Steamer stalls on turnout

Generally, you will find that the pick-up rollers are not far enough apart in order to maintain contact with the center power rail. I had to add a third pick-up roller assembly on the tender of one of my MTH models.

Hello Hot Water,

So this will only occur when the engine slowly moves?

Why does a faster speed not have an issue?

Because at faster speeds, the locomotives momentum is sufficient to carry it through the switch until the contacts pickup electricity again.

Try reversing the pickup rollers as shown in the sketch.

Bobby,

So this eliminates the issue as you state?

Interesting and correct it does not seem difficult to do. I just want to make sure

that I do not mis align the wheels if that is all possible. Just a newbie asking.

Thanks

Not only should you be checking for power at all three center rails, but you should also be checking your common ( call it ground if you want) but there also has to be a return path. Sometimes, wheels with traction tires can cause a loss of common problem. One way to check for this is to see if the engine stalls through that same turnout going in the opposite direction.

Hotwater,

I have a question, ok so it seems that the turnout spot is dead I get no meter reading, so do I drop a power and common or just a common wire?

Thx

Determine which rail is dead by leaving one meter probe on dead spot and moving other to down the track a few inches.

Fix the dead one, the other needs no fixing. Could be Power or Common, only the meter will tell you which.

Make sure the readings you're getting aren't on the common rails in the middle of the switch. Those rails are supposed to be dead. When the engine crosses them the middle rail pickup roller crosses them and if they were connected to the common the locomotive would short out when the roller crossed them. You should have voltage from ALL middle rails to ALL OUTSIDE rails on the switch. The 2 outside rails in the middle of the switch will not be hooked to the common.