Lionel 022 Switch Insulation

There are multiple points on the underside of the switch that are connected to the center(hot) rail.  The bottom plate is metal so if any of them come into contact with the plate there will be a short.  You come probably solve the problem with a couple of layers of electrical tape between the hot connection points on the center rail and the bottom plate.

I count two places plus the center piece of metal shaped like a '7' or dog leg.  As I recall on some switches there was a paper that covered the entire area between the switch and the bottom plate.

Cut light weight card stock to fit inside recess in the bottom of the switch.

See switch bottom in attached illustration.

Thank you, Bill and Susan.  

First, loosen the screws to determine if that stops the shorting. They may be too tight.

Next, if the three tracks connecting to ends of the switch are screwed down, the switch doesn't need to be screwed down.

An alternative would be to leave the metal plate off.

Thank you all for your help. I finally had a chance to dig into this issue.  I first loosened all screws in or near each of the four 022 switches. Still had a short. So I removed and tested each switch. They were all working properly. 🤔

Now I had the track broken into segments, which made it easy to locate the short. It turns out that there was 1 10in straight that was shorting out. I would have never suspected this piece to be bad. 

I swapped in a new straight, and carefully screwed all of the track back down, being sure to not “smash” down anything too overly tight. Issue fixed. Thanks again. 

JD2035RR posted:

Thank you all for your help. I finally had a chance to dig into this issue.  I first loosened all screws in or near each of the four 022 switches. Still had a short. So I removed and tested each switch. They were all working properly. 🤔

Now I had the track broken into segments, which made it easy to locate the short. It turns out that there was 1 10in straight that was shorting out. I would have never suspected this piece to be bad. 

I swapped in a new straight, and carefully screwed all of the track back down, being sure to not “smash” down anything too overly tight. Issue fixed. Thanks again. 

Good to hear that you solved the problem. The rail insulator material is pretty tough, but it does wear through.