so I was running my Lionel legacy H10 and it stopped but the sounds wear playing. I thought oh track needed to be cleaned so I did that and it happened again. So I decided to run my ALCO RS3 ( from 1992 ) and discovers there are dead spots in my track. Note I just have a simple oval. How do I fix dead sections of track.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
What kind of track?
Lew
geysergazer posted:What kind of track?
Lew
Lionel fast track
Is the center rail making good connection from piece to piece?
PRR_railfan posted:geysergazer posted:What kind of track?
Lew
Lionel fast track
Aha! Fastrack is kind of notorious for this but is easily fixable. Lionel recommends that you laterally bend each center-rail pin a few degrees (towards the hollow side of the rail) to create a positive friction fit with the next track section. It takes a couple tries to figure out how much of a bend is needed but then it is smooth sailing. I also LIGHTLY (again, takes a couple tries to figure out how much) crimp each outer rail hollow end to similarly create a friction fit with the next track pin. Some people flip each track piece over and solder the outer rail tabs to flat the cross jumpers between outer rails. If I have occasion to lift a Fastrack track switch for maintenance I plan to solder all rail-tabs to all flat cross jumpers, of which there are several inside each track switch.
Bend towards the screwdriver tip in the pic, that is, to the left.
Lew
Make sure you have enough power drops for the length of your track.
Once you remove all the dead spots and get good continuity and voltage all around by using Lew's tips,
you can use black binder clips to help keep the Fastrack from working apart and maintain a good connection. I believe the ones shown are 15mm or possibly 3/4".
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
