Derailments on Gargraves Switch

I presume you are running cab front. What happens if you run it tail first?

Chris

LVHR

make sure the front truck swings  very very   smoothly and their is NO binding by wires  or if it has a  pick up contact it has plenty of play inside, I spent so much time thinking it was my switches but ended up just had to lengthen the wires on my engines   or untangled them , and all turned out good for me, hope that helps you

I added to the guard rail on my older GG switches and that helped with derailments.

Yes those guard rails are just glued to the plastic base and are known to give way over time.

some Loctite Super Glue Gel ends the problem.  Wonderful stuff!

john

The vast majority of my switches are used Gargaves units. I do find that MOST of them need adjustment and fine tuning to operate well. If it is only one loco I'd suspect the loco.

But there are a few things to check on the switch. The points seem to be the number one issue I find. If they are loose they will flop over under weight and a WbB is heavy enough to do this. My fix is to make sudr the points at the frog end are supported with rail joiners. Some of my GG had these, others did not. I at times also place a thin piece of card stock under the points to make sure they are the same height as the running rails.

Good luck! 

What would the points  look like if they are supported by rail joiners?   Are rail joiners the same as pins?  The points are attached by staple-like clips from the bottom.

How much longer might I make the guard rails?

I've attached three photos of the switch.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Ed

Your track alignment looks like it could cause derailments. I would straighten out the connection between the switch and the other piece of track and see what happens.

Agree with Mike. Here is photo of a Ross turnout but I have done this to Gargraves at our club. Put a rail pin into the inner rails and bend down a bit. It helps some roller issues.

Great idea. I'm going to try this as well.