O27 Switches

Hi Ams,  I didn't want your thread to die,   I don't know much about the switches you are refering to, I am sure there are guys that have opinions.  I did find this thread on 027 switches. It mentions the orginal 022 switches as being bullet proof. However, those are O-gauge switches.  I have worked on the older 0-gauge switches and found them easy to repair.  Perhaps you can find some used 027 switches, sometimes all that needs to be done is clean some rust and dirt, and replace the old wires.  That's half the fun of the hobby in my opinion,

https://ogrforum.com/t...witches-any-problems

good luck!

If you are going to use the 027 profile switch, I would go with Ross. they are almost a perfect match in height (maybe a matchbook thickness difference) and mate right up to 027 track with adapter pins. you can't beat Ross for performance, reliability and service from the company. made in the USA also makes a big difference to me. as far as cost, the list on the 042 Lionel is $71.99, the made in USA Ross is $59.95. you can't beat that.

If you're looking for trouble-free operation, the Lionel switches you listed are NOT the ones. I've had many hours of frustration with mine, chasing shorts with bits of black duct tape.

Even once I got the switches taped up to where most of my equipment will pass through without shorting, there is still the issue of random derailments and locomotives rolling straight through when the turnout is selected.

They work *most* of the time. That's about all that can be said.

Okay, I'll have 2 replies.

First to address Matt's issues. It is more the way the trucks are attached to the car body and the way we now run trains that causes this problem with 027 switches. If you look at postwar photos, most trains are only a few cars long. Now with fast angle wheels we all tend to run longer trains, because of the lower resistance.

I long ago figured out much of the problem with 027 switches is the rivet mounting of the trucks. Pick up any train car and grab the end of the coupler and move it up and down and see all the movement you get. Now when you run a longer train backing up on 027 curves (and especially through switches) all the pressure of pushing the train backwards is on the couplers. If they're mounted loosely (as they are), they are prone to rolling upward on a curved rail, thus causing a derailment.

I remount the trucks of every single train car I have. On plastic trucks, I drill out the rivet, and remount the truck using a truss screw (pre-blackened for flat cars, gondolas) and a lock or stop nut. I tighten the screw all the way, and then loosen it just enough for the truck to move freely from left to right. Deraiments GONE.

One more issue, especially with used cars, is the wheel sets. Even buying a bulk bag of 50 wheel sets, I noticed some slop in the gauge of the wheels. There's no problem with this EXCEPT if wheels on the SAME truck have a slightly differing wheel gauge. This can cause a derailment on curves. Just make sure the gauge of the wheels looks the same for one pair of wheel sets on the same truck.

I've also experienced some locos jumping the track on 027 curves. The loco is OK running alone. But with the weight of a train, it jumps the curves. The fix is easy. I mount a small spring over the guide pin that fits into the curves slit in the loco frame.
The spring goes between the bottom of the frame of the top of the truck, where the pin sticks upward. I do this and derailments are gone.

On steamers like 4-4-2's, sometimes the front guide wheels will jump the track. Two fixs. Give a slight bend downward on the front guide truck or even better, I put a small magnet on the assemble that actually holds the two front guide wheels... derailments gone.

Now for the switches themselves. AMS, since you asked about Lionel switches, here's my experience. I don't use the electric switches because I don't like the track powered non-derail feature. You can rewire the switches to work off auxiliary power, which is a much better way to go, if you want to use the electrics.

I use the manual switches. To mimic electic switches, I use nylon fish line attached to the level of the switch. Works fine for switches not easily reached by hand.

On the switches you put the links for, I've noticed one main problem with two potential fixes. The problem is the black swivel rail does not tightly engage the outside long straight rail of the switch, when the train direction is set through the curve.

There's a slide piece inside the switch box housing with an "S" shaped slit. I remove this piece, and gently file the inside of the slit, reassemble and test. Sometimes you might have to file a little longer on one far side of the "S" slit. You just want to be sure the switch works properly, that when thrown either way, the swivel rail "locks" into either the straight or curve direction.

I don't mind doing this, as I also revise the switch box housing for appearance sake. I remove the very top part with the green/red indicator. I put a cut piece of styrene over the open slot of the missing piece. Then I paint the switch box housing silver, to mimic one of the typical railroad utility or signal boxes. Then over the operating level, I put two small red and green stickers, so I can easily see which direction the switch is thrown in dim room light.

One other potential fix on the black swivel rail is to give a slight bend outward to the side of the swivel rail that is one the side of the long straight rail. So that when the switch is set to the curve, the black swivel rail is completely against the straight rail.

Not every switch needs to be tinkered with. But I've found that a switch track that gives me trouble can be fixed with a little tinkering.

These are GREAT insights--thank you all for taking the time to share!

It sounds like I've got some additional research to do, which is fine because I have time.  While I want to go back to the quiet operation of O27 track, I don't want to introduce any additional pain points for myself by picking up the wrong products.

you are correct Walt, the price is for a manual switch. the original post included a link to the Lionel site showing a manual switch and he mentioned he wanted manual switches. not sure how much more the motors are.

JohnS: I never looked at the switches that linked to - I just assumed.  OOPS!

- walt

AMS

Your question asked about manual switches.  I have 2 older manual 027 switches that I use for sidings.  I have no problems with them.  They have a very low profile lever action, so oversize rolling stock goes right over the top.  I also use 6 of the 042 remote ones on the rest of my layout.  The problem I have with them is the wide center rail comes so close to the wheels that short circuits can occur.  I solved this with nail polish on the side of the bulging center rail to insulate from wheels that might touch it.

This is the 1022 manual switch.  They are available on Ebay and are pretty cheap.  Mine are 60 years old.

My current layout uses O-27 track (with wider curves). Same went for the previous layout although it used more 0-27 switches than now. Current switches are Ross and Ross only. Performance is outstanding as well as looks. While the 0-27 Lionel switches worked, they were a tad rough and some engines didn't play nice with the slightly taller center rail. 

All of my Ross switches are manual - I like throwing them by hand as opposed to the remote and I NEVER put a switch where it can't easily be reached. 

I like to use 027 track at times but don't like the Lionel 027 switches as they limit the size of engine and freight cars that I can have go through the curved side of the switch because the motor housing gets in the way. I use Gargraves switches instead and don't have the switch housing in the way.

On an older Lionel 027 switch, that I bought in a box of stuff at the flea market, the switch was beat up and missing the switch motor completely. So I got out my dremel tool and removed some plastic and added a DZ-1000 switch motor to it and have an 027 switch that has a smaller radius then a Gargraves or Ross switch.

I didn't want to throw away the switch if I could use it as only the motor was missing and was in good shape as far as tracks.

Lee Fritz