Analog or DCC?

Dear Don,

Are you running 0-12VDC analog, or DCC?

Apart from confirming that:
- All-wheel-pickup IS working on all locos
- ALL rails are actively powered (rail-joiners, feeders, and jumpers may not be trustworthy! Confirm!),
- You've said "all loco wheels are clean", but what of all rollingstock wheels?
- Graphite rail treatment

and assuming:
- you're running DCC
- you're loathe to replace the troublesome turnout

then adding a small CK/SA/KA may be the most expedient solution...
(See ScaleSoundSystems.com for a USD$5 solution
https://f5479436-5972-4fe2-a17a-b4fbd2ea046e.filesusr.com/ugd/7e84c8_39243a1b8ffc40a6a52fed6b2138edc2.pdf)

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

One of these when they make them...

Don,

I'm in the same boat, but I have adapted a Peco Code 75 to match the railhead of the Code 83, after the Atlas one I had did the same thing.  Still not happy with the Code 75 though.

However I'm waiting on Fast Tracks to start producing their other angles, they have the 90 degree out now.

Fast Tracks - Diamond Line

One of these coupled with a double - frog juicer as recommended should eliminate all issues at my layout diamonds.

Jas...

I have a number of the

I have a number of the code100 ones that i have ID'd problems with. I posted some pics and a description sometime ago, but I will have to find that link.

EDIT: I found that posting and the photos
https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/double-crossover-with-a-doublecurve-turnout-12212201

My one crossing

Don, I have only one level crossing, where an HOn3 running track crosses an HO factory siding; it's handlaid in code 55. All four frogs are powered.

Two frogs stay the same polarity for both railroads; the polarity-reversing frogs are wired to a DPDT slide switch. The frogs are normally set for the narrow gauge runner. A standard gauge crew has to throw the DPDT to work the factory siding. (With both railroads running tracks, this could be accomplished with manual crossing gates that the lesser railroad would need to stop and open before occupying the crossing.)

This arrangement keeps it simple. I'm sure the frog polarity could be connected to some sort of turnout throw; but as I said, this is simple and sufficient for my situation. My short wheelbase locos handle the crossing well. 

I should add here that I run with Digitrax DCC.

Keep alive capacitors

Are the easy way to avoid stalling. My Economi equipped engines run smoothly over this crossing with four dead frogs. They have all wheel pick up so only need to use a short blast of the keep alive current....DaveB 

Diamond Crossing

Thanks for your thoughts Prof Klyzlr and others. Yes, I am running DCC and no I would rather not replace the crossing. 

Are all the wheels on all my rolling stock clean?

Sometimes. My layout is in a dusty environment which I cannot reasonably control. There is going to be dirt. But when that becomes an issue problems crop up everywhere, not just on this particular crossing.

I think you are right and that keep alive is going to be the solution but finding space inside my Rapido SW1200 RS (my favorite machine and my worst offender) will be a problem and I don't know if the ESU decoder will work with it. 

Thanks, jay bird. That is an

Thanks, jay bird. That is an intriguing concept. I'm not into hand laying track but if there is a commercial diamond out their with metal frogs I could wire everything together. Switching could be done with an Arduino and relay and detector. Doable if I can find the diamond.

Lok and space...

Dear ???

1 - Lok decoders do absolutely support KA/SA/CK units, INC non-Lok-branded "2-wire" unit.
The Manuals have the connection diagrams.

2 - Usable CK/KA/SA units have been built for N scale, and documented here on MRH,
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/running-extra/2018-12/stay-alive-n

so fitting in a Rapido SW1200RS (I have 2, and they are by-no-means the "most tight for internal space" HO loco I've laid eyes on... B'mann 45-tonner and FDT Trackmobile ahoy!)

should be a doddle, ESP if you take a sane approach to the ammount of capacitance required...
(Hint: SMD 447 caps pack 470uF 16V into a single capacitor...)

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyz;r

KA, seriously?

I find it hard to believe it's easier to put KA in the entire fleet than it is to solve what's wrong with this one crossing.

What's the angle? Can you post a picture? Have you gone at the thing with a multimeter to check for voltage across every pair of rails? 

I think you should eliminate the easiest problems first, and to me that means checking for a dead rail section (maybe one of the 8 rails leading into the diamond is not getting powered).

Is the problem worse crossing along one track than going along the other?

  "I find it hard to believe

It really depends on big your fleet is. I have 42 turnouts and one crossing on my layout but will only need about 5 engines so adding keep alives lets me run dead turnout frogs with no chance of my sound decoders skipping a beat. The smooth crossing operation is just a bonus. If I didn't install the keep alives I'd have to power all the frogs instead. ...DaveB 

NMRA Gauge

Be sure to check that all of the flangeways are wide enough and in gauge. Out of tolerance flangeways can cause stuttering via minor shorts or just mechanically binding up a wheels set if its' specs are a bit wobbly.

I have had to do this to Walther and Shinohara tracks pieces.

Espee over Donner