Traction Tires and 022 Non-Derailment Actuation -> Can Traction Tires Be Made Conductive ?

The traction tire does insulate the flat part of the wheel from the rail. Often the flange will make contact with the rail to complete the circuit and activate the switch. (as described by JTRAINS)
Perhaps a good cleaning of the flanges of the traction tire wheels, and the rail (including the side that contacts the flange) will solve your issue.
When I saw the problem, it was on single motored engines. To resolve it, I just ran the engines with the motor truck in the rear.

That's been something I've wondered about for a long time. Why don't train manufacturers put the Traction tires on the rear wheelset of each truck. Therefore eliminating the Traction Tire wheelset on the front end of each truck and messing up the non de railing features and actuating features of insulated tracks.

I finally got a couple of minutes to get back to this question this weekend and confirmed the same behavior could be reproduced on an insulated section.  The wheels are about as clean as they can be and I tested them for continuity using a DMM.  What really perplexes me is: why did this just start happening now after dozens of hours of running?  My next step is to replace the traction tire (which has been on for about a year) and see if that makes a difference for some reason.

A random thought occurred to me: is there a way to make a traction tire conductive without introducing other problems? For example, I could put some conductive oil on it, but I guess that defeats the purpose of a traction tire...

If it continues to cause you problems, just extend the switch's actuating rail by about 3-4" so the  non-traction-tire wheels on your Monon engine activate it. Cut a piece of rail on the adjacent track section and insulate it, then replace the fiber pin on the switch rail with a steel pin and move the fiber pin to the end of the new actuating rail.

On the off-chance that the worn traction tires somehow made a difference, I replaced them.  They didn't.

No one has taken up the question of whether traction tires could somehow be made conductive...

Jerry Nolan posted:

If it continues to cause you problems, just extend the switch's actuating rail by about 3-4" so the  non-traction-tire wheels on your Monon engine activate it. Cut a piece of rail on the adjacent track section and insulate it, then replace the fiber pin on the switch rail with a steel pin and move the fiber pin to the end of the new actuating rail.

WOW, it's just that simple.

JTrains posted:

No one has taken up the question of whether traction tires could somehow be made conductive...

I guess it could be possible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conductive_elastomer

wild mary posted:

Jerry Nolan posted:

If it continues to cause you problems, just extend the switch's actuating rail by about 3-4" so the  non-traction-tire wheels on your Monon engine activate it. Cut a piece of rail on the adjacent track section and insulate it, then replace the fiber pin on the switch rail with a steel pin and move the fiber pin to the end of the new actuating rail.

WOW, it's just that simple.

Indeed it is!    What's perplexing me is why it started happening now - and only on that one switch. I'm going to check the gauging of the rails next (although they were correctly snapped around the Bakelite "guides" in the switch body (to my eyes).