@Mixed Freight posted:Agreed. An even easier method: Simply tape over the straight anti-derail rail with some painter's tape or similar, for a short distance (an inch or two) past the frog. See if this will allow your train to run through the curved route without triggering the switch to throw straight.
If this cures the switch problem, then I would guess that the pilot truck wheel gauges (or the width of the pilot wheels themselves) are too large and causing the problem by briefly contacting the straight rail while going through the curved portion. Come to think of it, the pilot truck wheels in your pictures do not look to be fast angle profile, which may also exacerbate the problem.
Give this a try and see if it helps. If not, we'll have to work on another solution.
Hi @Mixed Freight, thanks for the suggestion. This solution sounds sensible but I'm not exactly sure what you mean so I've attached a picture of the relevant switch. I think the frog is what I outlined in yellow. The red lines are the breaks in the rail, which I remember from my O-27 switches are insulated, so I assume that's where the frog ends (electrically speaking). Is the "straight anti-derail rail" what I've highlighted in green? Is that what I should try covering in tape?
The plot thickens: I ran the locomotive very slowly (speed step 1) over the switch a couple of times. The pilot truck fails to follow the switch onto the curve. This is before the anti-derailment feature throws the switch back to straight. The pilot truck (all four wheels of it) runs ahead straight when the switch is set to curve. The blind drivers obviously do what the pilot truck is guiding them to do and they also run straight. The flanged driving wheels then follow the switch onto the curve of the siding, and it's the tender that seems to set the sparks flying (I'm still working through that last bit but that seems to be when the sparks strike). I'm willing to try the electric tape solution but this makes me think the problem is probably something to do with the weight or the stiffness of the pilot truck, which isn't following the curve of the switch to begin with. In other words, I suspect the anti-derailment feature is a symptom rather than a cause of the problem, which seems to begin as soon as the pilot wheels fail to follow the switch.
Has anybody who runs these locomotives successfully navigated them through any switch? @Trainmaster04, can you successfully get these through Atlas switches? What's the smallest radius they'll handle?
I can't really comment on Lionel's engineering ingenuity or not. The engines look gorgeous. The blind driver doesn't bother me and I'm willing to accept weird looks on tight curves. But it's kind of annoying if Lionel sold these engines as O-36-rated and they cannot, in fact, navigate a simple Lionel-brand O-36 switch.
