Are three switches in a row a big No-No?

the longer switches will cause power issues unless you employ a DZ-1008a relay to power the dead parts. Then not.

I confess that I forgot about the pre-war anomalous 3451 log car that has the odd coupler controlled at the same time as the dumper.

ASIDE from THAT weirdly wired car what other shoe-cars do that?

@AlanRail posted:

I confess that I forgot about the pre-war anomalous 3451 log car that has the odd coupler controlled at the same time as the dumper.

ASIDE from THAT weirdly wired car what other shoe-cars do that?

 

Just about any car with coil couplers and shoes will uncouple and/or operate as all it takes is for one of the shoes to make contact with a conductor with non-ground potential.

@bmoran4 posted:

Just about any car with coil couplers and shoes will uncouple and/or operate as all it takes is for one of the shoes to make contact with a conductor with non-ground potential.

I have cars with coil couplers triggered by sliding shoes, and when they go though my 3 in a row Postwar 022 switches from one main line to the other, they do not uncouple.

This video shows 7 Postwar oil tankers  with coil couplers and sliding shoes gliding at moderate speed through three 022 switches in a row, and there is no uncoupling or derailments:

I think it was Don who said he keeps his 022 switches a little loose (not totally cemented in place). I do the same, and I also keep them level and aligned properly in order to minimize derailments.

I am very pleased with the long term performance, durability, reliability, fixability, appearance and affordability of Lionel Postwar 022 switches with fixed voltage plugs. Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I have cars with coil couplers triggered by sliding shoes, and when they go though my 3 in a row Postwar 022 switches from one main line to the other, they do not uncouple. Arnold

Correct - the discussion was in the context of the well known troubles Ross and some other switches have.

Here is some of my switch craziness. Backing long trains (longer than 20 cars) works as long as the heavy cars are near the front of the train.

I do have occasional derailments and was going to redesign the layout for Ross O72, but the effort and expense has so far been too much. I have just learned to enjoy the layout ats it is. Maybe someday..

Thanks for all of the info guys.

Based on the great advice you have given me, I am rearranging the layout to avoid the 3 contiguous switches.

The one thing I really HATE, which ruins a model train for me, is having a layout where I have to "tip toe" the train through certain sections, biting my lower lip and holding my breath, just waiting for the grating sound of a derailed truck.  When that happens, track is gonna be ripped out somewhere!

Mannyrock

@bmoran4 posted:

That is not what I understood @gunrunnerjohn to say at all.

I didn't quote GRJ, or try to restate what he said verbatim.  I just said that I thought he was right because I happen to agree with it.

Don't you use 1122s? I don't think you mentioned what you actually use. 

The performance on different years of the 0-27 line vary somewhat as well.

The whole lot of comments is aimed at full O turnouts or other things you don't have because you didn't mention what you use.

Besides, different locos will handle type X turnouts differently. There is no one cure all/without quirks or dead spots for every loco. 

You may want to jump center rail power into the ends of the center turnout; if you'll recall the Lionel suggestion to use a drop on each turnout leg, rather than drawing power thru those. 

If anything, a little speed can usually help an engine make it across a fussy turnout's connections.

Slow antiderail is something you deal with as is, or mod for constant power on 0-27 turnouts.

@Mannyrock posted:

Thanks for all of the info guys.

Based on the great advice you have given me, I am rearranging the layout to avoid the 3 contiguous switches.

The one thing I really HATE, which ruins a model train for me, is having a layout where I have to "tip toe" the train through certain sections, biting my lower lip and holding my breath, just waiting for the grating sound of a derailed truck.  When that happens, track is gonna be ripped out somewhere!

Mannyrock

 

Then you are definitely making the right decision. I like to run trains slow, but that is just me. That’s the beauty of our hobby - to each his own!

Off topic, but 30 years ago I had the rare pleasure of quail hunting from horseback on a huge plantation in Mississippi, with the owner of the land.  He talked just like Foghorn Leghorn.

There was a big railroad track running across the property, with a huge cotton field on each side.  The cotton was all in bloom, with the huge white boughs all puffed out.

Well, we were hunting on the edge of the land, and I heard the train coming.   I pulled my horse to a halt, and asked him whether the train coming through would spook the horses.  He said, "**** no, but get ready."

So a freight train came barreling through, and we were about twenty yard from the track, off to one side, in one of the cotton fields.

As the train passed by, he took off at a gallop, racing the train.  I followed along side.  There we went, for about 400 yards, racing that train,  with the beautiful white cotton floating beneath us like clouds, and the engineer laughing and blowing his whistle the whole way.

