MTH O-72 switches

Hey Frank,

Are you referring to Standard gauge switches? The "O" you use in O-72 and O-42 makes it sound as if it is O gauge. I know this distinction has caused confusion in earlier threads.

I presume you mean the 72" Standard gauge MTH switches in which case most of the reviews here in previous threads have been quite critical of them. In fact I do not recall having seen anything positive written about them. As I recall, the curved leg is too short and wreaks havoc and that the sheet metal and or rail is "too thin" or "too flimsy" as I recall reading. The earlier threads are most certainly still available for reading.

I do not have any of the 72" Standard gauge switches so cannot comment personally.

Mack

Frank- forgot to add...I recall that the short curved leg of the MTH Standard gauge switch results in having to do some surgery to the adjoining curve or possibly even straight sections due to the metal ties of the adjoining pieces along the curved leg interfering with the straight leg of the switch. In other words, users had to cut away parts of metal ties in order to join a pice of track to the curved leg.

Regards,

Mack

It is the straight leg of the switch that requires surgery to the connecting piece, not the curved leg. The base of the curved leg interferes with the ties when you try to attach a piece of track to the outgoing straight leg.

Thanks, SW Hiawatha. I had a 50/50 chance of getting it backwards!!

Mack

Trains run better on the MTH wide radius (STD-72) switches than on the regular (STD-42) switches. You do need to trim about 1/2" off the base of one rail on the track attached to the straight side on the wide radius version.  The Ross STD-72 switch is a drop in replacement for the MTH wide radius switch, and is the switch of choice for operators.  It functions flawlessly.  The Ross Standard Gauge #4 switch is ideal for crossovers, and a pair places the tracks 7.25 inches apart, the same spacing as the 42,57,72 and 87 curves provided by USA Track (www.StandardGaugeTrack.com).  Neat!

My advice, put the MTH switches where color and action are important, and put the Ross switches where you need flawless operation of your trains.

Kirk

Here is the modification. Snip in snip up with a dremel tool about 30 seconds.

The mod is on the inside rail of the straight.

The mod looks pretty darned easy.  Thanks for the photos.

Another bad spot is the frog. That is where the inside curve and straight meet. There have been posts about a replacement frog. It looks like it comes off with 2 screws. I have a couple of cars that may not have the wheels gauged correctly and the wheel flange can ride up on the re-railer and jump the track.

I have 5 MTH 72 switches and 2 MTH 42 switches on my layout and have had limited problems.

Jim, Please remind me, do you have to move the tie back on the track attached to the curved side too?  Been a while, but I vaguely remember the ties on the two adjoining sections interfere with each other.  Mike's Chinese engineer must have been sleeping that day!

Kirk, yes, the tie of the straight track which is attached to the curved part of the switch needs to be slid back a little, otherwise it conflicts with the tie coming off the straight side of the switch.

I have found that on some of these switches, I don't need to cut the bottom of the rail.  I bend the two bottom flanges of the rail up just slightly with track pliers, and the rail slides into place.  This seems to be successful on some switches but not all, depending on variation.

I have also found that because the frog is screwed in place, sometimes loosening the screws, repositioning the frog slightly, and retightening the screws is enough.

It could be one or the other. My modified track had the tie pushed back. When I looked the track work over last night some of mine were modified using the bent flange method. The trains go over these switches a little bumpy so I need to bend them more or use the other method.

The frogs are made of thin, weak sheet metal and are not supported underneath. As a result, when a heavy locomotive hits the frog, it drops sharply. My solution was to make shims out of brass and superglue them to the base plate under the frog at the end where the frog was dropping. It's a lot of work; you have to take the switch apart, figure out how thick to make the shim (I don't remember how thick mine are), make the shim, and maneuver it into place with a tweezers because the frog doesn't come all the way out. Here's a picture of the shims in place, before reinstalling the frog.

And here are a couple of pictures illustrating the solution to the problem of fitting a special section of track to the straight on the exit side. I also had to grind away part of the ties where the track sections meet the switch. I don't recall whether I ground just one tie or both, but I wanted the rail supported so I modified the ties rather than push them back.