O-27 switches jamming after reconfiguration

It's difficult to say why the three switches are acting up, as I have never put 3 027 switches that close together.

Do you have the insulating pins in the proper places?

 

If it is the switches acting up you may have to go to Ross Custom switches and use their 031 or 032 size switch that comes with DZ Industry switch motors.

 

Lee Fritz

Are these laid out in same configuration that you had on older layout?  If you are now concatenating the switches one after another than separated by track pieces , maybe a non-derail insulating pin is misplaced or has a steel pin instead???

Matt,

 

Make absolutely certain that each switch track has an insulating (plastic or fiber) pin in its non-derailing control rail than a metal pin.

Is the track screwed down?

 

Have you used Thomas on these switches before?

 

What transformer are you using for the track - before and after?

First thing I did was check the fiber pins. They're all in the correct locations.

 

One switch is exactly where it always has been in the layout. The other two have been relocated to form a WYE.

 

I'm using the same CW-80 transformer as always.

 

 

Power each leg of the wye with feeders.

 

How well do the switches work using only the controllers?

 

Have you used Thomas on these switches before?

Are you running Thomas alone, or with a train? If alone, the voltage may be too low to operate the switch properly. Do the switches operate properly with the controllers? Remove the trains, turn the power all the way up, and run a car through the switches to test them. If they work at higher power, you may need to modify them to work on external power. Lionel has a video to show the procedure.

 

Larry

Try using a unpowered car to operate the switches.  See if the voltage for Thomas is high enough to throw the switches properly.  Vary the transformer voltage and find out the voltage necessary to operate the switches.

Matt:

I have two reversing loops on my layout that use the non-detailing feature on the switch to automatically set the route for a train entering a switch.  When I first added these loops, I placed the fiber pins in the normal location to the inside rails of the curved and straight routes.  Over a period of time I noticed some of my Williams engines would not completely reline a switch when entering the switch from a straight "trailing point" route.  I guessed this was caused by the lower voltage drawn by a Williams engine.  This resulted in the switch simply not having time to reset from the curved route to a straight route before the lead axle of the engine hit the pivot rail.  This would cause the front truck to bounce and derail.

When an engine would enter the switch on the curved route from a trailing point direction, it wasn't an issue because the wheels would force the pivot rail into position and allow the engine to smoothly pass through the switch.

I resolved the problem by adding insulated track sections ahead of each switch when entering from the straight route trailing point direction.  This gave the pivot rail enough time to completely reposition for the straight route before the engine entered the switch. 

If you try this remedy, you must insert a steel pin in the straight route inside rail where the fiber pin would normally go.  The fiber pin is then inserted at the end of the same rail on the insulated track section.  This has the effect of extending the non-detailing feature an entire track section ahead of the switch.

Not sure if this will resolve your problem but, it completely eliminated the derailments on my layout.

Reading back through this I hope it makes sense.  Please don't hesitate to ask for a clarification if you decide to try it to see if it would fix your problem.

Curt

I am assuming these O-27s must not have an external power feed like the ubiquitous Lionel O22 switches.  Could the O27 be converted to have a power feed?

Sam:

I recollect a " how to" article in CTT many years ago about converting modern Lionel 0-27 switches to direct power from the transformer.  It involved drilling out the rivets holding the backing plate to the top of the switch.  You then had to disconnect at least one wire and connect it to a feed from the transformer.

In my case at least, since the switches were ballasted in place, it was simply easier to extend the non-derailing feature using insulated track sections as opposed to loosening ballast and removing the switches from my layout.

Curt

Thanks Curt for reply.  I too recalled that someone did this, but I forgot about all that riveting stuff.  Old age memory ........

The transformer is wide open, full power. Thomas is the LionChief version.

 

There's a youtube video on converting these switches to external power. Looks simple enough, and I don't think you have to drill any rivets as I recall. I'd like to avoid that because the switches are currently not wired up at all, and I'm not committed to the layout just yet.

 

Haven't had a chance to get down there and run some feeders to that specific area yet. Maybe tonight after work.

I submitted an article years ago on how to rewire the Lionel O27 switches for external power.  The article "got lost" but I've emailed it to over 50 people that have asked for it.

 

My method does NOT involve drilling out the rivets.

 

- walt

Interesting Walt, I have rewired six O-27 1122E's for constant power and I had to drill out the rivets to get to the coil wires soldered to the center rail pickup. This gave me enough wire to bring back up to the top and connect to the power feed. I just used some solder over the rivet ends then to keep it all together. They work great but still hum with a train sitting on them just like I remember as a kid.

The newer 027 switches can be modified from the top, without drilling out the bottom cover. See here for a video from Lionel.

 

Larry

Using a Dremmel, I cut a "flap" in the underside metal piece and accessed the wires thru it.

 

As for the humming, the article discussed resolving that too but for me the parts were too expensive, even though I did convert 4.  This tip came from Bob Nelson.

 

- walt

Larry:

Thanks for posting this link.  I watched the video and it appears to be an incredibly simple and easy way to connect an 0-27 switch to constant voltage. 

 

I'll have to take a stab at trying this, at least on the switches that are easily accessible from the edge of my layout.

 

Curt