Kato N scale single cross overs.

[Sully]

I have two single crossovers and no matter power routing or no, one straight line stalls the engines, especially steam. How do I fix this issue?

[cteno4]

You means just one of the straight lines stalls engines or both sides stall engines going straight thru?

 

where is it exactly stalling? Is it a consistent place?

 

is it a total stall or a stutter?

 

how do the engines run thru the cross over between straights?

 

jeff

[Sully]

48 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

You means just one of the straight lines stalls engines or both sides stall engines going straight thru?

 

where is it exactly stalling? Is it a consistent place?

 

is it a total stall or a stutter?

 

how do the engines run thru the cross over between straights?

 

jeff

One of the straight sides runs through fine, the crossover works fine both powered points and not powered points. The second straight track stalls the engine in several places especially steam engines. When I turn the cross over around, the unit that was the top and now the bottom stalls the engine in several places. There is track power on both ends. One side has the drops wired the other side has track power into the switch. So there is power at both ends. If I replace the switch with straight track, all works well both lines. What is the problem?  Should both ends have individual drops on the switch?  John

[Takahama Trainwatcher]

Have you recently cleaned the rails? I've been using mineral turpentine lately (after reading through a few sites that have recommended non-polar cleaners) and it has made a huge difference. I find that points are especially sensitive in terms of rail cleanliness requirements. Even rails that look clean to the naked eye can produce dirty lines on paper towel soaked in turps.

[cteno4]

Yes this does sound like potentially dirty track. Try a good cleaning. No small bits of scenery or anything stuck down in the flangeways of the stalling side?

 

using a non polar cleaner is best as alcohols end up causing the microarcing that created the black gunk on track.

 

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mrhpub.com/2019-05-may/online/index.html?page=9

 

jeff