New Lionel Scale BigBoy/Fastrack Derailing

FasTrack switch points are a little thick.  I sand mine to a finer point.  You can also try giving it a slight bend, but be careful not to break it.  Sanding or filing the point is a better option.  This should resolve your issue.

Thanks - I assume with a flat file or a rotary tool?  Which side of the point do you recommend filing?  

Keith - you have a visual on what you did?

He filed the points sharper, or thinner may be better, where a set of wheels will first contact the point of the switch when it turns into a siding off the main line.  It may be pessimism, or the voice of experience perhaps, that tells me, you can file the point all you want, but that big boy is going to derail in reverse on that fastrack switch from now to eternity.  The second drivers are going to jump the track in reverse not because the points are dull, but because of simple geometry.  Good luck.  I sincerely hope you prove me wrong.

I agree....it seems that whether it is Fastrak or Realtrax, these type switches when backing into them that way are a roll of the dice.

Especially if they are not level at the entry or the exit in comparison with the attached trackage.

I believe this is why Ross Switches are so popular, i.e. less issues.

I have Fastrack, and I've run the Big Boy forward and backwards through a bunch of the switches, no problem.  Unless there's a visible issue with the locomotive, I'd be looking at the switches.

I'm sure it's the switches, too.  They are brand new - literally, just out of the box.  Coupled up a few box cars and noticed they derailed the first time, too, in reverse, when backing them into the siding.

Ok - John says it works, it works.  It has to be unlevel track in, out, or at the switches.  It's not always plug and play.  Sometimes you have to fine tune, tinker if you will, to get everything right. I would experiment with some cardboard shims in different spots on the track before and after, and under the switch, see if you notice a tilt in the engine when it goes through the switch that you can correct. That is all it takes, a shimmy and she's fried like a one egg omelet on a tin roof.  And with smaller engines than a bigboy.

I used a combination of a file and sanding stick.  My switch points were sharpened on the side that faces the center rail.  The hard way is to disassemble the switch...the easy way is to sharpen it while still attached.  With it attached though, care must be taken to not let shavings enter inside the switch.

When filling I did not just sharpen the tip, I sharpenEd a long section of the switch point. Just thinning it out a little.

Sorry Greg, no visual.  When I take a photo of, you just can't tell the difference from a non-modified switch point as my close up shots are not good with my tablet.  I did this to O60 and O72 switches.

I can back my TMCC and Legacy big boys through O-72 fastback switches with no problems.Good advice has been given.Try to shim them with cardboard on either side.I had to do that once.Nick

Bummer this is the 1st time I have heard of this happening with a 072 FT switch, I wish Keith had a better camera and could take some exacting engineering pictures. My FT 072 Switches have no problems accommodating even my big Williams UP City of San Fran engines and that is one big long double set diesel engines.  Are the new 072 FT switches different than the original CC's in some way.

PCRR/Dave

Another thought is, you say your layout is 'brand new''.  That could mean anything from a shiny new loop of fastrack laying on 2" shag carpeting in your retro 70s love cave, or on carefully constructed level benchwork.  Either way, your problem is probably unlevel track at or around the switches.

William 1,

   I agree I do believe he is out of level or that the quality control on our FT switches has become a problem.  If Keith had to alter a paddle, to accommodate certain trains something is wrong some place, either with the layout level, or the QC of the new FT switches.

PCRR/Dave

Maybe it's my layout.  Maybe it's the switches.  Maybe both.

I really don't think I'm out of level.  It's an oval of new fastrack, with 3 new switches out of the box this morning, laid directly on my basement floor, which is concrete with a layer of Pergo flooring on top of the concrete.  No carpet.  I'm sure the concrete and Pergo flooring are not within 0.01" tolerance around the room, but the track is close enough to level.  One of the switches is located as the first piece of track directly out of the O-72 curve, so when you throw the switch, the siding continues to make the Circle with the short O-72 curve that is part of the switch.  I will gladly reconfigure at some point.

The layout is not permanent.  The BB that I got on Friday is fantastic, as is the Legacy CAB-2 that I'm just starting to learn.  But I was tired of my test oval around the floor, so at the train show yesterday, I bought my first 3 CC switches and some extra track.  First time with CC switches - other than the derailing, they are great.

I love the Fastrack ability to re-design my layout on the floor and not plan out the entire basement at this time.  Also not ready to put the BB 7' up in the air around my ceiling loops at this time.

1) Soon I will advance to connecting my TIU and running the CAB-2 through it and seeing if I can operate the BB while going through the TIU.  Sounds easy.

2) Then I will try an MTH engine on the fastrack, with the DCS controller, and see how the switches work.  I assume I'll need the CAB-2 for the switches, and the DCS for the MTH engine, but maybe the MTH DCS will throw the Lionel switches.

3) Once I get this down, I'll go all-out and try a MTH engine and a Lionel on the same track, with both remotes.  I think all of this sounds "easy" from watching Eric's videos, but until I actually hook the stuff up and try it....

4) Then I'd like to experiment and try, somehow, to get variable voltage out of the loop, such that I can run conventional, just to see what is required, and what is controlling the conventional - the DCS remote or the CAB-2, or how to do it with each... or not.

5) Then it's back to DCS/CAB-2 and reconfigure the on-the-floor layout.

I'm sure for most folks around here, this is old-hat.  For me, who just had two loops connected to a ZW a year ago, I'm still learning.

VADarthdad,

   I have something else you are going to want badly as you start to make complex FasTrack layouts.  The new Rockwell X2 portable saw, this baby allows you to make custom size pieces of Fastrack at any angle you need.  No more looking for certain size

FasTrack pieces that cost way to much money.  Lowes has the Rockwell X2 on sale for $99.00, if you are a Military Vet or active duty, with your 10% discount, that is $89.00 for a Custom Track making X2 saw, a serious piece of equipment for guys running on FT, Atlas Industrial Rail & MTH RealTrax. 

Merry Christmas

PCRR/Dave

You mention the switch is right out of the curve. I'm not sure how the layout is set up from your description, but is it possible you have a slight s curve?

I am wondering, just how much time did Lionel put into testing the VL Big Boy before releasing it?

Problems such as those mentioned here could have been thwarted if such test had been performed.

Thanks for the replies.  No S curve in derail spot #1.  Think of it as 4 pieces of 22.5 deg. o-72 curves , then the next piece is an LH O-72 switch and two 10" straights of both the "thru" straight leg of the switch and the curve leg of the switch.

I don't think it's the BB, as I derailed a single pfe refer pushing it in reverse into the switch siding.

I think it's the FT switch, or the location I'm using it.  As William 1 and chipset indicated above, sounds like a known issue with FT switches.  Unfortunately, I'm living in a FT world at this moment, but good to know before I commit one-way or another.

I doubt its the locomotive too. Likely the switch. Do any of your other locomotives have issues backing into the switch?

Turn outs coming out of a curve have caused issues for me.

Anyway to add a straight before it?

Maybe a small straight?