PL-11 Peco side mounted point motors, and other question.

[Tdm]

Hi
This is my 1st post on this Forum so apologies if I am asking a question that has already been covered before.

First a  little background - I emigrated to Tenerife from the U.K. some 10 years ago, leaving behind 2 "00" gauge model railways - an indoor and an outdoor layout.

Late last year I decided to renew my hobby - but space limitations here meant I had to go for N gauge this time, and have to Import everything from the U.K. I probably have the only (British Outline) model railway in the Canary Isles.

Having built a new layout aprox 5'5" by 2'5", and successfully run 2 trains at a time on it, for ease of operation I decided to convert 9 of the most remote points (Peco ST5 & ST6) on it to electric operation by adding PL-11 side mounted motors operated by PL26 switches connected to the CDU unit of my Morley twin track controller (I have no room to put motors underneath the layout board). 

Now comes my First question.
I cannot get the point motors to operate the points correctly despite having followed all the instructions (Peco & Morley) - the motors will "pull" the points to the "curve" position, but will not properly "push" the points to the "straight" position. It is as if there is not enough power when "pushing" to move the points back - yet both motors & points are all brand new, and I have raised the points slightly according to Peco's guidelines.
Has anyone on here had a similar problem, and if so how did they overcome it?

I also have another question.
I used the following model railway design software packages to help me design my new layout, and have some queries with each and would like to get the opinions of any experienced users of any of these regarding certain aspects in them.
1) Anyrail 5 (no "3D" facility at present).
2) Scarm (Free & includes an inbuilt 3D facility but still under development).
3) FocusMM - Create your own model railway (Includes 3D facility and and shows  trains running on it)
I would add an Image of my layout drawn by each of the above, but there doesn't seem an option to add one to this post unless I am missing something? However below is a Link to my YouTube video of the layout in it's early stages of development, but which has since been modified & improved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkR7EwkQULw

Sorry about the length of this post, and thank you in anticipation of your replies.
Regards Terry

[bigbob]

Try adjusting the position of the point motor. I have a couple on mine and need to be positioned perfect to get them to throw both ways. Test it whilst holding it in position before fixing.

[Skyline2uk]

Hi Tdm

I only have one of these PL-11s (other motors under the board), but I find it has worked well for me.

What type of CDU do you have? I doubt that it is a power related issue, especially as I assume you are only using one motor at a time?

I see from your video that the track is not ballasted, so there is no risk of that fouling the movement. I would still check that nothing is interfering with movement.

Alignment is very important with all motors, I fear the answer to your problem may only be a good deal of fettling and trial and error.  I would disconnect each motor from the track and make sure it moves forward and backwards ok on its own, then systematically test unit in different positions until you get desired movement.

I know this is all nothing new, but I am only going on my experience so I hope its of some use?

Welcome to the forum by the way 

Skyline2uk

[cjdodd]

I've just bought a load of these as due to bad planning I cant use underboard motors, i'll let you know how I get on.

I have read that you need to get these spot on as they sometimes snag the sleepers on N gauge track.

[Caz]

Hi Terry, welcome to the friendly forum looking forward to seeing your pictures of your layout.

Re the Peco PL 11 point motors have a look at my thread here, it may help you http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=7196.msg81839#msg81839

[Newportnobby]

Hi Terry - welcome to the forum
Nice looking layout, with plenty to keep you occupied
Is the tower in the middle based on a prototype somewhere please?

[Tdm]

Thanks for your quick replies guys.

Tomorrow I will have another go taking on board your suggestions.
I have the motors, points, and Controller currently removed from the layout and on a table where I can do some testing (which I have been doing for the past few days).

I would have thought that Peco would have got the spacing lengths right, but as Whiteswan says I will try shaving 1 to 2 mm off to see whether that cures the problem, and report back. 

My other hobby is Classic Cars and I own a 1977 Triumph Stag which I emigrated  in to Tenerife in 2004 from North Wales (a lovely drive), and I am a member of the Triumph Stag Club Forum which is an excellent Forum, and hope I will enjoy using this Forum as much as the Stag one.

