electrical questions related to 3 rail track

@JEFFREY RUCKGABER 050219 posted:

Actually, there was one other thing to which anyone can respond. I notice on the center rail of the Atlas O track, there appears to be a black coating of some type on that rail. I don't know if it's paint - but it is certainly something related to the manufacture process. I can remove it with the equivalent of a pencil eraser. Any thoughts about whether that is a good idea to help with connectivity?

I have Atlas track and have not removed the black coating. All the track was purchased new and has little runtime. My Legacy, ERR and DCS locomotives all run without a problem.

I wonder if you are experiencing conductivity issues with the rail joiners. If disconnected a few times, they can get loose. Also, the number of rail joiners that current will pass through is more important than the distance between power drops.

thanks Oman - I'll leave that center rail coating alone for now. As far as loose rail joiners - I'm sure that may have contributed to the power drops. I've been adding additional power drops to my layout and also connecting both outside rails to the ground buss. What I've done so far seems to have improved things considerably.

Hey Joe (I think of Jimi Hendrix) and Junior,

I just purchased 2 cans of wd-40 contact cleaner. We'll see how that does as well.

@JEFFREY RUCKGABER 050219

I have and had track section connection issues with my layout; which consists entirely of Lionel O tubular track. So you're definitely not alone when it comes to track section connection issues.

FYI....I've also encountered corrosion issues with the Lionel pins too; where I had to disassemble sections of track, remove the pins, clean the track with pipe cleaners, tighten the track ends, reinsert the pins and reassemble that section of track (thank God I haven't ballasted any track....yet ). I especially have this problem on curved track. Lionel's manufacturing standards aren't very critical when it comes to tubular track. As a result, track joints don't always butt up tight to one another.

Weak track connections can play havoc with DCS signal strength but appears to have hardly any affect with TMCC signal strength (that I've experienced any way).

Good luck with the track cleaning....hope it resolves your "challenges" .

Wow, I’m getting in late to this cool party, (Good Question) and there’s a lot of good ideas thrown your way, One Question, and you may have already said, what command system are you using? Second Question, have you disconnected your command system and ran a train in Conventional around your layout? Third Question, have you ran your command engine around your layout by itself? I have found that running trains on my layout, in command and 18 volts on the track,  (Lionel Legacy System), there is no power loss with Atlas O track. (Atlas O/Gargraves/Ross Custom). I used MTH’s idea of star wiring although I’m all Lionel Legacy, and the connections are every 15 feet apart. Two 180 watt bricks via TPC400 and two 180 watt bricks via Lionel’s new 360 watt PowerMaster. I hardly ever run conventional but can. I do have 19 blocks. The reason I asked about running a train in conventional, it will definitely show you where the voltage is low, and you can send feeders to that area.
keep us informed as you continue your journey to more consistent electrical smooth running of your trains. This is an interesting thread. Happy Railroading Everyone

First Question: Legacy command control.

Second Question: Have not disconnected Legacy and run a train around my layout. I do have a separate track I've set up using a TPC 300 in which I run my older (60+ years old) Lionel trains. Are you suggesting running a conventional locomotive on the "disconnected" track? If that's not what you meant, what would be the purpose for running a Legacy locomotive in "disconnected" mode? What will this show?

Third Question: Not sure how this is different from the second question.

Just reread the rest of leapinlarry's post - I'm in the process of adding drops every 6-8 feet on my layout and connecting both outside rails to the ground buss. And I'm also creating distinct and separate tracks for my layout. One powerhouse runs my staging. The second powerhouse runs one track and the third powerhouse runs a second track.

From what I've seen so far about adding drops every 6 feet or so - things have gotten much smoother with no real observable power drops or locomotive slow downs.

I believe with the steps noted above and making sure I regularly clean the track and locomotive contacts (wheels and pickups), I believe I may (at least I hope) to eliminate the majority of the issues noted in these various posts.

One last thing, I purchased WD40 contact cleaner yesterday, and I will use that to clean my track rather than 90% isopropyl alcohol.

Cross your fingers guys! :-)

Good morning @Jeffrey Ruckgaber 050219…. Sounds like your on to  a great plan. What I was referring to was, eliminate the command control system, unhook it, and simply run a train in conventional mode over the entire layout and watch it closely for power voltage drops. That’s a good way to see if your voltages has highs and lows.
What command system are you using?
Good luck and have fun. Your layout looks really neat. Happy Railroading Everyone

Jeff,

You can give me a call at Atlas MRR 908-687-0880 ext 7142. I can go over some things that might help you. If I miss your call leave a good reach telephone number and I will get back to you.

Steve H

@Junior posted:

Hi All...

I was able to locate the entire article that @Joe Fauty referenced above. Screenshots of the article are included below. Also, here's the link to where I found the article:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws...ne/index.html?page=9

That is a fantastic article, it made running on my vintage Flyer track so much better.

Ray