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Has anyone ever had this problem? I have two SD-70 engines and they both get stuck when going thru my Atlas switches by the rear truck derailing on the turnout part of the switch or they get stuck (loose power) when going straight thru one switch. The voltage on all rails outside and inside the switches is the same.

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There was a post about the pick-up roller causing issues on certain switches. Do the rear trucks swing freely? Sometimes they make the wires too tight at the factory.

 The stalling is sometimes from the engines loosing ground in one direction. If the center pick-up rollers are lifting the engines slightly, it can cause this to happen. Make sure the batteries are fully charged and are not dying.

Thank you both for your fast responses. The trucks swing freely because I tried running the engines over the switches in forward and reverse. Same problem. I replaced the batteries with the BCR capacitors so I don't have to worry about battery discharge or leakage. I suspected the center rollers. I just tried my Doodlebug, and same problem. I switched from Lionel tubular track to Atlas because I had steam engine (2-6-4) derailing problems with the Lionel switches. Is there a fix for the center roller problem?

Atlas makes great track but their turnouts leave a lot to be desired.   I agree with Engineer Joe.  Also, are all the wheels in gauge?  If you were getting a short, you would get a red light (on some transformers) and trip a circuit breaker. That does not seem to be the case here.  If your engines are Proto 2, switch to a BCR.   Proto 3 engines are much better equipped to handle a brief interruption of power, but does not solve the problem entirely.  Are all the outside rails properly grounded?  I run MTH engines exclusively and have gone batty trying to get them to creep through Atlas turnouts, even adding an extra roller to my steam engines.  

When you ask are all wheels in gauge do you mean alignment? I was getting a short and the red light on the Z4000. Circuit breaker didn't trip. I did switch to BCR thankfully. I'm running power supply to center rails and one outside rail, not both outside rails. The steam engines don't have a problem with the switches, which is why a friend recommended changing from Lionel to Atlas. All my engines are fairly new because they have been in storage for 15+ years, and I didn't run them that much before then. I've moved, and retired so I'm setting up a new layout with all new Atlas track and switches.

The red light (short) is created when the roller contacts an outside rail.  This is common on Atlas turnouts because of the way they are engineered especially near the frog.  It can also be created because of you underlying problem with the pickup roller(s).  Proper gauge is the distance between the wheels on a particular axle.  This doesn't seem to be your problem.

You probably could do more Joe, this was just the fix we used.

DanaL posted:

Is it possible to send a picture of where you saw the arc marks and applied the CA. Since Atlas center rails are black, seeing arc marks might be hard, or did you sand the black paint off all track center rails? I've got thick CA for my model airplanes so no problem getting the gel.

Not to worry, you'll see arc marks if they're there.

Atlas switches are problems with various engines from Lionel also. I have contacted Atlas about the various problems, gaps that rollers get caught etc, easy fixes in my opinion, but Atlas seems to not be interested in fixing their switch problems. I made a big purchase of Atlas track/switches, love their track,  but not happy with their switches.  Personally, would not recommend Atlas switches, especially since person I contacted was only interested in putting blame on engine manufacturer, seemed to have no interest in trying to fix switch problem. 

Probably a dumb question, but you do have the little plastic ramp pieces (included with the switches) installed at the diverging part of the switch. I imagine you probably do, but thought I'd ask just in case. They do make a difference. I got some used switches that didn't have this piece and sometimes the pickup rollers can get stuck in the gap and cause problems. I things all worked out now, but beware of this if you ever purchase any used switches.

I also have all Atlas track and switches and like your friend have had very few problems running both MTH and Lionel engines. I have diesels only though and no steam so that could sure make a difference too. I do have one MTH Railking Scale SD45 that has one pick up roller that clunks going in only one direction on only one switch. It doesn't derail or spark, it's just like it is hitting a bump or something. It goes through all the other switches on the layout in either direction without any problems.  

Pretty sure it's the pick up roller, but I also have to think it's something with the switch as well because that is the only spot on the whole layout where it does this. I haven't solved the problem, but it really happens much too infrequently to worry much about, for me anyway. I fiddled with it for quite a while at first, but got used to it or just run it the other direction on the loop of track where the switch is located.

These things can be quite frustrating though so I feel for you there and wish you good luck. 

