Atlas Diamond Crossing Stalling Locos


gjohnston

gjohnston

Slow Learner
I have just installed an Atlas Inso-Frog 30 degree crossing on my layout and it causes my 4 axle locos to momentarily lose power as they cross over it. Is there a fix for this? Or would replacing the Atlas unit with a Walthers unit do the trick? I looked for an electro-frog crossing but couldn't find one.

Anybody with experience with Walthers diamond crossings?

Thanks,

Greg
 
Do your locos pick up track power with both front and rear trucks? If not, the first thing I would suggest would be adding pickups to the locos.
 
KB02 said:
Do your locos pick up track power with both front and rear trucks? If not, the first thing I would suggest would be adding pickups to the locos.
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They are older DC locos I am using to test my track as I build it. One of the locos has pickups on the rear truck the other has two wheels that pick up on the front truck and two wheels that pick up on the rear. Not sure if I want to spend money on older DC locos as my layout will be DCC. For what I would sink into upgrading the DC locos with new trucks and a DCC decoder, I might be better off buying new DCC locos.

I suppose I should make sure any new loco I get will have pickups on all of the wheels.

Thanks,
Greg
 
There have been reports on here of Atlas turnouts having similar problems because of the length of the insulating part at the frog, Locos with a set of pickups as you describe are not very good and all wheel pickup is the industry standard these days, certainly for diesel models. It's really not worth trying to update old pre DCC Ready locos now, especially when newer models with better motors, drives and pickups are so readily available, with much better detail and true to prototype detailing and painting, even to the point of being loco specific, unless making silk purses out of sow's ears is your "thing".
 
tootnkumin said:
There have been reports on here of Atlas turnouts having similar problems because of the length of the insulating part at the frog, Locos with a set of pickups as you describe are not very good and all wheel pickup is the industry standard these days, certainly for diesel models. It's really not worth trying to update old pre DCC Ready locos now, especially when newer models with better motors, drives and pickups are so readily available, with much better detail and true to prototype detailing and painting, even to the point of being loco specific, unless making silk purses out of sow's ears is your "thing".
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Yep, thats kind of where I am right now. I should have bought the Walthers turnout, instead of the Atlas, it may have worked better, but maybe not. I do have at least one loco that runs over it with no problems, and it has all wheel pickups. I will try the others. I may decide to drop a decoder into one or two of the ones that don't stall on the crossing.

Thanks for the help,
Greg
 
If sound is not something that you aspire to having in your locos, it's not all that difficult to install silent DCC decoders of any of the brands that make them. The main thing is, if your locos are of the pre "DCC Ready" variety which in most cases had no circuit board in them at all, just being wired, or like the Athearn "Blue Box" type, metal straps to transfer electricity to motor and lights, or a combination thereof and wires, the insulation of the motor from the frame (Bluebox etc use the frame as the return electrical path to one side of the truck's pickup) is essential. The frame must not be in any part of the circuit at all. The easiest to convert are the ones that will say somewhere on the paperwork or box that they are capable of a "Quick Plug" conversion. This has 2 possibilities. There will be on some of the circuit boards (usually referred to as "lighting boards"), at least an NMRA approved 8 socket into which a like 8 pin DCC decoder can be plugged. Some, such as Athearn's RTR DCC Ready Quick Plug models have both the 8 pin "on the board" socket and a 9 pin socket on a short tail of wires. Some decoders only have the 8 pin, either by a set of pins direct on the decoder, or with an 8 pin plug on a wiring harness, attached to the decoder. The 9 pin decoder has no attached wiring and plugs directly into the socket which replaces a small circuit board installed for DC use. The 9 pin is only required if your loco has extra functions like ditch or flashing beacon lights installed, it provides that extra DCC function capability.
 
As an afterthought Greg, when you get to the point of deciding if there's any of your current locos you would like to keep, post pics of them up with the shells both on and off, so they can be identified accurately and advice then can be given as to their practical suitability for conversion.
 
tootnkumin said:
As an afterthought Greg, when you get to the point of deciding if there's any of your current locos you would like to keep, post pics of them up with the shells both on and off, so they can be identified accurately and advice then can be given as to their practical suitability for conversion.
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Thanks for the input toot.

I checked out my locos looking for flywheels and or multi truck pickups. I have five that have one or both. none are DCC ready. These are my candidates for possible DCC conversion. They have no trouble with the Atlas crossing, and are good running machines. I noticed that you can get motion only decoders for less than $20.00. So when I make the switch over to a DCC power supply I will post pics of them and see if they are worth converting over.

Still have a lot of track to lay, but I do have 9 of the 19 turnouts installed that make up the main lines.
 
I had the same issue with an Atlas 30. Switched to a Walthers and had no improvement, so save your $$$ I think its a combination of 4 axle loco pickup and the angle of the crossing. It seems like the wheelbase of one truck is completely on dead track and any pickup issues on the other truck,no matter how slight,rear their ugly head. My main culprits are all Athearn 4 axle units and Ive done all the pickup mods I can but wipers on the wheels. On the other hand,my proto GP20 rolls through the crossing without missing a beat.
 
roofintrash said:
I had the same issue with an Atlas 30. Switched to a Walthers and had no improvement, so save your $$$ I think its a combination of 4 axle loco pickup and the angle of the crossing. It seems like the wheelbase of one truck is completely on dead track and any pickup issues on the other truck,no matter how slight,rear their ugly head. My main culprits are all Athearn 4 axle units and Ive done all the pickup mods I can but wipers on the wheels. On the other hand,my proto GP20 rolls through the crossing without missing a beat.
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Thanks Rick,

Good to know that the Walthers crossing would be no better. I will certainly make sure all future locos I get will have pickups on all wheels.
 
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