N Scale single slip switches

Gee Roger, you know that old cliche, "you get what you paid for"?  Well, I'm afraid that's what you've done.  Hopefully, a $2 investment won't leave a big hole in your budget.  The Revell/Rapido N scale era was back in the 1960's and 1970's, when N scale was notoriously unreliable.  Things are much better today.

It'll be a much bigger bite, but I'd suggest if you want reliable operation you buy a newer switch made by Peco or the track source of your choice, or re-engineer the switch locations to avoid that particular cross-over.

Geof

Thanks. Doesn’t hurt to try. 

Thanks. Doesn’t hurt to try. 

There are several good articles, somewhere

There are several good articles, somewhere, on updating old switches. Wish I could remember where they were.

In a nutshell, which will be painfully obvious to some, the guides are too wide and the flangeway is too deep. Look at the wheelsets from when the switch was designed and the are far courser than modern standards. The tread is far narrower and the flange far shallower. The wide flange guides allow too much side motion through the points and truck needs to run on it's flanges through the frog. Have the flange way over twice the depth needed and the engines rock and roll through the switch.

They are fixable but you best read some and have a spare $2.00  switch to practice on.

Save your time and frustration

…and just buy a PECO N gauge single slip. yes they’re pricey ($60~70 USD each) but at least you’ll be starting with a turnout made to modern (European) specs. You’ll probably still need to fiddle with it, especially if you use lo-profile wheels. But you’ll be a lot better off than trying to use something that’s probably been rejected a dozen times or more since it was manufactured. Not to mention the 60 year old plastic may well be warped and/or brittle by this point.