fast track 072 switches

You have to check where the pickup rollers are when the engine stops.

its not a power issue. i don't have a ground on the out side rails from the start of the curve where those 2 rails are isolated from the end rail of the curve. the center rails have 18 volts all the way though the switch. thats why im confused of what it might be?

Just to clarify ..... I'm assuming you are powering the switch from track power. Are you saying that, with transformer power on, if you put one test lead on the center rail of the switch and move the other test lead to different locations on the outside rails that you sometimes lose the 18 V reading ?

no im sorry let me clarify. i am not using track power for the switch. i am power with acss power. the 2 isolated outside rails past the turn have power going though them. they are not ground. they are showing power back fed from something in the board or track. i have tried to track it down, but im feeling it may be in the board it self and have no way to test it?

There have been some issues with switches wired incorrectly from the Lionel factory, especially when using auxillary power.

Look at this link and see if it helps.

Fastrack Remote Switches Shorting Issue Fix.pdf

thanks. i will take a look at that tonight. hopefully that is the issue. that's an easy fix...

If the switch is not level, there may be a spot where the "neutral" contact is not happening due to a slight "imbalance"... if its a common diesel engine, only 2 of the four wheels would provide contact as the other two have rubber tires.   Look closely and see if you have a secure contact for both hot and neutral at your trouble spot(s).  

I have recently purchased a legacy 4-6-2 and discovered the lead truck was isolated from the rest of the engine and would not pick up the neutral going into a cross over and stall.  

i will give that a look at also tonight. funny we have 24 other switches on this lay out, and none of the other are giving us this issue. only the 072's. but that part of the fun, trouble shooting issues...

Having a similar issue with 072 command control switch fast track . I have 2 on my layout and the dead spot is when train goes through the straight or the curve. The dead spot is very small. I am running a VL Challenger through the switches and it stops if running slower than speed step 45. Most of the time it is when all the pickups are within the switch but my last test the front pickup was actually outside the switch on the next track piece which I thought was odd. Any advice on what to look and potential fix for it is appreciated. I will try to swap in 2 other switches I have to see it is bad switches. They were working fine for about 3-4 days with a couple hours of run time on them each day with Legacy H-10(small electrical footprint) and Legacy AC-9 running. And the challenger wasn't having an issue until now(worked fine for about 4-5 hours of run time). I will note these switches are busy as they are loop back of end loops for the current layout. This layout is on a carpeted floor.

I cleaned the track and cleaned the pickups on the VL challenger.