Atlas C-55 Turnout Problem

[chuck geiger]

Operation was fine until I painted, ballasted, wetting agent and glue on one of my only three
Atlas C-55 Turnouts. All engines are stopping approaching the frog at slow speeds, then at medium
to fast speeds arcing with sparking and slowing down with that not great electrical smell. I've cleaned the frogs,
the track-- HELP-- Never had this problem ever. You can see where the arcing has blackened the
frog.

[chuck geiger]

FIXED - Apparently the wetting agent and glue drying must have pushed one of the
isolated rails (one of four or more) towards the frog, a bit or work with the Xacto
cleaning out the cut and then pushing back the rail with a slotted screwdriver and
we are good.

[peteski]

Don't you just love easy fixes like that?    But this also implies that your frog is left unpowered.  Will that be a problem?

[mmagliaro]

I would suggest that you put a little sliver of .010" styrene in to those railgaps, cement with some epoxy,
or at least ACC, and file off flush.  Those rails moved once, they could work their way forward again and
repeat the problem.

[Atlas Paul]

Or there could have been a piece of ballast or something conductive bridging the gaps.  While not impossible for the rail to move, it's probably not moving with ballasting.  It takes a little bit of force to get them to slide since they are molded in place.

[djconway]

Atlas Paul,

This may be an opportunity to suggest a modification to the mold.  In place of the 0.1" gap being maintained by the molded spikes - mold in the insulation.  I've used the 0.1" styrene strip on all of my turnouts after the first 2 developed shorts.  Maybe I used too much force putting the rail joiners on, maybe I was a little heavy handed installing the switch, but the modification would save new users a few headaches.

[Atlas Paul]

The gap is too small for plastic to flow into, otherwise it would be there now.  If you widen the gap, there is likelihood the plastic will flash along the side of the rail.

I have a trip planned to China this spring, I can discuss with the factory when we are there.

[Chris333]

There are little nipples under the rails and dimples in the plastic tie bed that should keep the rails from moving.

[wazzou]

 , you said nipples.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

, you said nipples.

 

[chuck geiger]

I am thinking some of this has to do with these turnouts needing to almost float instead
of being glued down and then again with ballast, agent and glue mix. As soon as I opened
up the gap, it was fine - I applied some track pins to hold it back down again and it shorted.
As soon as it was loosened - It was operating fine. Been running trains and not one problem.

[djconway]

Chuck,

Glue a small piece of plastic into the gaps.  Once the glue sets trim off any excess plastic & glue.
There needs to be something to keep the rail ends from touching when the track expands & Contracts with temperature and humidity changes.

I make this little modification on all Atlas code 55 turnouts before I install them on the layout.  They can be spiked in place - just drive the spike to where it just barely touches the ties.

[mmagliaro]

+1
For a case like this, where it is proving itself to be
fussy enough to short just by pressing the turnout down with a few spikes, why take the risk?
The shims are very easy to put in.

[crappie]

I never glue my down

[Bill H]

I never glue my down

Do you glue your feathers?