Turnout killing power to track?

[cplmckenzie]

Hi all,

I have had a very interesting morning after I got my track delivery from Amazon.

Started out getting pieces put into my addin layout,(a separate but connected 8'x39' plywood base), getting turnouts said in which connects the two.

I had a turnout go out? on Sat. but got one in this morning and decided to give repairing turnout. So I took apart a good one to rebuild the bad one by. Anyway I learned that a tinnnnny spring was missing from the repair, figured  I had lost it on sat when I took it apart. Put the good one back together and it didn't work as remotable.

Knew I had done something wrong. So fiddled with it and then fiddled a little more and put it back together, IT WORKED. So I get it screwed back together and put back into the layout.

So I look around the table maybe I can find the spring .. no luck. So I turn to my second layout to test locos on the track with the new turnout on the other side leading back to main layout.

I reach over to get a tool from the broke turnout .... and guess what I see, nothing except this real tinnnnny spring laying right there. So now I got all turnouts working and got the broken turnout rebuilt and remoteable.

I learned this morning that you can go into a turnout (or two) and end up with everything working.

Now.... on to the next .... I have this turnout, got it from ebay and it kill power to 2-3 previous track and about the same after it.

Switched it out with a straight and another turnout, it ran fine. I looked at the turnout track, don't see how anything could get crossed.

Any suggestions, maybe a loose connection track to track???

cplmckenzie

[rrinker]

 WHat brand turnout is it? If it is Peco, it sounds like an Electrofrog. You need to insulate the rail joints on the two rails that meet at the V in the frog. ANd then supply additional power feeds for the tracks beyond that.

             --Randy

[dstarr]

I call it a bug.  Some turnouts, Peco for one brand, are "power routing".  Power only flows thru the turnout to the divering track untill the turnout is set to diverging.  With the turnout set for straight ahead (the mainline) power is removed from the diverging track (a spur).  This "feature" allows you to run a train off onto a spur, set the turnout back to the mainline and run another train on the main, while the train on the side track stays put.

  I don't like this feature, it relies upon good contact at the turnout points, which is not dependable.  I want power on my spurs and side tracks to by dependable and go on and off when I flick the block toggle switch, and not at other times.  So I run wires to the spurs and side tracks, thru block toggle switches, and cut gaps in the rail, so power on the spur or side track comes from the block toggle and only the block toggle. 

[rrinker]

 It's not a bug - it also gives you a powered frog. 8 wheel larger locos may have no problems, even with a #8, but short stuff will never make it over a #8 without a powered frog. You don't have to rely on the points, you can power the frog with switch machine contacts, both manual and powered. If you cut gaps or use insulated joiners on the diverging rails, you have to supply feeders beyond the frog anyway, which can be switched if it's a siding, to kill the power.

 Once upon a time, ALL turnouts were this way. Atlas spoiled too many. Even the original Atlas turnouts were all power routing. The rule of no power feeds from the frog sides goes back to the dawn of model railroading. It's only turnouts like modern Atlas that allow you to put feeders anywhere, even on the frog side.

 Didn;t seem to be a huge issue back then, either. The bigger problem was a hefty solenoid ripping the point rails right off the throwbar. Fully finished rooms for layout seemed less common, so you had concrete dust in the basement or garage, and everyone smoked. Masonite slider cars, all metal wheels, and locos that weighed a couple of pounds (even in HO, since they were all metal) all seemed to keep the track clean.

                        --Randy

 

[richhotrain]

cplmckenzie

I have this turnout, got it from ebay and it kill power to 2-3 previous track and about the same after it.

Switched it out with a straight and another turnout, it ran fine. I looked at the turnout track, don't see how anything could get crossed.

Any suggestions, maybe a loose connection track to track???

Turn it over and look on the bottom of the turnout for identifying marks. Can you find a brand name? Is the frog metal or plastic? Is it a short or a loss of power. It could be one of many things going on here.

Rich