Double Slip Reliability ?

[GasDad]

Hi,

 

I'm still in the planning stage - but using a double slip at the entrance to my fiddle yard would make life somewhat simpler in space terms.

 

So the question is how reliable are they for trains moving across them, in comparison to say a medium peco point.

 

I'll be using code 75 electrofrogs.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

James

[coachmann]

I used three of the Peco Code 75 slips at one time, all perfectly reliable provided some time was spent drilling and pinning certain sleepers down near the frogs to ensure a stall-free passage for all locos. My test loco was always a Hornby Fowler 2-6-4T. With its rigid 16ft 6ins wheelbase it was the devil at stalling, but if I could get it crawling through a Slip, then anything would pass safely.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Is this the Peco double slip? My experience is that it is iffy for reliability for the duty I am looking for, and it falls into the same category as the Peco small radius (24" rad) point in this regard. Straight routes are fine, pushing and pulling. Curved routes, you can pull a train of any size through one; but pushing you have to restrict yourself to short trains.

 

I have tried and tried with this track piece because it would be very useful, but the limit when pushing comes in at half a dozen coaches, twenty plus wagons. That's having made sure that the track is flat, and all transitions are really smooth, and the stock is well adjusted. The lateral slop intrinsic to OO wheelsets, axle bearings, coupler systems; sooner or later a wheelset finds the wrong road when being pushed in trains longer (heavier) than the limit mentioned.

[RFS]

I've got 6 Peco code 75 double slips on my layout which are all electrofrog, and I've got no problems at all with reliability. These are used mainly to save space and most are on the mainline. So long as they're laid flat and properly aligned with the adjacent trackwork then you should have no problem. Whether you're DC or DCC I'd strongly advise using Electrofrog to avoid stalling (and momentary shorts if you're DCC).

[3 link]

Is this the Peco double slip? My experience is that it is iffy for reliability for the duty I am looking for, and it falls into the same category as the Peco small radius (24" rad) point in this regard. Straight routes are fine, pushing and pulling. Curved routes, you can pull a train of any size through one; but pushing you have to restrict yourself to short trains.

 

I have tried and tried with this track piece because it would be very useful, but the limit when pushing comes in at half a dozen coaches, twenty plus wagons. That's having made sure that the track is flat, and all transitions are really smooth, and the stock is well adjusted. The lateral slop intrinsic to OO wheelsets, axle bearings, coupler systems; sooner or later a wheelset finds the wrong road when being pushed in trains longer (heavier) than the limit mentioned.

 

Hi,

 

This problem occurs because of the larger than scale gap at the knuckle of the turnout just before the wheel runs across on to the vee, the problem here is Peco have to set a larger than average gap to cater for all makes of loco and rolling stocks different flange sizes.

 

ATB, Martyn.

[tebee]

Now I model US prototype so most of my stuff has RP25 stranded wheels or similar , but I've found the Peco code 100 slips very troublesome, in fact I ended up ripping up the main station throat on the last layout and relaying it with the slips in less well used positions.

 

The code 75 ones on the other hand, have always worked perfectly.

[Xerces Fobe2]

I have 2 code 75 double slips opposite each other on my Croxley Wiggenhall Road Depot layout and had no problems with them

 

 

Xerces Fobe

[GasDad]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Seems to be a reasonable consensus that they will be ok if laid very flat.

 

Cheers

 

James

[beast66606]

None of the 15 we have in the Widnes fiddle yard present any problems.

[Gwiwer]

I use a Code 100 double slip on Penhayle Bay which is outside and partially exposed to the environment. It is laid flat and has never given a problem in operation as a piece of trackwork. There have been one or two minor issues of rolling stock traversing it reliably which have been traced to the rolling stock in all cases.

 

I can pull and push trains of any length across any move; the only constraint with a propelling move is the occasional coupler over-ride and is not connected with the double-slip in any way.

 

The full train of china clay "hoods" which now totals 35 short wheelbase wagons happily comes across straight or curved moves even at dead-slow speeds; if anything was going to fall off it would probably be those.

[coachmann]

Would be neat if Peco produced a shallower set of slips to 5' radius instead of 2', but thats life.