I'm having a problem with an E-Z Track 44861 Remote Left-Hand Switch. Every time I take the turnout to the inside track my cars derail, but only if they are being pulled by the locomotive. If they are being pushed, or if they are being pulled over the same area of the switch backwards there is absolutely no problem at any speed. It is frustrating that all of the cars in the set will do this on their own if being pulled behind the locomotive.

Can anyone suggest a fix? I think there might be too much distance between the straight section and the switch when activated to use the turnout. I just can't figure out why under any other circumstances it doesn't derail the cars. 

When I was young, a long time ago, I actually worked on the rails for a few days. My father's employer was President of the Lamoille County Railroad at the time and needed people to pick up ties and rail on the section through town. The work was typically dirty and hard, but it sparked an interest in the line that I never thought about before then.

There wasn't much choice at the time for what model railroading you could do, only HO was available in town so that's where I started. I didn't really have the ability to do much other than run a starter setup. Then came the girlfriend years and model trains were not a top priority.

What next? Well, I went into the Air Force and my first base had some of the oldest training devices still in the inventory. Toward the end of my time at that base I was lent out to the B-52 and KC-135 "flight simulators" in the rail cars. You read that right. We had stationary simulators in modified railroad cars. I'm sure a lot of you aren't surprised.

I got out of the Air Force in 1990 and went to work for a gun importer working in, what else, a railroad paint shed. Yes, it was bit different than some you may have seen because it was closed up for security reasons and the tracks were long ago abandoned, but still there.

How does that relate to model railroading? Well, once in your blood model railroading doesn't go away. When my first son was bore I started thinking about model railroads again, but it took some time to find what I wanted, of course in HO. We had a small setup in the basement where we lived then and we really didn't go into much more than rearranging the track in different layouts to make it a little more fun. Then we moved and the set has been "lost" to storage ever since. It really irritates me that it isn't where I can get to it. I actually tried to look for it a few years back, but there is no place to start that isn't hard work for a week. I'll get it out some day.....

Now I have a second son. Late in life baby that he is, he lags his closest sibling by 11 1/2 years and his oldest by 19 years, so it's time for Dad to do something we can both enjoy. He's 6 now, but this is something for both of us, and since we don't have much room, I've decided to go N Scale. What about all my real connections to railroads? Well, I have a railcar coupler knuckle from one of the Lamoille County Railroad cars that I got to use as an anvil. That's my keepsake from my short days working on the rails.

I guess some of us bleed oil and grease and breath smoke and fire. I also stuck to some of my other bad habits in electronics, radio, and firearms. Metal and all forms of fire just go together.

Thanks for having me.

What's your story?

I'm looking for a few more pieces of track to expand the Super Chief set that I got for my son and I to have fun with for Christmas. I need curved track to do a one ended double oval? What size track will I need? I have tried a layout software and it seems as you need 11.25" track to make a 24" circle, so would I get more 11.25" curved track to do the outside end of the oval? I have some straight track to turn the circle into a simple oval already, and I bought the left and right turnouts for this new layout. I just need to know what curves come with the Super Chief set.

What's the best source for layout ideas for N scale??

Thanks