Constant power to Lionel O Guage accessory track

It is possible, but depends on which accessory track you have. The RCS and UCS are slightly different.  On the UCS track (it has a red or black magnet in the center) the third wire from the controller should be connected to fixed voltage on your transformer.  On the RCS section (no magnet), the fourth wire is connected to fixed voltage.  I don't know anything about Fasttrack, so I can't help you if that is what you are using.

It is also possible to use pushbutton or toggle switches to replace the controller, I've done so on my layout.  I will look tomorrow to see if I have a diagram of how I did it.

Thanks for your quick response, I believe I have an RCS track section as it does have a magnet (I have included a photo).  The actual controller is also an RCS with the four wires.

Butchie, you have the UCS track. It is possible to use a center off DPDT switch. Now that pumpkin carving is done, I took a few pictures of my installation ant the note I made when I wired it up.

The red wire goes to your accessory power source. Note the red wire is connected to 3 terminals.

I have a black wire on the center terminal right side of the switch which goes to the ground or screw terminal 4 on the UCS.

I have a yellow and a blue wire going to the remaining terminals (bottom 2) on the left side.
The blue wire goes to screw terminal 1 on the UCS. The yellow wire connects to screw terminal 2.

This is one of my installed tracks.

And here is the switch on my control panel.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you so much, and my apologies for the late reply as I had papers to grade and a curriculum to revise.  I have just gotten back around to reviewing your reply and will try it out today.  I'll let you know how it works.

Having had some time to study your diagrams,  I have a few questions.  The rocker switches I have been using on layout appear to be  on/off switches, I suspect that's what is meant by SPST (single-pole, single throw), whereas I noticed in your diagram you reference DPDT (double pole, double throw), which I assume means that it does more than on/off.  I have attached a photo of the rocker switches I am using. 

Second question, you show two switches in your diagram. Is one for the uncoupling feature and the other to activate the milk car, as I won't be needing the uncoupling feature. i assume then, I would only use one toggle switch for the operation of the milk car.

So I understand your wiring diagram, the toggle switches replace the control unit with the four wires that comes with milk car.  From left to right, the screw terminals on the control track 1, 2, 3, 4, the 1st screw terminal gets the blue wire from the toggle switch and the 2nd terminal gets the yellow wire from the same post on the toggle switch as the blue wire.  A red wire is connect to another pole on the toggle switch and then to the auxiliary power unit transformer.  A black wire is connect to screw terminal #4 on the UCS, but I can't ascertain which terminals the black and red wires are attached two on the switch?  I understand that this might all change if the current. rocker switches I am using need to be replaced with DPDT for the purposes of activating the milk car.  Thank you for your patience.

@Butchie,

One thing for you to consider is if the rocker switch is a momentary switch, or if power stays on.  If power stays on, the milkman will stay out until you turn the switch back off.  My switches are momentary, so when the switch is released it returns to the off position.

My picture shows above shows two of my installed switches. On each one, going towards the top (UC) activates the magnet, which can be used for uncoupling, or for any of the operating boxcars like the 3464 where the man comes out, or helicopter or missile launching cars. Those are why I chose to hook up both functions. Moving the switch towards the bottom (UL) will activate the rails for cars like the 3472 milk car, 3451/3461 log dunp cars, and 3469 coal dump car.

If you only want the unload function, it is possible.

Here is the way I was able to do it. The black wire is from the transformer ground and goes to terminal 4. The red wire going to the left is from transformer power and to one side of the switch.  The second red wire is from the other side of the switch to the 2nd terminal on the UCS track. The switch I used is a momentary on pushbutton switch, but there are also momentary toggle type switches.

Hope this helps!

I much appreciate your efforts but I could not get the toggle switch to work so I am using the traditional Lionel two button switch that works fine.  Do you have any insight into why my cattle car accessory keeps tripping the breaker on my transformer each time I increase the power.  I have the original wiring instructions from Lionel and followed them exactly as laid-out in the diagram and the circuit break trips consistently.  I am using  LIONEL 364C Switch. Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.

@Butchie posted:

... I am using  LIONEL 364C Switch...

More importantly, which transformer?

Although the Lionel accessory switch works fine, I would still like to use a rocker switch instead for the constant power.  Exactly what type of rocker switch should i purchase, DPDT momentary?  If so, I will purchase the switch and try your wiring again.

Butchie, I’m a bit confused on your intent. When you talk about constant power, what are you meaning? If you have a milk car on the track and apply constant power, the mechanism will push the man and can out and STAY out. It will not go back in and reload. Eventually the solenoid will overheat. If you use a momentary switch, power is on only while you have the switch to the on position, then returns to the off position when you release it, so the mechanism goes back in the car.

If you still only plan to use the unload function of the track any SPST Momentary switch should be fine. I think there are some momentary rockers available.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your question.

My overall objective was to avoid a situation where I might not have enough power to activate the milk car during the idling of the engine.  So I thought, what if I have another designated power source just for the milk car.  Accordingly, I thought I would need to have a switch that sends a strong enough signal to the milk car to dispense the canisters while the train is idling.  All the rocker switches I have are SPST, and was under the impression that I needed to use a TPDT momentary switch, that when thrown each time, will send a canister out of the train.   As you may have surmised by now, electronics is not my strong suit.

DPDT center off momentary (On)-Off-(On) is the switch you need to replace the Lionel two-button controller. Your choice of style, that doesn't matter, and the switch decision is separate from the power decision. Here is the diagram w/ DPDT switch & Aux power for the 6019, RCS & UCS are similar.

Ok, I had it all working yesterday and then took it apart to reinstalled it on the layout and somehow forgot the correct wiring.  I have attached the current wiring schematic I used.  The test track I 'm using is not currently powered except for the auxiliary transformer to power the accessory track.  The milk car is dispensing the canisters but I am also getting a rocking motion back and forth of the locomotive each time I engage the rocker switch.  Further, the rocker switch seems to only dispense the canisters in one of the two on positions.  It would appear that I might have reversed a wire or, have the wrong wiring on the transformer.

@Butchie posted:

...the rocker switch seems to only dispense the canisters in one of the two on positions...

That is correct, the unload position is the only one that should activate the car mechanism.

@Butchie posted:

.I am also getting a rocking motion back and forth of the locomotive each time I engage the rocker switch...

I would love to see a video of that... it seems you are sending some power through to the center rail in your wiring... there should be no connection to the third screw binding post when using fixed acc voltage in the diagram you provided. That is the center rail connection and will activate all trains on the otherwise dead track if power is applied here.

Thanks, that worked perfectly.   I disconnected the third wire and all good!