No one has said anything about the other problem you mentioned: Rail joiners. I've found that rail joiners are completely inconsistent: some are so tight that it's nearly impossible to slide on the rails, and some are so loose that they won't stay on no matter what you do. In any case, think of the joiner not as a solid connection but just a method of aligning the track correctly. You need to solder the track together at the joiners for sure electrical connection.
Even on Atlas C80 I use Peco joiners. They are much tighter, just be careful pushing them on. They do tend to embed them selves into thumbs!
Wish I'd known that before I laid my track!!!!!!! Muche easier than soldering everything or putting feeder wires in!!! cheers Gary
Thought you all might like to know that by filing the plastic frogs and plastic guides (with a nail file!) I have cured my derailing problems. The trains now go smoothly through the turnouts without jumping the tracks. I still have two turnouts to fix, but am confident that the same cure will work with them. One turnout that stalled trains and required pressure on it to let the trains run has been junked and will be replaced. The track joiners that were inconsistent have been cured by soldering all track joins. Living in a mild climate I doubt that I'll have any expansion/contraction problems in future. I now have no voltage drops anywhere on the layout so I'm content. I am not worried about ripping up track/changing the layout as I have such a bad taste about Atlas that I will complete this layout and use it as a test bed for developing landscaping skills etc, rather than expanding it in future. When finished I will dispose of it and start anew with a better brand of track... Will post pics as each stage is completed.. cheers Gary
I am surprised only one person here advised to check the wheels on the locomotives to see if they were in proper gauge. Ususally this is the culprit. However, everyone assumed it was the track. Fortunately the original poster took some measurements. Here is what he posted: Checking the NMRA standards for standard track for N scale I find the flangeway width should be .71 +.05 -.03. So the range is from .68 to .76. From his measurements it is obvious that the LH turnouts [which he has no problems with] are way out of specs [flangeways are too wide] while the RH turnouts [which give him the problems] are either in spec or just .01 too narrow. But some of these RH turnouts are smack dab on spec. So why are they giving him problems? Because his locomotive wheels are out of gauge. The NMRA wheel standards for N Scale show a flange back to flange back measurement target of .301 with a + .002 or a -.004 or a range of .297 to .303. My guess is that the wheels on his locomotives are too narrow in gauge. I forgot to mention the NMRA standards also give a flange thickness of .02 so the wheel gauge is .301 in + .02 + .02 = .341 in. Converting that to millimeters .341 in X 25.4 = 8.6614 millimeters which will fit on N scale [9mm track]. So the turnout should measure 9mm or .3543307 in. between the frog and the stock rails while the faces of the guard rails should be 7.58mm or .2984251 in. That leaves .0558797 in. for two flange ways or .0279398 for each flangeway. Kinda small, huh?
Hi, ) this is interesting, I did check the wheel gauge with Micro-trains "five tools in one" and they looked fine. It was the first thing I checked. Could this gauge be wrong? My assumption was that if the wheels were in gauge, then the problem has to be the "narrow" turnouts. Now widening them has fixed my problems so I was happy. If the Micro Trains gauge is wrong, then I've now "fixed" my track to run trains with "wrong" wheels and I'm doubly screwed!!!! So it's possible that any train I buy in the future will not run properly!!!! Think I'll just give up and chuck the lot out - was happy now not.... The layout seems like it's not even worth using as a test bed now, so I'll junk it .... cheers Gary now an ex model railroader.
Get an NMRA gauge. That's the official one. It will cost you some money but it is well worth the investments. As far as your present trackwork goes, all is not lost. All you need is some tweeking which is not unheard of or rare in this hobby. For your turnouts the Peco Code 80 fix is all you need. Peco Code 80 turnouts are known to be quite sloppy in the frog area flangeways. The rails are in gauge but the flangeway is too wide. The common fix is quite simple. A thin piece of styrene is glued to the face of the guard rail to bring the flangeway back to specs. The gauge remainds the same but the flangeway is reduced in width. The same can be done with your turnouts. And by all means do cheer up. After all, there is a lot worse things that can happen.
This is an old Thread - BUT guess what - I just bought TWO #2701 RH manual switches from my LHS, who has old stock left, and the ENTIRE Train lifts up at the frog, every car and the 2 loco's. The problem is with the frog, & the switch Lot # is 0811 (blue stamp mark on rear cardboard) What a pain this is - I only bought 2 of these because I want a switch that mates with a crossing to cross the parallel track, and cant seem to find that in PECO. (Atlas #2564 - 15 degree mates with the #2701 switch)
This is indeed an old thread, however, it's nice to be able to be talking about Atlas track. Seeing as I haven't seen any for the longest time. For the most part I am using Unitrack, mainly on curves, but my plan is to mix in quite a bit of Atlas flex and turnouts, especially in yard areas and this insane track shortage has been holding up progress on the layout. I realize this topic has been beaten to death over the last year especially, but I really miss the days when it was possible to drop in at hobby shop and just know that you could find what you need with no problems. The constant delays and excuses from Atlas have been more than annoying even though I understand it's really beyond their control. By the way, I have never had any problems with Atlas products, except with a few Code 55 turnouts on my previous layout. I seemed to have a few turnouts where the points would come loose and fall out...
Gary; If there is a tool supply shop anywhere near you , stop in and check out some double ended machinists files. They are made in just about any shape you would need to make the proper cut. A great advantage is that they are curved up at both ends, allowing terrific accuracy when cutting. At the club I'm in, I use them on N-scale and HO home made metal frogs. They are well worth the investment, and good ones will last for decades(some of mine are older than me, and I'm 54!). Hope this helps, John c
Most certainly do not give up . Think of the problems engineers had getting us workable railroads in the first place . You are the engineer and the satisfaction of overcomming these problems is half the " hard " work of raillroading . Of course the other half is watching a consist deliver the goods. We all started somewhere and ran into the same problems and the learning how to correct is what you will pass on to future generations of model railroaders in you area ! Don't dispare , you will get there , none of us got to the happy place with out some frustration but it will make us a better person to stick to it and not give up . It may even lead to a job . God bless and good luck to you!!!
I think Gary solved his issues back when this thread was newer. I re-started it after I found I had gotten 2 RH Atlas C80's and found that the entire train lifted up on the side with the frog, as it passed through. I was trying to re-verify where the issue was, but didnt get any further with it. I took them back to my LHS today. What we found was that Atlas - in their finite wisdom, had decided to make the frog require low-profile wheels to make it through! And since all 20-30 of my cars were not that, it would cost many $$$ to change them over, besides which, the 'new' older engines I had, also failed the frog. So he gave me my $$$ back, and I went & got 2 Long Pecos and the Long Xing, to make my double track diverging route. Only problem left was I had already bought the 2 Atlas 2564 15 degree xings from evilbay, and now stuck with them - oh well
