Points failure on crossovers outside station.

2582 Views 16 Replies 7 Participants Last post by LondonSouthEastern, Jan 11, 2022

LondonSouthEastern

Discussion Starter · Dec 30, 2021

Hello all,
I have been working on my 00 gauge (4mm) end to end layout with a Penzance station style terminus but with a twist.

However, I have been testing out all of my trains over the crossovers as seen in the image below to ensure it works. There is no fault with Hornby R8072 on the crossovers but for unknown reasons (and the reason why I thought I'd ask for advice on how to solve the problem), the Hornby R8073 right hand points on the crossovers (as noted by Faults) seem to fail each time you drive a train from one side of the track to the other.
I am able to work the left hand R8072 points on the crossovers itself but the R8073 ones seem to fail, especially as the layout is worked left hand running which means no train can access the southern platforms at all without pushing the loco across the points or turning the other controller on without causing an overload safety cutout.

Is there any solutions to this problem? I would like to get the crossovers in shape, albeit either by a scissors crossover (involving the same points but with curves and a right hand Hornby R615 diamond crossover) or another solution if possible.

I also bought some new sets of Hornby points to rectify the points failure but these have not worked either so am considering whether power supply is the main issue.

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LondonSouthEastern

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 30, 2021

PAPPA.B said:
Hi Is the power tracks indicated the only power input if so try putting some on the tracks on the left of the picture preceding the crossover as well. Jim PS. Welcome

I have tried putting the power at the other end of the crossovers but unfortunately the same fault occurs. I will try again to see if it works.
I built a scissors crossover (using right hand points and a diamond crossing), that seems to work with both tracks and power tracks preceding the crossover as well but I thought I'd try doing them separately.

The power input is on the station throat as I thought it would be ideal for shunting movements. I'm quite new to crossovers and such so unfortunately not too wary of what works. I'll try it before the crossovers and not before the station now.

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LondonSouthEastern

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 30, 2021

I have since tried this option of making a Scissors crossover. It works on all lines except when you come from the left side of the layout, and want to continue into the northern platforms, it fails after a set of points. I have realised that the power output to the track isn't very powerful, but this may be down to an old Hornby controller I have plugged into it.

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LondonSouthEastern

Discussion Starter · #10 · Dec 31, 2021

kristopher1805 said:
OK Hornby points are all insul frog, so unlike electro frog there is not a switch in polarity, as such the power follows the way the points are switched, this is a problem for electros but you should not have these issues. The second version is more trouble so back to the first effort. Which way round you wire them does not make a difference until the power meets at the right 8073. I assume you have the feed say red on the upper rails and the black on the other one, and that these are not reversed between the two sides, I use coloured format here, I also put the power to the rails using Peco fishplates with wires attached, I just have this feeling that you have mixed them up somehow? so when you put the power from one to the other you get a short, in the olden days the circuit breaker would pop these days it simply stops working. The Peco rails are the same profile as the Hornby (Peco code 100) so are interchangeable.

So for the throat Red. you may have. Red
Black Black
Red Black
Black Red

Are Peco Code 100 points wired differently to Hornby? I have tried the crossovers on one controller to see if it works across the crossovers and it seems to work. But when you put two controllers in, it fails. Could this be a controller fault or a point fault? I've heard that Peco track works better with anything so maybe there is a different wiring diagram on their points.

Viscount said:
I suspect the problem might be the possibility that the two track controllers are from the same power source and thus may have a common; if so, the crossovers' difference is that the common rail is a different side. To test, if one controller is disconnected completely, does the problem go away?

Yeah, I have tried using one controller to ensure it definitely wasn't both controllers. It would seem that only one works for all points and crossovers, but when I do it as two controllers, it doesn't like it. It's the same power source but I have notice on one controller that the light does not slowly get brighter until the throttle (or what that circular thing is) is nearly three quarters of the way to max speed whereas the other controller has the light slowly getting brighter from the min speed. It might be where one of the controllers is old (or has faulty wiring) and may need a new one but didn't want to throw it out unless there are no options.

In regards, I don't know if it works either way doing it with R8072 points instead, as that may bring the same issue but I have done that before previously a few years ago and it worked fine. I'll see what I can try from the comments here.

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LondonSouthEastern

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 11, 2022

Thank you for the suggestions. I have now managed to fix the problem, specifically with the power supply.

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