Lionel FasTrak 072 Right Hand Switch's

I don't have any Fastrack, but you might try checking to see if both pick up rollers are possibly hitting unpowered spots in the Fastrack switch at the same time. It sometimes happens where the pick up roller spacing is just right and they both hit dead spots on a given switch. This seems to be a problem that's reported here every once in a while. 

I think some pick up rollers can be turned around, rotated 180 degrees, but I don't know about the ones on those engines. I believe some here have reported that as a fix or at least a possibility of a fix.

It sounds to me like the pickup rollers on one truck aren't electrically connected to the engine. I had an Atlas SW9 stalling on every Fastrack O72 switch (in this case left switches) and discovered a cold-solder joint where the wire connects to the roller pickup assembly on one truck. 

Good evening,

RTR, this is possible since both of the Premier engines are the same length making the pickup roller on the front and rear truck the same distance.

The Railking EVO engine is shorter which would make the pickup roller closer to one another. Although this engine will pass thru the switch at a higher speed 20 + Scale MPH, it will not pass thru the switch at a lower speed, 5 Scale MPH

Lew, we have two engines which today is the first day they where ever on a set of tracks other than when they where tested at MTH.

Could it be a bad solder connection, yes but having two engines act the same way in the same spot on the FasTrack  072 Switch's seems to be unusual.

We also have the Railking EVO engine on the layout having problems getting thru the switch also at a lower speed.

Thanks for your responses !!!!!

Although pickup roller spacing problems would give you the results you describe, I would think that a Premier engine would have 4 pickup rollers.  Not likely that all 4 are on dead spots at the same time.  The O72 switches have short pieces of track that attach to two legs of the switch.  Those short pieces have a wire underneath that bridge the insulating gap in the center rail.  Is it possible those wires have come loose?  I would check the continuity of the rails.  You might also try to run the engines conventionally and see if the problem remains.

Those MTH engines you have look to have 4 pickup rollers and are the 2R/3R versions.  I would more likely think that you are losing your common connection as the engines are going through the switch.  The Lionel switches have one rail on each leg that is always connected to the common (the "black" wire).  The other rail of the pair loses the connection at certain points on the switch.  Lionel engines have both wheels on a non-traction tired axle electrically connected, so there should always be at least one wheel connected to common no matter where the engine is on the switch.  I am not familiar with the MTH 2R/3R engines so you might check to be sure that you have continuity between the non-traction tired wheels on the same axle.  You would also lose continuity if one of the wheels was dirty.  It is also possible that the pickup rollers are lifting the outside wheels enough that the needed wheel is losing the common electrical connection as the engine goes through the switch.  

Good evening  JFC454, your reply makes sense and these engines have traction tires on both trucks. Not sure what axles or sides I didn't take notice.

Instead of checking for the loss of power we very well could loosening the ground or common.

Going to check this tomorrow afternoon when we return to the layout.

We had another FasTrack 072 switch available that we removed the bottom access panel so we could see what is all going on in the bottom side of the switch and Lionel has defiantly used all the space under the access panel.

Thanks for your insight on this issue.

JFC454, just thought of something, one of our members working with us on this holiday layout has Lionel diesel locomotives. He operates these engines I believe with a Cab 1 style control.

I am a MTH operator and not real familiar with the Lionel control system.

When we tested the track for clearances we used these Lionel engines and I know we had no problem with these engines going over these FasTrack Switch's. 

I do recall we had trouble with the Engine # 2015 Railking EVO going slow 5 scale MPH thru the switch, didn't think much of it at the time because when the layout is running a train would never be going that slow thru the switch.

Tomorrow the first thing we are going to try is running these Lionel engines thru the switch's and see if there is and issue with the engines stalling on the switch's.

Let you know what we find.

Another possibility comes to mind. Fastrack track switches use buss-bars underneath to provide electrical continuity. The rails are crimp-connected to the buss-bars and if those crimps aren't tight there can be dead spots.

