Apparently I posted in the wrong forum earlier. So this is a repost here. My layout is O27 K-line, Lionel, and MTH.
My O27 K-line switcher and K-Line steam stall or reverse on Lionel O27 turnouts. Basically it’s the similar to the problems I had 2 years ago (“K-Line switcher stalls on o42 turnouts”) , and several OGR members gave advice. After cleaning all track, wheels, and pickups I was able to run the trains faster than a crawl ok.
Now I would like to solve this problem once and for all if possible. Started researching it again and found RailfanRon’s blog on “Steamer stalls on turnout” :
“Make sure the readings you're getting aren't on the common rails in the middle of the switch. Those rails are supposed to be dead. When the engine crosses them the middle rail pickup roller crosses them and if they were connected to the common the locomotive would short out when the roller crossed them. You should have voltage from ALL middle rails to ALL OUTSIDE rails on the switch. The 2 outside rails in the middle of the switch will not be hooked to the common.”
So I set up a voltage test as follows:
- Note: The locos run perfect on all track sections.
- no rolling stock on the tracks
- ZW 275 set at 10VAC
- VOM reading on turnout outer rail and middle rail: 9.5v
- Outer rail and inside rail: 9.5v
- Inside rail and middle rail has 0.0v
Does this make sense or do I have a wiring problem? Any advice would be appreciated!
