K-Line switcher stalls on o42 turnouts

Have you checked all the rollers with an ohmmeter for continuity to each other? With all four rollers working, you should be fine.

mistake in the test: "Everything else it." should be "All other blocks are un-powered".

Royboy:

You had the right answer. Thanks. Roller #2 has very poor conduction between the roller itself and its metal carrier. There must be some contamination between the roller and its axle pin. I will try to clean it somehow.

Some folks clean with rollers denatured alcohol. After that, I like to lubricate rollers with de-ox-id

If all else fails, for steamers I common the rollers of the locomotive with the tender through the tether.  A 1.5 to 2.0 amp trip PTC between them is a good idea to protect the wiring in case of a derailment.

I have been toiling on this problem for a week now. I read many posts on how others solved the o42 turnout stall/reverse problem: Bob Nelson, Smokymtguy, and others
http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/p/12691/2190481.aspx

Great info but no pictures. So I pulled the o42 turnout and loco and did a up-close look-see. I now know exactly what the problem is, and 4 things are going on when the loco lands on the bad spot:

1. rear truck, right rear wheel lifted off the outer rail by the black sliding thing (name of this part?).
2.  , 3. , and 4. the other outer wheels are all sitting on plastic.

What do you guys/gals recommend that I do to remedy this? It is the same on my other o42 turnouts.

I'm thinking of grinding down the black sliding thing with a dremel.

PS: I noticed that there a lot of members from Pennsylvania. I got the Lionel O train bug growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950's, thanks to my dad.

BackYardBill posted:

I have been toiling on this problem for a week now...  ...when the loco lands on the bad spot:

1. rear truck, right rear wheel lifted off the outer rail by the black sliding thing (name of this part?).

Solder a superflex wire from the swivel rail / points to a good common connection on your switch.

Never heard of superflex. You mean this wire:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14-Ga...c:g:74YAAMXQcWVREPt0

"good common connection": From the black swivel (grind a bare spot) to an outside rail?

Very close! You got it all right except I recommend THIS WIRE instead.

I just ordered the wire, thanks a lot.  To test I put the turnout back on the layout, set the loco on the bad spot, energized the track. Then touched the right rear wheel with a metal rod that was connected to the outer rail and: bingo the loco took off. Thanks again for the reply. I'm going to mod all 11 switches like this.

My o42 turnout saga drags on.

The switcher had another problem: the metal strip that contacts the axle was not touching the axle. I disassembled and fixed it. But the switcher still stalled on the the two RH o42's. The front truck right side wheel lifts off the rail! 15 thousands of an inch. The (NOS) switches are bent.

Has anyone ran into this problem?

Not quite the same thing but when I first got back into the hobby I bought a K-line NYC freight set with an MP15 and the same shop sold me regular Lionel 0-27 turnouts saying they were totally compatible.  That MP15 wouldn't make it through the branch of any of the turnouts.  I wound up exchanging the set for equivalent dollars worth of rolling stock.  Later on someone had suggested adding a little weight above the front truck to help keep it down.  Seems the traction tire(s) on the rear axle of the front truck was causing the front of the truck to ride a little higher allowing the de-rail.  Give the weight a try.

o42 turnout problem solved. Close inspection with a magnifying lamp showed the wheels to be pitted. I ground them down by powering the cab with an extra transformer and using a diamond dremel bit (in my hand), then the black stone, then the gray polishing store. I also polished the pickup rollers using 400 grit wet/dry paper. This did the trick. Now the switcher can crawl through all the switches. 

Thanks to all who helped.

Good for you.  It always feels good when you can figure out a solution.

Excellent, follow-thru on your troubleshooting!

That was quite an ordeal but I'm glad you figured it out. I have several of these K-line S-2's and they run through my 042 and 027 turnouts without a problem.

Did you happen to wire the motors in series? These little switchers are quite quick.

Coach Joe- did the same trick with my MP-15's to stop them from derailing.

RSJB18:  I wired the motors the same as it was when new. Yes, the S2 is very quick. The ZW 275 puts out a minimum 6.0 VAC. So the S2 doesn't really "crawl".

But I'm happy with the new track. Now on to modeling the "new" town area which will be a somewhat of a facsimile of Homestead, PA. in the 1950's, with cars, buildings and people. And lots of the new 3528 LEDs. I hope to be done by Christmas.

Try wiring the motors in series. You will not be disappointed. Takes about 10 minutes max. I have a KW with the same 6V min and they actually do almost crawl now.

Bob

Bob: How did you wire them in series? As show in the diagram in the photo?

Looks good.  Here is another diagram with conversation.

A DPDT switch can be installed, too, if you want the capability of switching between series/parallel:

Thanks Rob! Using your DPDT diagram I was able to figure it out. The wires for the front motor are color coded yellow=+, blue=-. But the rear motor is yellow=-, blue=+. that screwed me up. Now it crawls nicely.

BackYardBill posted:

...The wires for the front motor are color coded yellow=+, blue=-. But the rear motor is yellow=-, blue=+...

The motors should technically have "north" & "south" or CW/CCW notations, as you found out they have to be wired in opposition to each other or they will tug against each other. It's easy to visualize why when you realize that the two motor trucks are identical, one is just turned around and used at the other end of the loco.