To supplement the static photos I had already posted of the new E-Z switches, today I was finally able to make a test run of a Railking PCC going through the installed switches. The test run was made using temporary wiring and with the switch motors unwired and operating only in the manual spring-loaded mode. Attached are 2 short videos showing the test run.
As you can see, the car negotiated all 3 of the switches without any tracking or electrical problems. There was no tripping of the reverse unit due to momentary loss of power when crossing over the frog area of the switch where the center rail is interrupted. I retried it at various speeds and it did not stall out at low speeds nor derail at high speeds when going through the curved branch. I then tested a Railking bump-and-go trolley at different speeds and it had no problems either.
The Bachmann E-Z streets switches seemed to have successfully met the operating requirements for my streetcar layout. For those who intend to operate shorter vehicles like automobiles and trucks with their shorter distance between pickup rollers, your results may be different and someone else will need to test to verify. I only have one non-trolley ‘streets vehicle, an early K-Line PRR van, however it’s packed away for now. But since Bachmann makes those vehicles I would think there shouldn’t be a problem. Chances are someone else, perhaps Lee Willis, will have his switches installed soon and be able to report on his results with other vehicles.
Bill
