Lionel 2-8-0 derailing on Ross switches

First if this happens to me I check the gauge of all the engine wheels and trucks on my suppected engine. I use a good engine I have to compare the wheel spacing. Use a piece of thin card stock or eqivalent. Mark lines on it off the known good engine. Place it up against the wheels mark the card stock. Then place up against the engine that is suspect and check the wheel gauge. Do the marks line up. This is the cheapest and easyest way to check for this problem. If the wheels are in two far or out to far they will cause problems going through some brands and diameters of switches. If other engines go through the switch just fine  and the susspected engines wheels are in guage. Maybe the engine is not the problem and its on to the next solution. Another quick thought here what is the engines minimum curve requirement. Could it be too small a radius switch for it to handel maybe. I have some scale engines that wont work in smaller track switch radius configurations. Just my two cents to help you here.

Thanks Roger - I will check the gauge. The engine is rated O31 so in theory it shouldn't have trouble on an O42 switch.

I've used Ross switches for many years, all with large radius. When a piece of equipment derails intermittently, it usually involves a bit of underbody or low step that just fails to clear the switch machine. 

Jan

You need to check the switch. Sometimes a Ross switch needs to be tweaked. Could be a high spike or a high solder joint at the switch pivot.

Another area that may help and this sounds crazy but will tell you if engine or switch. Remove the front pilot and run the just the engine. If derails, then switch the engine to run the opposite way into the switch. If still a problem watch with a mirror at the switch points as the engine enters the switch. If all this looks good, then if at all possible try the engine on another identical switch. Hope this helps.

I have had some poor running experience with this engine on the standard 11 degree turnouts. What seems to happen in my case is that the engine seems to momentarily lift in the rear as if it was caught by something in the turnout . Noticeable when slow running and results in engine shutdown. I thought maybe the tether alignment was thrown off  when the engine lifted and that's what shut down the engine. Perhaps it was loss of the common connection to the rails. Its only some Ross turnouts on the main not all. On another layout with Older Gargraves turnouts , it seemed to hobble through some of the Gargraves turnouts but did not shut down.  I would be curious to know what causes this bad running in these cases. The engine is fine on Gargraves track so long as there isn't a turnout in the route.

I don’t have that engine but I had a similar problem with a Ross 072 wye and with only one of my engines.

 I found that the roadbed (plywood) wasn’t flat under the switch, causing it to bow.

Make sure the switch is laying flat.

I wound up replacing the switch in question, and the 2-8-0 seems to be ok now. It definitely wobbles over switches more than other locos do, but there must have been something about this switch's geometry that pushed it over the threshold.

Unfortunately the offending switch was destroyed pretty thoroughly in the removal process, so I can't zero in on the problem. 

Thanks for the update. I have several turnouts that are problematic. I was looking at an idea to create an isolated loop for this one to run on. Its been in a box for a few months now so haven't had a chance to explore further.

There has to be some way to improve the operation of the loco through these turnouts. So I guess its helpful to observe it and see what the problem seems to be. I was thinking that the lead roller gets hung up on the turnout frog and cause the loco to lift its rear , breaking the optical link and shutting the engine down.