Pointwork Problem

[Frappington Jct]

Hi all,

 

On my layout, I've got a lot of small radius point work (un-prototypical I know but i have no space), but all of my engines work on nearly all of them. However, I have one set of points at the entrance to my fiddle yard which seems to upset some, but not all of my engines. I have recently ballasted the track, but have checked that no ballast has got stuck in the offending area. The engines which get snared (Bachmann D11 and V2(upgraded chassis) and a Hornby Railroad Tornado) all derail their front bogies on the left hand black plastic area on the labelled track in the attachment. I hope its not to obscure.

All of my other engines, which include a Bachmann V1/3, Standard 3 2-6-2T and a J39, are fine on this set of points. Any suggestions on what I can do would be greatly appreciated.

 

I know this is quite jumbled but I'm not sure quite how to explain it.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Gruffalo]

Evening from the Old Country, you haven't named the manufacturer so offering a solution is difficult.

 

An initial recommendation is to check the "back-to-back" dimensions are the same as on the stock that does work.

 

Another tip is that you may need to add some downforce through a small and light spring to ensure the leading bogey remains down and doesn't float freely. Such a spring should not create a lifting of load on the driving wheels!

 

Hope that helps,

 

Gruffalo

[frobisher]

I'd suggest that the problem might be because of the corresponding gap at the frog on the other side, and the effected locos have sprung pony wheels that try to keep the thing straight, and hence it snags up on the plastic check rail, and possibly the solution would be to shim the inside edge of the checkrail to reduce it's gap down. That's probably a Hornby (or Bachmann UK which used the former Hornby tooling from Roco before manufacturing was transferred to China) point by the look of it (lots of plastic on the frog).

[hayfield]

Could try extending the check rail as they did in tight radius curves on the prototype

[Gene]

Try closing the gap between the check-rail and the stock rail by glueing a small strip of 10thou. plasticard on the inside of the check-rail.

[jazz]

I've had this problem in the past.  The check rail arrowed is always the one to cause derailments as this is the critical one.

 

Assuming the back to backs are spot on on the offending locos and the bogies are free to swing right OK then I would suggest adjustments to the check rail to make the rail a smidgin closer to the running rail.  (I usually add a thin strip of plastikard to the checkrail)   If you feel confident, you might want to remove the checkrail completely and fabricate a longer one leading into the frog. ( ass suggested earlier in the post). This will greatly facilitate the smooth ruuning on such a sharp right turn.

[Frappington Jct]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

I had a go at closing the gap between the check and stock rails last night, although I didn't have any plastikard to hand so used a couple of carefully cut pieces of paper and stuck them to the check rail. This seems to have worked well and is barley noticeable!

 

Thanks again

[smokebox]

I once used a strip of plastic cut from a fizzy drink bottle.

[Guest oldlugger]

Almost certainly a back to back problem, together with a tight radius point. Hornby locos often suffer from poorly set up wheels at the factory that need (usually pulling out slightly on their axles) tweaking to run through any sort of OO point work. A back to back gauge for 16.5mm track might be worth buying for accuracy.

 

Cheers

Simon