Great Job MTH!

ground good on all outside rails ?

Probably...those switches...most switches have to be perfectly level, etc, etc...not very forgiving creatures.

SD60M,

   You bet MTH has come a long way with their Engineering and their Engines do run very well thru most different MFG switches now.  Another great example of this is their GG-1's, they seem to run on just about any O Gauge track and switches.  However the Tin Plate Remakes are quite different, they do not handle some track and switches well at all.  

You may have been lucky with the engines you picked or you may know your layout well enough to have picked wisely, in any event great job in your choices, you did a fantastic job.

PCRR/Dave

Having built and run lots of different layouts, with many different manufacturers Track and Switches, I now run FasTrack and can run constantly 99% of all the different manufacturers Engines and Rolling Stock, including all my Tin Plate, on our FT layouts.  

PCRR/Dave...I was, probably, a little generous with my praise.  Looking back at my experiences with other engines...maybe...I did get a little lucky, too!  Thanks for your comments.

I have found that sometimes I am just unlucky when I operate long engines on long switches.

 Sometimes the rollers are spaced so that they both are touching an insulated section of the switch at the same time.  This also happens when several switches are ganged together in a yard lead.  The best running engines seem to be ones with at least 4 center rail pickup rollers.  This is very frustrating but it is a fact of life with 3-rail.

NH Joe

All my MTH Railking steam locos derail on Fastrak O36 switches. All of them. So--I run diesels on my loop with switches, and steamers on the loop without.

PDXTRAINS,

   I recommend to everybody when building FasTrack layouts to use 048 and larger Command Control Switches, it eliminates most all problems with your Engines and rolling stock running constantly thru them on your layout.  036 FTCC Switches are only engineered for some engines and rolling stock, unfortunately many Steam Engines from lots of different Manufacturers have problems running thru them, use the 048 and larger switches, in fact I mostly engineer with .060 and larger on my layouts, some siding do get 048's.

PCRR/Dave

Thank you Dave, I’m sure that’s good advice. For my cork floor empire that might work, but I can’t ever foresee a chance I’d have enough room on a table to do 048, unless they could be integrated with 036 curves?