JC

Excellent, those look great...plenty of obvious ideas out there, thank you.

Having spoken to the shop (Roxley Models, extremely helpful) they've said that the modification shown in the video should work and if it doesn't they'll take the points back anyway for exchange/refund. Can't say fairer than that even though the whole thing is frustrating.

Yeah those were my thoughts exactly. That's why I wondered if the modification done in that video would resolve this issue? I think I could do that, but don't want to invalidate returning them if it won't. At the end of the day points are not cheap. It is very frustrating as a beginner in the hobby.

Do you mean where I've circled in red?

Ok thank you for that tip. These rakes I will be running with mainline locos (there's a mainline branch onto my steelworks layout) so there's plenty of pulling power. Perhaps my question is in the wrong part of the forum, sorry. That said, is there not an advantage to having a certain amount of weight in say, a coal hopper in a rake, to maintain decent friction and so preventing derailing?

OK two developments. I swapped in the EF that I know works (from the siding on the left hand side of the layout) and that works!! Which now indicates that the point was faulty. I have also run a multimeter on the faulty points and there is no continuity across the tiny gaps in the rails leading into the frog vee whereas there is on the points that work. I don't know if you can see the photos I attached clearly enough, but on visual inspection I can see no difference between the faulty points and the points that work (the pics are just of a faulty point). The EF points I am using are brand new and I bought 5 of them. Having now tested them, 3 of those do not work because there is no continuity. If that's down to faulty manufacture then surely that's unacceptable....or is that the norm (it shouldn't be surely)? Which leaves me with 3 duff points. What is the solution to this? Any suggestions gratefully received. I wondered if the modification shown at 8:26 into this video might be the answer?

I see, yes it's worth a try. Thing is there is power to the track beyond the mainline EF leading to the troublesome point...that's what's confusing me.

Sorry not quite sure what you mean?

Cheers mate. That's what it now looks like, except I've now swapped the IF point for an EF point as per blue circle below. And no matter where I put IRJs on that point I can't get power into the siding off that EF point either?

Right well all is good now except for this flipping point. I swapped in another new EF point and it still doesn't work so I don't think it's a faulty point issue. Beginning to lose the will with it a bit now

I have a rake of 12 Accurascale HUO Hoppers and am awaiting delivery of a rake of 10 of their British Steel PTA/JUA Bogie Tipplers. Playing around with realistic loads I quite like the Goodwood Scenics Fine Model Coal and Iron Ore packs. (I also plan to be using these to create an open air iron ore and coal storage area on the steelworks layout). Question: having put a realistic looking load of coal in one of the hoppers it has an all up weight of 90g/wagon (probably needs a bit more really). Reading around other threads it appears that recommendations for small wagon loadings are around 40-50 grams. Is my 90g loading too much - I ask because my all up rake weight, which would be 1080 grams, seems a lot lower than those in some of these threads which indicate that they are pulling all up rake loads of upwards of 1.5kg?. If so, are there better options for loads, or is there a good method of padding out the wagon at the bottom so it needs less coal in it? I haven't got the Tipplers so can't do weight on those yet, but presume there will be a similar issue. Interested to know what you guys run in terms of weight per wagon and total rake weight. Cheers JC

Do you have a link for these Neil? Stay safe everyone, Neil

I've had a play with power input and IRJs and have progressed. Have now got all points and track working as per the plan below except for no power past the EF with the red circle around it. Notes: The EF point in the siding on the left that is working has no IRJs fitted to the vee. Can't get power past the EF point with the red circle. Should I have to feed more power in here? The one EF point on the main loop only lets power to its siding if there is no IRJ on that turnout vee. There is an IRJ on the same point on the mainline part of the EF vee. I'm not sure that having only one IRJ on the EF point is by the book but it works currently? All other points are currently IF. So questions.... 1. Have I got the power feeds and IRJ placement correct? Obviously not with regards to the EF with the red circle, but everything else functions. 2. If not, what would be optimal power feed and IRJ placement with the current 3 EF points as per plan attached? 3. What would be the optimal power feed and IRJ placement with all points converted to EF? Really appreciate your help folks. Cheers JC

I shall give that a try thank you. It seems like it's the loop that's the issue as the EF point that does work fine is not on the loop.

You're right on all counts I think. I'll try and do a track plan, though I'm thinking now that I'll just put power feeds into all sections of track that don't have power when I've converted to EF.

All my points do go to dead ends. It's pretty well a shunting layout with a loop. However, it's eminently feasible I haven't grasped the concept of the EF points, but my power input is placed such that power goes to all the toe ends of the points on the layout - shouldn't that do it? It also still doesn't explain why two of the points I've fitted work fine yet this one doesn't? Though this point is the only EF point I've tried to fit to the main loop.

Good idea I have access to a multimeter. Can you tell I'm not an electrician....seems pretty obvious now to check that. You mean solder a wire to the rail on the piece of track before the point and to the rail on the piece of track after the point? And if so, surely the point should be letting power flow through it and shouldn't need that to be done? Ref the polarity I just have one power feed into the whole layout. It runs perfectly with insulfrog points so I don't think that's the issue?

I'm now wondering if I will need to feed power after each set of points......but I can't understand why. As I said above, I've already fitted an electrofrog point elsewhere on the layout, though not on the main loop, without issue.

I've just noticed something else. The point in question is on the main loop. If I have all the points switched to run the loop, the train runs straight through the point and continues fine. However, if I interrupt the loop by switching a point further round the loop so that the power feed is only coming from tip end of the point then the train also stalls immediately after the point straight ahead. So it's not just after the siding turnout where the stall happens.

Appears to be and I've swapped a couple of points around still same issue.

Thanks for that. Having looked also at Brian Lambert's site I'm pretty sure I've done it as he says "Other than fitting the IRJs onto the frog Vee rails, nothing else needs to be done to allow the live frog point to work." And as I said before, what I don't understand is why the other two points I've put in work fine and this one doesn't???

The point does lead into a dead end siding - though there is another electrofrog point further into that siding. I fitted two IRJs into the Frog Vee and it's made no difference....still stalling

It is like it's shorting. On the points that I've put in which work fine I've not put any insulating joiners and have had no issues so two questions if I may: 1. Why would this particular point short and not the others? 2. Where should I put the insulating joiners on the point? Cheers

I'm confused. I'm a rookie and having realised that set track is not for me, I'm in the process of swapping out the set track for flexitrack and electrofrog points. I've done a couple of points already and laid some set track with no running problems whatsoever. However, today I've just swapped a point which sits on what is effectively the mainline loop (it's a single track loop) and immediately trains are stalling as they turnout to the branch siding on the right. I've played around checking joiners to no avail. When I swap the set track point back in it works no problem. Initially when I started with the electrofrog points I thought I'd have wiring issues, but having read up I was thinking it would be fine and when I put the first two points in (which are not directly on the mainline loop) I had no problems - now I'm flummoxed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Pic of point in question is here. The power comes from further down the line behind the camera.

I'll see when they arrive. Though I suspect any type of fabrication may be beyond my skill level