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Hello All
While testing my layout I noticed that my engines randomly create shorts on my Atlas turnouts. I can see it is happening at the point that the right rail crosses the left. If the engine drags or slaps right the clearance is narrow enough where it shorts. I have 3 BLI engines and 2 are doing it so far. I'm thinking of trying to place a lightbulb in series as shown on several sites. Would this help or any other ideas?
If it it is tight enough file it off a little till it doesn't. The lightbulb wont help anything it is just a way to see where shorts are on large multiblock layouts.
The tail light bulb trick controls the shorts, it doesn't prevent them. Your problem is something else entirely. My guess is that your points are powered, and that you are getting contact between the open point rail and the flanges of the wheels passing between the point rail and the stock rail beside it. I say this because one engine, obviously with slightly different gauging of all the axles, seems not to kiss the point rail as it passes through. What you can do is to try to bend the open point rail ever so gently, carefully, and little, just enough to allow the offending axles to clear. The Atlas frogs are plastic, unless you are using the Customline Code 83 (? I think they are metal?), so there should be no shorting taking place at what must be completely dead frogs.
The Frogs are plastic. The point I'm talking about is just prior the the frog where the far rail passes over the close or top rail. The gap is pretty narrow. The turnouts are code 83. I was able to verify that as being the offending location when it happens. It's random however if I tug the engine horizontally to the extremes I can duplicate it.
