grovenor-2685 wrote:Ah, i took thisI found that depending upon the direction and which end of each of the rolling stock was running through I got occasional climbing of the point blades on both turnouts (intermittent) with the stock running straight on instead of across the turn out.
to mean the vehicle had run through the wrong route without derailing.
The reason that a small BB and or wide track gauge increases the likelyhood of the first wheel picking up on the points is because it allows the vehicle to slew diagonally to a greater extent when the root radius of the flange can no longer hold the flange away from the point tip.
This effect can also be seen if the axles are slightly off parallel. Always worth running the vehicle on a flat surface to see it it follows a straight path or curves a bit. Another cause is wheelsets where the wheels are not quite in line even with parallel axles, that is another item to be checked.
I don't really agree with widening the gauge at the point toe as it is the same as reducing the BB. If the planing and stock rail set are done properly you can keep accurate gauge through the switches without any unwanted narrowing.
Regards
Thanks Kieth,
I would say from my initial observations this is exactly what was happening.
Firstly I did widen the gauge at the toe. Secondly I can't be absolutely certain about the quality of all the wheel sets. The latest build wheel set on a Bill Bedford Wagon are certainly the best and these from recollection ran through well the whole time. This fact made me assume that the primary problem was with the wheels (and thus re setting the B to B at 17.75 following Roger's article).... but from what you say the widening will also have had an effect. Re-setting of all the wheels to 17.75 will presumably have taken out the excessive slop and hopefully any undue wobble limiting diagonal slew. All three vehicles are either sprung or compensated and all have suffered from a high learning curve.
I have had no issues at the crossings at any point so the check rails and crossing Vs are presumably fine. As everything is running great now I will monitor and keep fingers crossed.