I am in fits and starts of building a permanent layout with Atlas 3R track and #5 and O-54 turnouts I purchased 10-15 years ago.
The turnouts are new/unused. I have read that there are some issues with the older turnouts where the trace or power feed can burn up, causing dead spots.
i would like to "improve" the turnouts before installation, as to not have to worry about this issue. What exactly goes bad, and what are the "fixes"
Thanks,
Jim
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Make sure there is power on all the legs. The biggest thing was the jumper wires for the center rail were to small.
Gene Anstine
It's not uncommon for various rails of the Atlas switches to need jumpers to restore power and proper operation. We have a ton of them on the club layout, and I have had to jumper many of them. I've heard tell that newer Atlas switches have improved, but I've had to jumper a few new ones as well, so you couldn't prove it by me. They did finally put a larger wire on the jumper to the center rail that was a perennial problem point.
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