Personally, I would love to see pictures showing the center sections of 11 degree, 45 degree and 90 degree crossings to see how they differ. I do realize that the 11 degree crossing would have to have the longest center section.
Chuck
@BobbyD posted:Chris, the problem is with the Ross design at the actual crossover part. Unfortunately it is not a one piece part like their regular double crossover and the new MTH scale passenger trucks may rotate slightly caused by the pickup rollers going over all the "bumps" and diagonal power rail where they randomly then take the diverging path when they shouldn't. Became too much of an unknown crash risk.
FYI, the crossing in the middle of a Ross double crossover is a 22.5 degree crossing, not an 11 degree. There is an 11 degree standard switch coming off each main line, so the crossing is 2 times 11 degrees. Ross sells a #305 22.5 degree crossing so they must use that one.
The photo in the post above shows the old Ross design with an all plastic diamond plate in the center. Some steam locomotives will stall when both pickup rollers are on the insulated plastic plate. The newer Ross double crossovers have a metal diamond plate (framed in plastic to prevent shorts). Center rail power is connected to the metal plate via a screw connection on the bottom of the crossover. This connection must be made BEFORE the crossover is installed.
@Bob posted:FYI, the crossing in the middle of a Ross double crossover is a 22.5 degree crossing, not an 11 degree. There is an 11 degree standard switch coming off each main line, so the crossing is 2 times 11 degrees. Ross sells a #305 22.5 degree crossing so they must use that one.
The photo in the post above shows the old Ross design with an all plastic diamond plate in the center. Some steam locomotives will stall when both pickup rollers are on the insulated plastic plate. The newer Ross double crossovers have a metal diamond plate (framed in plastic to prevent shorts). Center rail power is connected to the metal plate via a screw connection on the bottom of the crossover. This connection must be made BEFORE the crossover is installed.
That a Ross Double Crossover is 22.5 degrees is irrelevant to the issue. The 11 degree crossover does not have a one piece center section with a metal inlay. If it did the issues may be eliminated because the pickup roller wouldn't be steered by dropping down and going up multiple times as it goes over.
It was really obvious when rolling just a streamlined MTH truck by itself though the crossing. I had sent Steve images. In the end it was much easier to remove the crossing rather than fight the issue over and over.
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Really dumb question, why wouldn't it be possible to simply fill in those voids where the roller drops? It appears that they aren't in the path of the wheel flanges.
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@gunrunnerjohn posted:Really dumb question, why wouldn't it be possible to simply fill in those voids where the roller drops? It appears that they aren't in the path of the wheel flanges.
Not only there John, it begins where the roller crosses over the opposite tracks outer rail (in your example lets use lower left towards upper right as path of travel) and drops into the gap where the diagonal center rail is and attemps to twist the truck due to the pickup rollers not being rigidly mounted as on a locomotive. At some point fighting the design issue became not worth the effort required.
