Problem with brand new Amtrak F40PH

Replace the screw with a flat head screw.

Or, move the switch machine to the other side of the switch.

Yea - I thought a flat head screw was going to have to be the option.  moving them will be much tougher at a couple places.  But what a pain for buying something brand new.   Seems they would have considered that in the engineering.  It is not as if the screw doesn't belong.

That’s certainly not an engine problem. It’s the switch machine screw supplied with the switch machine. Take the screw in question out and put it in the hole behind the other screw on the outside. That’s what it’s there for.

It is going through an O-54 curve or larger?

Mike

@msp posted:

Yea - I thought a flat head screw was going to have to be the option.  moving them will be much tougher at a couple places.  But what a pain for buying something brand new.   Seems they would have considered that in the engineering.  It is not as if the screw doesn't belong.

@romiller49 posted:

That’s certainly not an engine problem. It’s the switch machine screw supplied with the switch machine. Take the screw in question out and put it in the hole behind the other screw on the outside. That’s what it’s there for.

I agree with romiller49, it's not an engine problem. This is a Lionel engine, and I'm sure it goes through Lionel switches fine, but you're using another manufacturer's switches.  No way Lionel can test all their engines with every size and type of switch out there in the market.

I think ro's solution is an answer. Another thing you could do is to use a drill and countersink the screw hole just a fraction, and then use a flathead screw in place of the roundhead one. It looks like that would take care of the problem very easily.

Yeah its just no fun to watch you new engine derail 4-5 time then have to try and go figure it out.   I will just take out the screw and go from there.  Some of the switch machines have that 3rd hold some of them do not.

thanks for all the input.....sometimes just a little venting is necessary....

@msp posted:

  I will just take out the screw and go from there.  

You’ll be fine with only one screw.

@romiller49 posted:

You’ll be fine with only one screw.

One screw would be fine, or he could you a small counter sink and then go with the proper screw. But the engine is fine.

I sometimes have the same issue with pilots of some Lionel or MTH or Williams engines knocking the lanterns off the FasTrack switches.  Plus the fact that not all of them are 90 degrees to the switch when they rotate.  Some posts that suggest gluing them in place don't seem to work for me either.  I just have a lot of spares.

John

The Lionel Kinematic couplers on locomotives with the moving pilots are a problem for me, they hit the ground throws on the switches coming into my yard tracks.  I'm looking into extending the throw of the switch so I can move the ground throw farther away from the track.