Lionel 3424 Brakeman Car

I had hoped that by now they would have made something besides the O27 to Fastrack adaptors.

There was an article in CTT in 2015 about this.

Just cut a piece of tubular in. Use cork roadbed.  Paint it grey, and add some ties.  

I heard people take a section of Fastrack, and using a dremel, cut slots to fit the brakeman track clip (the 3425-85/6) through the roadbed, and then connect the clip electrically to the outer rail.

Yes I did this but it's very easy to short out the track section to the center rail.  It is a difficult modification.

Craig Willard/Willard Animations posted:

Has anyone found a way to operate a Lionel 3424 Brakeman Car using Lionel Fastrack?   Is there an electrical way to trip the car while mounting the telltales along the length of track?  I have a giraffe car I also want to do this with. Thanks!

There is no electrical way to trip it.. its a mechanical action.    BTW:  on P. 38 of the just-released Lionel 2017 Christmas catalog there is a "Telltail Reindeer Car," No. 6-84341.  Says its "Fasttrack compatible."  So Lionel must have made some adjustments to the tripper device.  BTW, for the version of this car from 2007, No. 6-36849, the catalog said it was Fasttrack compatible also, so it is not a new development.  Check for parts on www.Lionel.com

I built a trip for mine on tubular track by modifying the contactor for the horse car. Perhaps hard wiring an activation track that has been squished to raise its height is what you are looking for.

RadioRon... the Brakeman Car is NOT a mechanical trip.  It is electrical. 

Jon

Im not even sure which we're talking about now.  My knowledge of them is- Original /older are electrical.   New Fastrack model looks like mechanical trip arm.....

The original 3424 Brakeman Car used an electronic mechanism triggered by a special unique shoe (474-5) that would allow activation when it contacted the thin rails (3424-85/6) that protrude from the tell-tale base (3424-60) which is attached and grounded to a strait piece of tubular track. There is no Fastrack piece that has provisions for these rails (not to be confused with the thicker rails of the operating track (6-12054) which is not applicable for this application). As such, a straight piece is modified (per earlier suggestion) to accept the 3424-85/6 rails.

As for the tangent conversation on the Giraffe and Reindeer Cars (Original or newer) are mechanically operated by a plastic guard rail (3376-105) connected to the same tell-tale base (3424-60). The new version comes with a Fastrack compatible piece (as seen here https://www.lionelsupport.com/...TaleInstructions.pdf )

The modern brakeman cars are of a completely different style - instead of the brakeman dropping at the tell-tale as in the original, the newer ones have an always on brakeman who walks the planks constantly with no triggering mechanism.

I have Giraffe car rails to trip the arm on the Giraffe cars at all tunnels and bridges.  I used 1inch wide x 1/4 in thick slats from old wooden shutters and rounded off the ends to to allow the trigger to ease up on the slat and trip the giraffe to duck.  The other end is rounded off too to allow tripping in both directions.  The trick is to get the slat the correct height and mount it with small blocks of wood near the track.  The slats are about 1 ft long to enter and the tunnel and the length of the bridges plus a few inches to allow ducking before and after the bridge.

I have a Giraffe train of 6 or so Giraffe cars and they all duck in sequence.  They are the kids favorite car and train.

Charlie

bmoran4 posted:

There is no Fastrack piece that has provisions for these rails (not to be confused with the thicker rails of the operating track (6-12054) which is not applicable for this application). As such, a straight piece is modified (per earlier suggestion) to accept the 3424-85/6 rails.

 

The operating track (6-12054) has hollow steel rails, correct? I do believe that these can be "mashed" to narrow and raise their height, then hard wired , making them suitable for operating the car; I have performed a similar operation on the contactor for the 3356 Horse Car to operate my 3424.