Improving peco turnouts for DCC operation

To run through the main line on my layout a train will cross 5 of the 6 turnouts on the layout. Recently, the shorter locos (48 and 49) had been stalling on two of the turnouts and when they started stalling on a third it was time to do something about it.

If you follow many railway modelling blogs or vlogs you'll often see modellers who run DCC systems will post or comment about improving turnouts for DCC operation. With the exception of fitting a Hex frog juicer to every frog, I had only really applied the many methods I had read and seen to fix problems I'd found as I went, rather than to establish very reliable operations from the outset.

No longer. 

From today, every turnout I buy is getting the below treatment before installation. There's no value in reinventing the wheel, so watch Dave from Dean Park Railway explain how to improve peco turnouts for DCC. My focus was the advice at 3'39"

On the below turnout I found I had installed one of these jumpers on one of the turnouts prior to installation on the layout, which would have been the smart thing to do for both. After identifying where the plastic sleeper gaps were, I scraped the sand and grout away from underneath. I cut a piece of the additional wire leading off the frog from some brand new Peco turnouts I have sitting on the shelf waiting for future use. These joining pieces were then soldered in place, taking care not to damage the scenery around the turnout.

Both turnouts' performance instantly improved as the stock rails are now powering the switching blades (probably should ask that railway track senior engineer brother of mine what it's actually called...) at all times. Once covered in with sand and grout again it's going to blend in nicely.

Once I'd finished that I gave the 85 a run with the supplementary interurban set. 

The 85 is fairly long and is quite forgiving due to all wheels picking up current, so I'll need to try my shorter loco's to ensure that the turnout fixes have worked.

Looking ahead, the overhead wiring is going to be quite sensitive once installed so I'm going to leave that until after I've finished a number of items in and around the scenery, namely the coal loader and adding some further details around the track.

That's all for now! If you're reading this from Sydney and Melbourne, stay safe out there during lockdown. I hope you get some time at your respective modelling desks.

Cheers,

Ben