A Tale of Bad Tracks

Brian:  What is the curve diameter of these?  Are they Lionel?  

Wow...never would have thought to check the track until I double or triple checked everything else first. 
I'm glad you were able to get things up and running.

-Greg

Good catch. I know that was annoying.

Bob, Lionel tubular track, 0-72 curves.

Brian.....I feel your pain......happened to me while farther along on this layout, circa 93 or 94.

 

 

 

 

It took hours to find it......and it was a new piece of track, an O gauge half straight.

Glad you found it.

 

Peter

Hello Passenger Train Collector from the Great State of Maine.

      "I started to test sections to isolate the problem." What procedure do you use to isolate the problem?  Do you pull up sections of track or closed down the blocks on the main lines? It is disappointing find bad sections of tubular track.

      I looked at your photos, do you have missing or crack insulators in the ties? 

I use this old Craftsman Multi Meter, to check for track continuity.

Thanks for sharing this story and solving a complex track issue.

Brian, I am glad that you solved a very frustrating problem. Nothing is worse than finishing a project only to find a short with two track pieces no less. If that were me I would probably have pulled out the few remaining hairs I have left.

Bet that was a real head scratcher. Glad you found it and got it fixed.

Been there done that Brian! When I installed my Gargraves 5 rail I powered up for the first time and the breaker tripped. My work wasn't the problem but the track was sitting on the base of the Hellgate and shorted out.   Glad you found the problem.  

Had the same problem but it did not short until the test loco depressed the track. I check all my track out of the box now.

It happened to me too on a small layout thankfully but I still had to pull them apart to find it. In my case it was a nos 072 lionel curve section. I think it was missing one insulator paper.

Rob

You mean that there were sections where a tie had no insulator? WOW, I guess they never heard of quality control. You just don't think to look for missing insulators.

 

I had an even more frustrating situation with new 072's many years ago. The insulators were all there, but many had been punctured during the crimping process. This lead to intermittent shorts, which even with a meter, were hard to locate. Every time I moved the track, new ones would pop up. I found that removing the center rail, and gently re-crimping it usually solved the problem.

I had it happen on one piece of tubular, an insulator was missing. I check any new track now.

I check every section of track old or new with the meter for resistance,I have found about 12 096 and 40 inch straights that had problems over the last 10 years,both Lionel and K Line Tubular track.

Mikey

Long time ago, but I had one section of L's tubular that was missing insulator paper on one tie.  That's when I learned to test all new track with a multi meter.  Glad you found the issue.

Good move Brian.  Years ago (32.5) when I started my layout I purchased large amounts of K-Line extra long straights.  This was a big chance as the product was fairly new on the market.  I would hit each piece with the continuity meter before putting it in the layout as it is easier that way.  Every piece checked out and it is as good today as it was back then.  I want to see this great layout you are working on with Elizabeth.  I am sure I can get Chris and Captain John to do a spring road trip.  Please keep us posted with pictures.

Road trip to Maine?!  I'm in!!

Can you guys post the testing procedure you would go through to test the track before mounting?   Seems like a good check list to have in front of you to go through  with a multi meter. 

I have huge boxes of o and o27 that I need to go through.

Thanks

If anything can go wrong it will - Murphy. It's amazing where you can find a short. Use Gargrave track with Ross switches at the club. Hard to electrically short to wood but had other equally annoying problems. 

Glad you were able to solve the problem.

I hope I'm not posting something that everyone considers obvious, but since I haven't seen it mentioned here, I'll say it.

 

In the world of computers, a "binary search" is used in order to arrive at a result in the fewest number of tries.  The same thing applies to finding a bad piece of track.

 

I just had a short this Christmas on some NOS MTH Standard Gauge tubular.  The way I found it was:

1. Count your track and divide the layout into two halves (i.e., the same number of pieces of track on each half).
2. Separate the track at exactly the mid point you've determined.
3. Test each half separately for a short.  Most times you'll end up with a clean half and the problem isolated to the other half.  Set the clean half aside.
4. Keep reducing your layout by halves until you're down to the offending piece of track.

Again, sorry if this is what everyone already does, but if not, it's the fastest way to locate the problem.  The key is to eliminate half your track each time you plug in to test.  It significantly reduces the number of pieces of track you need to test.

 

SJS

"Do you pull up sections of track"

 

That's exactly what I did to isolate the problem. I started with large blocks of track and then narrowed it down. When I found the first bad track, I though I had solved the problem, but alas there was another. Did not take long after finding the first bad track to locate the other. Then I was good.

Good catch Brian, had the same thing happen to me, except it was after layout was up and running. One day I go to run trains and one loop kept tripping circuit, turned out to be the insulator on one of the middle rail ties moved just enough to not see, but enough to touch rail. Needless to say it was frustrating.

 

Art

had the same thing happen. Train set right out of the box for my son

for Christmas about 25 years ago. set everthing up the night before.

had a short. chcked all the pieces of track and one section was missing

the center insulator. Put in a small piece of card stock and we were in business.

Glad I tried to run it the night before an not Christmas morning.

still have that train set.

Brian,

   Good catch, it always pays to fully inspect and test your track.  Some of my very old 027 started to have similar problems when I used it last, even the new stuff today can have a bad track here and there, at least you caught it before using it in your Christmas layout.  Hope all is well in the great north east!

PCRR/Dave

Hey Chris, Brian and Elizabeth are the only people who ever served us fresh lobster on a train day.   Brian an Elizabeth working on a layout together is awesome.  This project will be the one to watch.