I'm shaking my head in disbelief or dumbness on my part. I had a decoupling track located immediately off the straight section of the switch. It was a siding so I put the decoupling track immediately off the switch, entering into a siding so I could decouple cars using the decoupling track and leave them on the siding. Listening to you guys point out a possible roller problem, I ran the SD70 and a Doodlebug from the siding, across the decoupling track, and onto the switch. Both engines stalled (powered down) when the front roller was just off the frog and crossing the silver rail of the incoming curved portion of the switch. That short section of silver rail doesn't have any power by design, I believe. Just so happens when the front roller was over that non-powered section of the switch the rear roller was directly over the decoupling track center actuation "button", which is also not powered. At that point neither roller was getting power. I removed the decoupling track and engines run perfect. Who would have thought!

rtr12 posted:

Probably a dumb question, but you do have the little plastic ramp pieces (included with the switches) installed at the diverging part of the switch. I imagine you probably do, but thought I'd ask just in case. They do make a difference. I got some used switches that didn't have this piece and sometimes the pickup rollers can get stuck in the gap and cause problems. I things all worked out now, but beware of this if you ever purchase any used switches.

I also have all Atlas track and switches and like your friend have had very few problems running both MTH and Lionel engines. I have diesels only though and no steam so that could sure make a difference too. I do have one MTH Railking Scale SD45 that has one pick up roller that clunks going in only one direction on only one switch. It doesn't derail or spark, it's just like it is hitting a bump or something. It goes through all the other switches on the layout in either direction without any problems.  

Pretty sure it's the pick up roller, but I also have to think it's something with the switch as well because that is the only spot on the whole layout where it does this. I haven't solved the problem, but it really happens much too infrequently to worry much about, for me anyway. I fiddled with it for quite a while at first, but got used to it or just run it the other direction on the loop of track where the switch is located.

These things can be quite frustrating though so I feel for you there and wish you good luck. 

Different Lionel engines with roller spacing hang up in gaps in the Atlas switches. If you look at a Gargraves switch, they are configured to allow the roller to not drop into the gap. Atlas could make a slight change in their switches to eliminate this problem, but don’t seem to be interested to do so.  I also have engines with wheel flanges being to big, which is the engine manufacturer problem, not ant switch manufacturer problem.   I love Atlas track overall, but I do believe they could make some minor changes to their switches to eliminate their roller problems.  I filled in the gaps with plastic strips to make the correction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last edited by W&W
W&W posted:

Different Lionel engines with roller spacing hang up in gaps in the Atlas switches. If you look at a Gargraves switch, they are configured to allow the roller to not drop into the gap. Atlas could make a slight change in their switches to eliminate this problem, but don’t seem to be interested to do so.  I also have engines with wheel flanges being to big, which is the engine manufacturer problem, not ant switch manufacturer problem.   I love Atlas track overall, but I do believe they could make some minor changes to their switches to eliminate their roller problems.  I filled in the gaps with plastic strips to make the correction.

Yes, I didn't think to mention roller spacing, but I know that can cause problems. I have seen others here post about using plastruct strips to fix their Atlas switch problems (possibly other brands as well?). Atlas is the only track system that I really have any experience with and I really like it as well. I've only seen a couple of other brands of switches and haven't had ahold of any long enough to compare the differences. I do know that the curved switches are a problem, heard that from several folks here. Too much gap between the diverging routes, but I guess that is somewhat due to the nature of the beasts, being on curves. 

Most of my fleet is MTH, only a couple Lionels in the stable. I also have only diesels, mostly Premier, but a couple of RK Scale in there too. Don't know if that makes a difference, but most folks have steamers too. I have really only had a problem with the one engine I mentioned above and it wasn't major. Could be luck of the draw on which engines I have too. They are all 2012 or newer so maybe I just got lucky, so far anyway? I don't doubt that someday I will have more problems with something track related.

The problem I had with Atlas 54/72 curved turnouts was on large wheelbased steam.  Premier Atlantics and Pacifics went through the diverging route o.k., but almost anything larger derailed.  The engines would ride up on the guard rails due to the length of the drivers and derail..  RailKing engines and diesels with their shorter wheelbase went through just fine.  It got to be so aggravating that I removed the offending turnouts.  I have every intention to try some Ross turnouts in the future.  The templates I have for Ross turnouts show a much wider and longer path.  The design seems to be much better, but they take up about 15 to 20% more space and the middle rail seems to be have much better contact with the roller especially through the frog.  The manufacturers don't have the strict guidelines that the NMRA sets for HO, and the three rails for O gauge, while they simplify some problems, (i.e., wiring), they amplify others.

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