I encountered a shorting problem with my JLC Big Boy passing through a Ross O72 Y switch. If I ran through the switch with a bit of speed, BB would go through switch, but lights would blink. If I ran through switch at a creep, engine would actually stop.
Pic 1 is the Ross O72 Y switch.
I took the engine off the track, examined for any thing hanging down or stuck to the engine that would short out the track, but nothing found. So with the engine stopped on the switch due to the short, I closely examined the engine/switch to try and find where the short occurred. I thought I saw the second blind driver from the front of the drive wheel truck shorting to the start of the center rail in the crotch of the Y. Removed engine, used a ruler with some tape on it, marking the location of the 4 drive wheels on one truck of the engine. Putting the marked ruler on the switch, I could see a small spot on the start of the center rail where the black anodizing was removed by arcing - can barely make it out in Pic 2.
I used some black electrical tape on the start of the center rail to prove this was the problem - BB creeped through switch with no blink or stoppage. This is shown in Pic 3.
So I used some red tape to mark how much of the center rail to remove, then used a Dremel tool with grinding wheel to remove material. Pic 4 shows the tape/material to remove. Pic 5 shows after material removed.
Pic 6 shows after I used a black magic marker to color ground end of center rail.
BB now has no problem. Also ran TMCC Allegheny, GP9, and EP3 engines through switch with no problems.
