I noticed that in your first post, you didn't mention what type of track you are using. but in your last post you mentioned "blackened center rail," so I'm guessing either Atlas or Ross track. For some track, the two outside rails are not connected (Atlas, Ross with wooden ties, and maybe others) while for others (Lionel tubular, etc.) the outside rails are connected to each other. I'm no expert, but maybe when you hooked up the signals (if not all connected to the same rails), that might have caused some power issues?
Chuck
