# LGB 18000 switch troubles



## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Hello all,

A while ago I bought several of the HUGE LGB switches for a planned layout expansion.  At Christmas I set up some track for the kids and stuck in one of the new switches because I was short of straight track.  Well the first time one of my locos crossed it, a slider got jammed in the frog (which is like a big wedge) and stopped it dead in it's tracks (sorry...bad pun I know).  The slider isn't worn much at all and so I can't imagine I'm the first one to have this problem.  Has anyone had similar troubles or know of a fix for this big switches?

Thanks
Keith


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## gtrainman (Jan 5, 2008)

I've had something similar happen too me like you mentioned, I found that the shoe on one of my locos was slightly bent and it would fall off the edge of the rail. I bend the shoe out some and that ended my problem.


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

I had a similiar problem on a hand built switch.  The problem was a combination of a gap between the switch and the next rail [caused by a foot kicking it accidently], and a bent shoe.










I temporarily repaired the shoe, pulled the track back together,  and kept running.

Jim C.


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks, guys...I'll concentrate on examining the shoes for now, because not all the locos had the problem. I'm wondering if LGB changed the shoe shape because it's the new locos that had the problem (ie. G3/4 Heidi and not my son's Stainz).

Keith


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