Probably the single best memory of my life, and the last one I"ll think about before I die. 

I guess that's why I like to run my trains fast.

Mannyrock

I have always had small sized layouts, and always with 027 track. And to make those layouts interesting, I have always broken every track configuration rule, including multiple switches in a row and "S" curves.

Yet I have NO derailments. (I know that sounds like a brag, but it is true.) Even using the post MPC designed 027 turnout. Why?

It's the loose rivets (and sometimes screws) that hold trucks to car bodies. Grab the coupler and see if you can jiggle up and down. If you can, it's a loose mounting and a sure fire candidate for derailments.

When you're backing up a train through a complicated layout, all the pressure of the train going backwards is on the couplers - which are part of the truck assembly. So if you have a loosely mounted truck, that truck will work its' way upward on a "S" curve, a turnout or even a regular curve and then derail.

I've written this before and I've been doing this for years. I drill out the rivets on all rolling stock and replace it with in most cases, a truss head screw and a lock or stop nut. I tighten this all the way, then loosen it just enough for the truck to move to and fro. For some cars, like flats and gondolas, I'll use a pre-blacked hex or button top screw with the lock nut. Sometimes I'll go the trouble of painting the screw the same color as the car body.

For cars that have factory-installed screw mountings, I'll do some filing and grinding, to reduce as much of the truck wobble as I can.

And this effort has paid off. I seriously haven't had a derailment in years, including running backward thru all the wrong track configurations. This including light weight short MPC 8-inch cars pushing longer and heavier cars with die cast truck sets. No derailments.

Some folks add weight to their rolling stock. But now you're making your locomotive work harder, putting more wear on the motor. The only rolling stock I might ever add weight to (if necessary), are the ones with a roller pickup assembly, like on an all-plastic illuminated car: Modern era SP style cabooses, for example.

Some other things to watch out for with rolling stock:

- Flashing, especially on plastic truck sets. If I can't easily lift apart two coupled cars without one of the cars snagging the other, it's time to check for flashing on the knuckle couplers. Sometimes it might be the amount of space with in the closed coupler, so I'll do a little filing on these.

Also worth noting, that even though trucks and couplers look very similar, if they're made by different companies, they're probably very subtly different. You can't simply replace a knuckle and rivet made by K-Line on a Lionel car... they are different. Same thing with thumbtack coupler armatures: On first glance, they look identical. Try to install it and you find they're not.

-Wheels out of gauge. More of an issue when buying used rolling stock when someone might have replaced wheel sets. Years ago, I bought a bulk bag of 50 fast angle wheel sets and was surprise to see some slight variation in the gauge of the wheels.

I've learned by experience, the wheel sets can be slightly out of gauge from one truck to another truck, BUT NOT on the same truck. Wheel sets slightly out of gauge on the same truck will cause derailments especially on turn outs.

-----------------------

Final note: My track runs right to the edge of the layout board. No buffer zone (though the train room is carpeted). When I say I have no derailments, there would be some darn good motivation for NOT having any derailments. I don't like broken train cars or engines, and fortunately this has not been an issue at all for me.

Here are 5 Marx 1590 switches in a row with curves.  This situation resulted when I recently added a Wye to the layout.  I have no problems with this set up but it may help that the Marx 1590 switches have a low profile for the switch solenoid covers.

Charlie

You don't want the car too tight on bolsters when you have hard transitions to grades or any relevant fast height change. (I've had to loosen some. They need few degrees of play there, still room to tighten many though; your right. It improves geometry on flat track, keeping the trucks planted)

The tight S turn issues rear their fangs more with body mounted couplers , long cars and or small flanges of 2r than our "toy" flanges. The factors still exist in O, just not as strongly. The subject in HO circles seems as constant as "clean your wheels".

You won't make the S with a Marx A-B/ A-B-B engine nor a few other items. Some couplers are guided by compound leverage off the truck; sort of a lead to keep the coupler shafts at an optimum angle for the track. (coupler aligns itself for coupling in a curve.)

You MUST have a 1/3- 1/2 straight between opposed curves to allow the trailing truck to get off its curve.  Because #one car's rear truck is on a curved left, coupler goes left when still over the last piece of track occupied. But the #2 car lead truck is still on the right curve, so it's coupler is turned right... the opposite way.  (Marx cars aren't that way, just the B units. But I have seen cars decades ago that did it too)

The little straight also helps other trucks/couplers transition the S better.