I had one O36 switch that engines would slow when going through it. I re-crimped the rails and solved the problem. Below are pics of an O72 switch with part of the guts removed providing better visualization of the buss-bars. The screwdriver tip points them out:

GUNRUNNERJOHN recommends soldering the tabs to the busses. As I have occasion to lift track switches I will solder those connections.

Good morning Lew, we are going to check this out also because I talked to the owner of all of this FastTrack and he had it on his home layout and never had any issues with engines, MTH or Lionel traveling thru the switch's other than occasional derailment.

What ever it is, it's something simple.

Thanks for your thoughts on this issue.

Let you know what we find later today.

FWIW, when I have a Fastrack switch open, I solder all the crimps, that insures that you won't encounter loss of power through the switch.

Good evening, before I go any further I want to clarify the engines we are working with.

The Premier engine is the Canadian Pacific Item # 20-1161-1.  This engine does have (4) pickup rollers. 

The Norfolk Southern Engine is not Item # 20-20917-1. This engine is a Railking Engine and only has (2) pickup rollers.

We have a Lionel Conrail engine and although it would travel thru the switchs you could see some hesitation in the engine while negotiating the switch.

We took all three engines and laid them on protective padding upside down so we could compare trucks. This is when I noticed the NS engine was a Railking. At this time we also found out the NS engine was not brand new but used.

We noticed that the Lionel Conrail engine and the MTH Premier Canadian Pacific trucks where about identical.

What we really noticed was on the MTH CP and the NS engines the wheels where very dirty in appearance.

I know the CP engine is new because I unpackaged the engine from it's shipping box. So where the buildup on the wheels came from is still mystery at this time.

We powered up the engines with a small transformer and was amazed how much material we cleaned of the wheels and pickup rollers on the new CP.

With this we put the CP engine back on the track and powered it up and went into the soft keys of the DCS remote to look at the Odometer and the reading was 2.3.

With the CP engine on the track it traveled thru the 072 switch's at 5 Scale MPH and the engine had no trouble.

Tried backing the CP engine thru the switch and again had no trouble. The diverging route off this switch just goes to a siding in a tunnel for train storage and the engine traveled thru this siding with no issues.

Problem solved with this Premier CP engine, dirty wheels and pickup rollers.

Cleaned the wheels on the Railking NS (2 pickup rollers) and using a small screwdriver we scrapped the buildup from the wheel surfaces and flanges. Cleaned the pickup rollers also. We did notice the pickup roller on the cab end was tweaked but shouldn't be an issue, Note I said shouldn't be an issue.

Put the engine on the track and again the engine would not travel thru the switch without stalling. Even at a higher speed the engine would stop dead.

Decided at this point we are going to remove the 072 switch's and solder the connection as shown in Lew's and John's messages. Not that big off a job and I can see the advantage of making a solder connection for continuity thru the switch.

With the switch connection soldered the switch's where put back on the layout and again the NS engine was fired up and ran thru the switch's at 5 Scale MPH.

Again as before the NS engine would stall on the 072 switch.

Took the engine back off the layout and again laid it upside down. The cab end pickup roller still does not look like the rear.

Carefully we straighten the pickup roller frame and bent it up slightly so the pickup roller would have slightly more pressure on it when the engine was sitting on the track.

 The NS engine was set on the track and powered up, and this time the NS engine went thru the 072 switch's without stalling at 5 Scale mph.

Operated the NS engine in a siding where we have two more 072 switch's and the engine would jerk and try to shutdown, but at times would try to make it thru the switch. Tomorrow we will remove these switch's and make the solder connections as with the other 072 switch's.

So what was learned by this experience,

Make sure the wheels and pickup rollers are clean on the engine whether it is new or used,

If it looks wrong it most likely is wrong,

Solder the connection on Fastrack Switch's,

And the most important thing is, most of the time it's always something simple !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this case it was several simple things all adding up to one big issue !!!

Thanks to everyone that helped me solve this issue with these MTH engines and FasTrack switch's.

Sounds like you're on the road to happiness.

Something like that John, thanks again !!!!