PS. While posting this reply NewportNobby asked about the tall tower
on my layout, and the answer is it is not based on a real tower, I was just using up some spare material I had and decided to make a Chimney, although in some respects it does resemble an existing Chimney at Morrisons Supermarket in Chorley, Lancs (my home town) who took over an old Woolen Mill in the Town but decided to keep the tall Chimney as a landmark.

[rhysapthomas]

Hi

I have a couple of the top mounted PECO point motors on my layout and I had a problem which I think is different but you might want to consider.  When the motors where pulling the point straight the plastic bar on the point would flex downwards and the motor would disengage from the point.

What I did in the end was insert in piece of brass rod about 1mm under the point motor plastic arm to stop it moving downwards after that I had on problems with them

Best of luck

[johnlambert]

I had a PL-11 do exactly the same thing.  It started out working fine but eventually ended up behaving like yours has.  If I could remember where I bought it I might have tried getting a refund but I just bought another.  So far the replacement has been trouble free.  They are difficult to get aligned, especially if you have underlay; in the end I used a short piece of stiff wire to connect the tie bar to the motor (an idea I got from the N Gauge Society journal).



The screws are a bit big but they do the job and the whole thing is hidden under a station platform.  The other thing to watch out for is that the wire in the point tie bar doesn't stick up above rail height as some locos (Dapol B1, for example) have detail that sits quite low and can get snagged.

[RST]

Hi.

As far as I am aware PL-11 are stated as not compatible with N-gauge (I would have used them myself in some cases otherwise) so I never even attempted to use them.  As for software I can't comment, I found Anyrail by far the easiest to use out the lot.  Maybe not very helpful on both accounts I guess.

[daveg]

Hi Terry



Looks like you have already plenty of ideas as to how to fix your point motor problem. Good luck with that.

There's a video on how to add images to your posts in the Help and FAQ section.

Look forward to hearing that you've solved the point problem and to seeing further posts with pics.

Dave G

[Tdm]

Hi Terry

Looks like you have already plenty of ideas as to how to fix your point motor problem. Good luck with that.
There's a video on how to add images to your posts in the Help and FAQ section.
Look forward to hearing that you've solved the point problem and to seeing further posts with pics.
Dave G

Thanks for the info - I use Photobucket to store pictures I want to share and on another Forum post the URL of the image I want to include. If I have read the Help section on adding pictures correctly for Websites, then on here I only need to copy/paste the Link so here goes adding a "3D" early picture of my layout (before I improved it) as produced by the "Scarm" software I used. Hope it works?

http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo231/Tdmak/Sundry%20and%20Miscellaneous/snapshot.jpg

[daveg]

That works fine, Terry.

If you did ever want to start an album here, you know where to find the 'How to'.

Dave G

[Newportnobby]

PS. While posting this reply NewportNobby asked about the tall tower
on my layout, and the answer is it is not based on a real tower, I was just using up some spare material I had and decided to make a Chimney, although in some respects it does resemble an existing Chimney at Morrisons Supermarket in Chorley, Lancs (my home town) who took over an old Woolen Mill in the Town but decided to keep the tall Chimney as a landmark.

Thanks for that. I asked specifically as I used to work in Chorley and thought the chimney looked vaguely familiar - well done, sir, at least you know it is recogniseable

[Tdm]

Thanks for that. I asked specifically as I used to work in Chorley and thought the chimney looked vaguely familiar - well done, sir, at least you know it is recogniseable

Both my wife & I were born & bred in Chorley as were our son and daughter, the son now living and working as an Accountant in Chester, and the daughter as a Financial Advisor in Chemlsford, and we now have 5 Grandchildren. Moved from Euxton, Chorley to Runcorn in 1979, then to just outside Conwy, North Wales in 1986, then emigrated in 2004.
Strange that in my 1st post on here I should receive answers from someone who knows Chorley, and someone else who lives near Chester. Wonder if I will get a reply from someone in Chelmsford?
I am used to using vBulletin Forums but this one works differently and I need to get used to it, at the moment trying to find out how to find & bring up all the posts for a given thread, not just my own, so I can make replies to people.
I am a Moderator on a Forum in Tenerife, but that is hosted differently too and the Website is - castleharbourcommunity.com.

Sorry to have gone off topic slightly - is that allowed on here!?
Shortly going to have another go at trying to make my PL-11 point motors work.
Regards
Terry