Atlas Turnout Frogs to high?

[who_dat73]

I have a N scale turnout if I rember # 5 or 6 but when the consist comes out of the turn and over the frog it looks like the locos and all the rest for that matter drop of a ledge on the frog most times dropping the coupler so far that it lets Loco uncouple from the car behind it is a double headed Spectrum with the normal factory couplers ( cant rember the name of them right off hand )
My question is ,is it possible that I have a to tall frog and I should file it down some or will that be a bad idea??

 

[doctorwayne]

I model in HO, so I can't say for sure whether that following applies in N. While I had no problem with my Atlas code 83 turnouts, I noticed that whenever I ran any of a friend's brass steam locos on my layout, many of them would stall on the turnouts. Many brass locos, especially older ones, have overly stiff driver springing, and careful observation showed that the frogs were indeed slightly high, lifting the locomotive high enough to break the electrical contact with the rail (Atlas HO turnouts also have the unpowered frog). I went around the layout with a mill file, making a few careful passes over each offending turnout. While the problem was not eliminated completely, most locos experienced fewer problems, and some ran flawlessly.
If you place a straightedge, like a steel modeller's rule, across the rails, then slide it along the track to the offending turnout, you'll see if it catches on the frog or not. Another problem to look for is flangeways that are not deep enough to accomodate over-size wheel flanges. Use a NMRA standards gauge to check for this problem, and an appropriate needle file to correct any discrepancies.

Wayne

 

[2slim]

Years ago I had a problem with a couple of Atlas HO switches where the point rails, (which were stamped metal at that time) were about .010 higher than the stock rails. Tried the mill file but almost yanked them out with that, eventually I just replaced the turnouts. I'd say the mill file would work for taking down the frog, just keep the NMRA guage handy and check both the height and flangeways often.

2slim