Fastrack Accessory pack and Sparking

I would imagine that cleaning your rolling stock wheels for electrical conduction has not been a part of your maintenance regimine.

Everyone has their witches brew so expect to get lots of suggestions recommendations. For myself, of which my collection consists of mainly postwar items, I carefully drench the wheel with goo gone and let it sit for 5+ minutes. I then use a small flat blade screw driver just about the width wheel and rotate the wheel while scraping the crud off. Once cleaned, I remove any goo gone that remains with a shop towel and then lubricate the wheels and axles with Labelle 107.

Other things to consider - if you lengthen the insulated section, you have more axles to carry the current. Additionally, use rolling stick with metal wheels, trucks and frames. This give multiple paths for the current to pass.

Track clean--yes--wheels--sadly, no.

Will take your suggestion and clean them as well.

Thanks!

Another option for accessories that have a higher current, use a relay between the track activation and the device.  This also can be filtered to eliminate chatter as the wheels move on the track.  This is what I use for signals, works just as well for any accessory.  It's DCS compatible, buffered to eliminate relay chatter, and has inrush protection to minimize arcing at the wheels.

Do you have an accessory terminal on the transformer or another transformer to provide the power for the gateman?

Wiring the gateman

Even when you wired off of track power with the 145C contactor for Lionel O track, you would get sparks.

Gunrunner's solution prevents that if you must use track power.

the attached diagram shows the lock-on at the lower right connected to the outside or to keep the light on. That's just transformer common (U)

The second is connected to the insulated outside rail to activate the gateman.  It should help identify which terminals to use.