Atlas No.5 Turnout Question

You may have too much pressure on them with the way you have them affixed to your layout.  Try loosening whatever you have holding them down and see if that corrects the issue, especially if your layout isn't exactly on a flat surface.

- Greg

Peter, sorry to hear you are already having issues with the newly redesigned AtlasO switches.  Maybe you should contact AtlasO directly to let them know and/or see if they have a recommended solution.

Please keep us posted on this.  I will be building a new layout and am still undecided on my choice of track & turnouts.  I was happy to hear that Atlas was making the design/production changes and improvements...it's a bit disappointing to hear there may still be issues.

Greg - thanks for the suggestion, but they are laying perfectly flat.  Because I did a lot of reading here (before starting our layout) about all the issues people had with Atlas turnouts, I purposely over-engineered to ensure they are situated on very flat surface with at least a foot on each side of more flat surface.  And I should have also mentioned that each was repeatedly bench tested and worked perfectly when first installed (3 months ago, right before I went on summer hiatus from working on the layout). And they are still hooked up to the same power source to which they were hooked up and worked perfectly (Lionel PH brick that pumps out a little over 18v). 

JoeA - yes, I think I'll call Atlas and see what they say. 

Peter

Dumb question, have you looked down in the switches and make sure there isn't any junk keeping the points from moving all the way (Like ballast.)?

Sinclair,

Good question!  And to answer:

Given everything I've read about Atlas turnouts, I would never dream of adding ballast.  And, I'll check for other debris when I get home. But it would one heck of a coincidence if every one of these new turnouts, after almost no use, have debris that makes them all (9 of them) operate exactly the same way. 

The comment which made me think they may be affixed with too much downward pressure was the fact they wouldn't throw manually.   Based on what you're stating there has to be an issue with the switches themselves.   The only other thing I would try would be if you have them affixed to your layout to remove whatever you have holding them down and see if they work just laying by themselves on the layout or roadbed.   Layout materials can expand and tighten the "bond" of screws, glues, etc.  

If this fails I would reach out to Atlas directly for remediation - perhaps they could send you some new switch machines.

- Greg

Peter,

Are the turnouts screwed to the surface of your layout?  If so, start by loosening the screws and see if that helps.  If that doesn't help (or your turnouts aren't screwed down), try adjusting the spring tension inside the switch machine.  

I have 8 switches from the most recent run and experienced the same problem.  The issue I discovered is that the tips of the points rub against the plastic ties.  The fix with those switches was to adjust the spring tension to be "stiffer".  That provided enough umph to get the switches to completely throw in either direction.

Hope that helps a bit!!!

Wanderer posted:

Peter,

Are the turnouts screwed to the surface of your layout?  If so, start by loosening the screws and see if that helps.  If that doesn't help (or your turnouts aren't screwed down), try adjusting the spring tension inside the switch machine.  

I have 8 switches from the most recent run and experienced the same problem.  The issue I discovered is that the tips of the points rub against the plastic ties.  The fix with those switches was to adjust the spring tension to be "stiffer".  That provided enough umph to get the switches to completely throw in either direction.

Hope that helps a bit!!!

Brian,

I was thinking the same thing. They worked perfectly at first.  Now, I don't get that crisp "snap" when they are fired to the diverging rail. When I use the manual lever or my hand to push the rail over, there is no rubbing, so I don't think they are being impeded by friction. I was thinking the springs just loosened up. Given how tiny these springs are and that I have the turnouts, by default, set to the non-diverging track (the "stretched" position), I can imagine they could loosen by just sitting for a period.  I'll tighten up the spring on one and see what happens. 

Greg - thanks again for coming back to this thread to offer more help. You'll think I need my head examined, but again, after reading all I could on this forum before starting the layout, I decided not to add screws to the turnouts in order to ensure no undue flex or force. I think on one or two turnouts I actually did put a screw at each end, but the screws have play and are not screwed down hard at all.  And, as I mentioned, they are all on perfectly flat surfaces to start. 

Peter

Hi Peter,

Rest assured I do not think you need your head examined. 

I didn't have any screws in my turnouts or track either - dried ballast holds everything in place just fine!

I did experience the same thing as you due to everything expanding and contracting due to moisture changes during the seasons as I used more glue than necessary when originally adding ballast.   Once I removed the ballast and re-added the turnouts they worked fine.  I just used a light covering of glue to seal the top of the ballast and never had a problem again.

I sure wish you the best of luck in getting your issues resolved.

Regards,

Greg

As an update - I tightened the springs (or more accurately, since I don't really know what I'm doing, I cut a little bit off and secured the slightly shorter spring to the swiveling plastic post piece) and this made zero difference.

I then looked very closely at the movement and found that the swivel post piece (the piece to which the spring is affixed) needs to stay in the "crotch" of the the V piece (the piece that has the stick that protrudes from the slit allowing you to hand-throw the turnout).  But it doesn't - it sort of tilts toward the turnout, creating the extra play!  The best solution I could think of was to create a notch at the V crotch so that the swivel post piece stays in that spot and does not tilt.  This seems to have fixed the problem, but we'll see ...

PJB:

As mentioned above by other postings I had the same problem and found I had the switch motors screwed down to tight or lopsided. I know you said you don't use screws and the machines are sitting flat but just for sake of saying you did this try manually moving the machines up or down on the ends or the sides while manually switching and see if there is a difference. Hopefully you will find a position where the switching works. If the machine works properly by manually moving the slide and you still have a problem when using the control box then maybe there is an electrical issue to look at.

 Do you have a picture of one of the turnouts? This may help. 

Joe

PJB posted:

As an update - I tightened the springs (or more accurately, since I don't really know what I'm doing, I cut a little bit off and secured the slightly shorter spring to the swiveling plastic post piece) and this made zero difference.

I then looked very closely at the movement and found that the swivel post piece (the piece to which the spring is affixed) needs to stay in the "crotch" of the the V piece (the piece that has the stick that protrudes from the slit allowing you to hand-throw the turnout).  But it doesn't - it sort of tilts toward the turnout, creating the extra play!  The best solution I could think of was to create a notch at the V crotch so that the swivel post piece stays in that spot and does not tilt.  This seems to have fixed the problem, but we'll see ...

got any pictures of the before and after?

I've attached two photos. The first is  the best rail position I was able to attain without the fix.  The second shows the notch I've put into two turnout mechanisms. So far, 100% improvement and no more problem.  A very confident throw every time.  In fact, On the second turnout, I didn't even shorten the spring and the notch appears to have still completely fixed the problem. 

Peter

Great info and I'm glad you were successful in solving the problem. 

I'm saving this thread for future reference.

-Greg