can be a problem with the rail joiners on the point end.....weathering, painting.
The points have to make contact with the inside of the stock rail. Another area where corrosion, paint dirt can interfere with contact. You can try a tiny sanding stick or judicious use of sandpaper.
I assume the points meet the closure rail at a hinge. That hinge can be a point of electrical failure. Depending on the manufacturer, those closure rails may get their power from the point contact. Newer Atlas and Peco HO track have done away with the hinge.
In an ideal world the closure rail should be jumpered to the stock rail and the points jumpered to the closure rail. In n-scale all that is pretty tiny and that it already installed makes it that much harder.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Thanks
If you would like to consider a possible quick fix Dave. On eBay they have "NO-OX-ID A Special" conductive lubricant in a small tub. More than you would ever need in a lifetime.
I use it on any electrical connection I do anywhere. My friend was a low voltage technician his whole life. He swore by the stuff as he always used it on every electrical connection that wasn't soldered, even in wire suitcases. He never had a call back in his 40 years as a tech.
Take a toothpick and apply it in the top edges of your track joiners and then heat them up slightly with a soldering iron untill it flows down in there. Then move your joiners back and forth slightly with a jeweler's screwdriver if you can.
Clean up your turnout points with a mild abrasion and put a little on there as well.
I don't know how corrosive ballasting is inside your track joiners but if anything will work I'd give that a shot as you only have $9 to lose. I am going to put the stuff inside every one of my track joiners with a toothpick while I'm laying my track before any corrosion has a chance to start.
Track joiners have never been considered a permanent conductivity source by many MR enthusiasts. With No-Ox added to the equation they are.
Hope that will work for you.
TF
I was having a simular issue with some of my locomotives on turnouts but I'm using Kato Unitrack. What I came to find was that my Kato locomotives and some other brands were ok and some Atlas and Arnold locos were not. What I found was that the ones I was having issues with set lower to the rails and the pilots on the shells were scraping or hanging on the points and I had to sand a little off the pilots.
Ralph
I use Atlas Code 55 track and turnouts and you donot state if you are using code 55 or code 80 Atlas track and hope what I have posted here may be of some help.
As for the Code 55 I have over 150 turnouts and have had no issues with engines stalling, however the code 55 Atlas turnouts are made so that the frog can be electrified and I have all wired for powering the frogs, I control the turnouts with Tortoise Switch Machines and they have a built in switch that controls the power to the frog depending the way the turnouy is thrown.
Aside from power to the frog, I found the code 55 turnouts have to be installed with great care. Roadbed flat like glass. Any little bump can cause an issue, at least that is what I found using 6 wheel diesels.
TF,