Lately my freight cars have been de-railing while turning off on my switches. I'm not sure why this is happening. Any ideas what might be going on? Thanks.
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Some questions need to be answered:
Does this happen on one switch or all?
One freight car or all?
Does this happen all the time, or is it intermittent?
Have you put your head down at track level and pushed a car by hand to see the problem?
It sounds like this happens when your train takes the curved route of the switch?
Has anything on your layout changed recently that may be a contributing factor?
Some answers will help to narrow down the cause.
Larry
Another question or two is what type of freight car are you using? Is it current production or post war or a brand other then Lionel?
The only information you give is that it is a Fastrack switch!
Lee Fritz
I've occasionally had similar problems in the past with RealTrax switches. The good news is the root cause was always easy to spot and correct. Roll a car by hand slowly through the switch and watch the car truck to see if either the wheel set rises up in the frog or the uncoupler plunger hits as it passes through. Sometimes the frog is not deep enough for the wheel flanges, in which case a little careful filing of the grooves in the frog might help. I've also seen problems with the mounting of the switch itself, leading to uneven spots in the surface that cause the plungers to hit.
The other thing to check is that the radius of the switch is wide enough to support the cars you are running through. Many of today's scale-sized cars often require a switch of O48 or greater. If your switch curve is too sharp for the amount of free lateral travel of the truck, the car can easily jump the tracks.
Lastly, s-curves, which are not advisable anyway, can be a nightmare near switches. Make sure you have enough straight track between two opposing curves to give the car a chance to straighten out before entering the curve in the other direction.
Good luck!
Its funny...I just had to return a brand new fastback switch track to my LHS because when a car would go through it,it caused the switch to throw and de rail the train.They gave me a new one and have not had a problem.Nick
It happens on a left o72 switcher. Not on all cars, mainly lighter ones.
