39 Collectable Model Trains: Switches: I'm having power conductiontrouble beyond my non derailing switches.
Description
This article is from the Model Trains FAQ, by Christopher D Coleman with numerous contributions by others.
39 Collectable Model Trains: Switches: I'm having power conductiontrouble beyond my non derailing switches.
99 times of 100 power conduction problems are in the center rail
which has nothing to do with the non-derailing feature. On the
1122 the non derailing insulated rails are surrounded by
non-insulated rails providing two connections to each connected
track. With two rails to each track this usually is not a
problem. _BUT_ on the 1122E the insulated rails are NOT so
surrounded!!! They are the two closest rails in the Y part of the
switch.
--------------------------------
--------------=== -----------
-----------\ \ \---------- <--this one
\ \ \
\ \ \ <--this one
They must have insulating pins at their ends to insulate them
from the track ground or else they will be energized ALL THE
TIME. This will eventually burn up your switch machine and also
drain power from the locomotive.
If this in not the problem there may be an internal contact
problem. Because of the arrangement of the insulated rails on
your switch, there is only one outer rail connected into to each
track on the split end of the switch. This makes the probability
of a bad connection trough the base plate more likely than on the
regular 1122. The three center rails are connected through a buss
bar separated from the base plate by a paper insulator. The
insulator can fail and cause a short (rare) and more likely the
connection to the rail may have worked loose.
A simple test to find a bad connection is to take a foot of wire
and touching it to each rail on either side of the switch while
the train is running thorough the "slow" section. By doing this
to each switch and observing if the loco speeds up, you can tell
which rail is at fault on which switch.
Of course the fail-proof solution to a bad connection is to add
another transformer connection to the other side of the switches.
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