I have an Atlas Customline Code 83 #6 switch that serves a small industry that doesn't see a lot of traffic. I had no trouble with it until I started using my BLI SW7 there. It derails everytime it comes out of the siding.
Inspection reveals that the switch rail on the straight route side is just a little higher then the stock rail. For years I've had no problems with any cars or any of my steam locomotives coming out of that siding. The long wheel base of the SW7 truck lifts the lead wheel off of the rail as the locomotive comes on to the through track when the rear wheel on the truck is still on the switch rail. When it comes down the lead wheel misses the stock rail.
Replace the switch? File the switch rail down? Don't use SW switchers on that siding? I've seen plenty of restrictions on the protoype about restricting certain locomotives from certain switches.
I'd like to be able to use that locomotive there. Has anyone ever repaired a switch like that or am I looking at tearing out the switch and replacing it?
Jeff White
Alma, IL
It's in a part of the layout where the scenery is finished so replacing it will be a major job.
Check the switch with a rail guage. While you are at it check the locomotive too. It may not be the switch at all.
Switches and locomotives are easily repaired.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I agree with checking first things first. Like the saying, 'When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras." Check the trip pin height/clearance over the frog or guard rails. Check wheel gauge. Use the NMRA to verify the flange path through the guards. Gauge the rails all along the closure rails and the points rails...sometimes curved points are too straight, or they have too much of a bend midway and the spread is too much for the wheelset gauge. Or the hinge is too sloppy and the point rail can flop over enough to take it outside the tolerance of the wheelset gauge.
If those are all good and verified, then you'll need strong light and a magnifier to see if the point tip is outside of its retained position. Maybe there's something hard and small crept under the throwbar on that side that is forcing the point rail high, but that's a stretch because it should lift the whole side of the turnout at the throwbar.
If all seems good, and the throwbar and points work reliably, then I guess filing down the top of the point is a cheap "lessee what this does". I have had to do it once or twice, and it seemed a durable solution.
The switch gauges out. I'm thinking it's the locomotive since no other equipment derails there. The locomotive wheels are in gauge. I'm thinking there isn't enough play in the trucks and that is holding the wheel off the rail. For now I won't run that engine down that siding.
Thanks all.
A small switcher like that should have no problem with a #4 turnout, so if it's having trouble with a #6, there is something fixable....but also discernible....to deal with.
If the trucks can't pivot, there might be a binding wire, or maybe a burr or flashing that doesn't allow the part to pivot fully.
I would also wonder if the turnout is mounted and well supported so that it doesn't dip, or hump, or have one rail that is low. On curves, it is most often the outer wheel's flange that doesn't catch a low rail and the result is the axle works its way outside the curve, over the rails, and you get a derailment. Lifting such a rail even part of a mm can make all the difference in the world.
You might also have a kink going into the turnout, either horizontal or vertical. Check the rail joints with a metal straightedge to find these, The vertical ones can be hard to spoty by eye, and often cause the kind of derailments you're describing.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Could just be the thing was made wrong, had to file down more than one Shinahora on my former code 70 layout.
An SW-7 should have no trouble with a No.4 turnout, let alone a No.6. I have a couple of BLI NW-2s that run through anything with no trouble - in fact, one year, I used one on a little oval using 15" radius Atlas Tru-Track around the Xmas tree.
One thing re the wheels - don't just check that the wheels are in gauge, be sure to compare all 4 wheels on each truck to make sure they're in alignment with each other. You could have a truck where both sets of wheels are in gauge, but the wheels are slightly off center to the right on one axle, and slightly offset to the left on the other.
Thanks, I'll check the alignment on the wheels.
Jeff White Alma, IL
JWhite Thanks, I'll check the alignment on the wheels. Jeff White Alma, IL
You might also put a straight edge across the frog to see if it is higher than the rails. I have had that condition more than once.
Have a good day.
Lee
If you have a steel ruler, the one with the thin cork on one side, and sharp-ish edges, invert it so that the cork is uppermost and slide if from the points toward the frog. Do it on both routes, the through route and the diverging route, with points switched for each path. You may find that sharp end of the steel ruler snagging someplace, and that could be a problem...mebbe.
I have run into the same situation - my N Scale SW lifted an axle in the #6 turnout - on two differnt turnouts btw. It was the only loco or car that did. In one case, I needed to run an exacto through the frog a few times to deepen the little channel in it. Turns out, the flange was rolling on the frog and lifting the wheel just like you're describing. In the other case, the switchpoint rail just stuck up too high. I couple light filingas and it was as right as rain.
I am using Peco turnouts...
Hope this helps...
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I wonder if the OP got his problem solved?
Cheers
No, I still can't run that SW7 out of the diverging route back onto the main. It goes into the siding with no problems. It's just coming out that is a problem. I've about made up my mind to replace the switch.
Do you mean the point is too high where it joins the closure rail? Because yeah, then I could see derailing as you leave the siding. It should have nothing to do with the straight route.If that is the problem, you should be able to file down the point where it joins the closure rail.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
Any chance you reversed the loco. end for end and tried running it though and see what happens?
The point is too high where it meets the stock rail. Apparently going into the diverging route that little bit of difference doesn't matter and the lead wheel just climbs up the couple thousands of an inch difference. But coming out of the diverging route the wheel doesn't drop right to the stock rail but it is elevated above the stock rail for maybe a half inch and when it comes down it misses the stock rail. It does this no matter which direction the little SW is facing. Freight cars and other locomotives don't have a problem.
Sometimes those hoof beats are Zebras. I recently had an issue with locos stalling on a Peco Insulfrog turnout. I thought it was the point rail not making electrical contact with the stock rail until I realized that there are jumpers built in to carry the connection from the diverging routes through to the point rails. A quick check with an ohm meter confirmed that one of the internal jumpers was bad. I then simply soldered a jumper between the corresponding diverging rail and the point rail and the problem was corrected.
JWhite The point is too high where it meets the stock rail. Apparently going into the diverging route that little bit of difference doesn't matter and the lead wheel just climbs up the couple thousands of an inch difference. But coming out of the diverging route the wheel doesn't drop right to the stock rail but it is elevated above the stock rail for maybe a half inch and when it comes down it misses the stock rail. It does this no matter which direction the little SW is facing. Freight cars and other locomotives don't have a problem. Jeff White Alma, IL
File down the point where it meets the stock rail. That should solve the problem.