Lionel 213 train stop circuit

A post-war #213 does not, to my knowledge, have a fusible link.  Do you have access to a digital voltmeter with a range of 0 to 30 Vac?

"There is an undescribed little mark..."  Well, try to describe it.

Arthur, I don’t think that we are talking about the same thing. The 213 was cataloged but never made until the modern era.

Oh, right. I mistook it for the Bascule Bridge, number 313. Sorry.

I tracked down your earlier thread here.

Summarizing.  You now have two (2) bridges where the seemingly simple electrical connection from "here" to "there" is lost.  Presumably you will be lifting up the track section to see if that red wire is more than "just" a red wire!

If there is in fact an undocumented fuse, it is hard to believe they make the user pull up the track to replace it.  Consider replacing it with self-resetting fuse.

The coincidence with the derailment is interesting...but with an albeit brief web search I did not run across any other reports/complaints about an inconvenient mystery fuse in a 213.  Perhaps your two bridges came from a batch where, say, a bad solder joint or crimp connection caused the red wire to come loose from vibration over time.

Stan,

Thanks for your reply and digging up the diagram. I won’t be pulling up the bridges anytime soon. Most of the scenery is done and there are turnouts at both ends of both bridges.

I don’t doubt that they would do that because of an earlier problem with a modern  culvert unloader.  I helped a friend work on this for another friend. The tiny motors on the trolley  that control the movement of the pickup stopped working. The diagram showed a direct electrical connection between the base and the trolley. We were able to operate the motors using a small power supply. We finally pulled the connection out and found a bad diode that was used as a voltage regulator. No mention of it anywhere.

Thank again!

I understand the lack of enthusiasm to rip up the layout!  As GRJ would say, Nothing is so easy as the job you imagine someone else doing!

But just so I understand your workaround, by removing the insulating pin you are providing continuous power to the track section approaching the bridge (whether it be up or down)...and assuming the engineer is up to date on his Form D instructions (a.k.a. not asleep at the wheel).

I suppose another possibility is the "red wire" is of an insufficient wire gauge and behaved like a fuse in response to the derailment short-circuit.