Loco dying at turn-out

[Rusty_08]

Hi everyone, I'm still new to this so any help would be appreciated.

I just ballasted my track and took a loco for a test run. When it reaches my 1st turn-out, the loco dies at the metal frog and the Powercab restarts. If I nudge it past the metal frog, it gets going again. I had caboose throws installed but removed them because I did not like them. I have purchased tortoise machines but they are not installed yet so I've just tried to throw the switch manually.

Is there something I have done wrong? Do I need another feeder closer to this frog? Will the installation of the tortoise machine fix this issue? Do I need a turnout without the metal frog? Thanks in advance.

 

[Smudge617]

Installing a tortoise machine wont solve the problem, if the Powercab is restarting you've a short somewhere, is the frog an Insulfrog or Electrofrog also what track are you using Atlas, E-Z track would also help ? And was there a problem before you ballasted your track ?

 

[Rusty_08]

Installing a tortoise machine wont solve the problem, if the Powercab is restarting you've a short somewhere, is the frog an Insulfrog or Electrofrog also what track are you using Atlas, E-Z track would also help ? And was there a problem before you ballasted your track ?

I researched what kind I have and it looks like an Atlas Insulfrog with the metal frog in between the 2 sets of tracks. There was not an issue before the ballast but I only ran it a few times before ballasting. After ballasting, it ran rough which is why I'm looking at cleaning my track, but it never died.

 

[Smudge617]

I researched what kind I have and it looks like an Atlas Insulfrog with the metal frog in between the 2 sets of tracks. There was not an issue before the ballast but I only ran it a few times before ballasting. After ballasting, it ran rough which is why I'm looking at cleaning my track, but it never died.

You might have some ballast stuck somewhere in the frog causing the wheels to hit opposite polarities, and /or the ballast isn't dry, which can also cause the problem.

On the whole it's never a good idea to ballast your frogs, or if you do keep away from any moving parts or areas the ballast can get stuck in.

If you can find nothing wrong with the frog you can either replace the frog, or remove it and clean all the ballast off,
If you have a replacement use that and see if the problem persists, unfortunately things like this boil down to a process of elimination.