Fastrack dead spot

It could simply be the track. FasTrack can be finicky for no apparent reason. 

I would remove the curve and exchange it with another curve on the layout. Just switch their location.

Wiping the top of the track to clean it sometimes cures an issue like that. Isopropyl Alcohol is difficult to find now - but, if you have some give it a wipe. I use Denatured Alcohol, which you can probably find. It has a smell when it evaporates that some find unpleasant.

The last resort is to run a set of power feed wires to that section.

Good luck!

I had a problem with a section of Fastrack. What I did was spray some electronic cleaner by the joints without taking apart. Wiped with a piece of cloth sprayed with cleaner and wiped by connectors and then sprayed again. That was over a year ago and haven't had a problem since.

@josef posted:

I had a problem with a section of Fastrack. What I did was spray some electronic cleaner by the joints without taking apart. Wiped with a piece of cloth sprayed with cleaner and wiped by connectors and then sprayed again. That was over a year ago and haven't had a problem since.

Had same issue this Christmas with my Lionel E6 running in Command mode on a section of straight track; put a meter to it and found voltage was less than 9 when it should have been 18; removed it and tightened the contacts along with cleaning them; solved the problem.

Fastrack is subject to poor continuity at the joints. Lionel recommends a fix: slightly bending the center rail pins to create a good friction-fit with the adjoining track piece.

As seen in this pic, bend the tab in the direction the screwdriver is pointing:

I also lightly crimp the outside rail "empty" ends to ensure a good friction-fit with the adjoining joint tab.

I'd caution about bending the tabs as far as illustrated, before you finish your layout, you'll have several broken tabs.  You only need a small angle on the center rail pin for a good connection.

FWIW, I also use Deoxit D5 on the pins when putting Fastrack together, works great and solves many connectivity issues.

Hopefully, the above tips work but, as a last resort, you can always jumper the offending section of track to a good section using a couple of wires connected to the tabs on the underneath side of the Fastrack.

Thanks for the replies so far. I just cleaned the track and it’s still doing the same thing. I attached a video to illustrate what’s happening. The curved pieces go into two small straight sections before hitting another curve. 

As previously alluded to in this post, you likely have a resistance issue with a center rail joiner which drops available voltage. One thing resistance always does in electronics is make heat as a by-product. After running awhile, run your hand cautiously over the center rail joints and the heat produced will highlight your bad connection.

just tested it again and it’s cutting power to the engines when it hits the piece of curved track in the foreground of the video, just to the right of the signal bridge. I’m hoping that pulling up the track and slightly bending and cleaning the pin will do the trick. 

I didn't see anything in the video that would change my mind that it is a connectivity issue that could be solved by the suggestions in this thread.

If you have a voltmeter, you can always take readings along the track and see.

I'm agreeing with Carl. If you're going to pull out the curve, just replace it with another piece. I'd put another feeder wire on it while I was at it and be done with it once and for all.

Looks like a high resistance joint to me.  

I made a video about some bad fastrack curves taken from my layout a few years ago and what I found was causing the issues.  If I remember correctly, the center rail on this batch of fastrack had a center rail slightly lower than the earlier and later batches and was made worse during the colder months.  Somehow, on just these O36 tracks, the slight difference would intermittently loose contact.  All the info is in the video and in the description.

Ultimately, I just replaced these tracks and now only use them on temporary Christmas tree layouts, but I also increase the center roller contact slightly on locomotives that experienced the issue.  Thomas just happened to be the most deterministic for the issue diagnosis.

Well, I fixed it. After unscrewing enough sections of track (🤬) to get the curve up and separated, I adjusted the center pin and pinched the outer rail slightly. Put it all back and...still the same issue. Luckily I had some of the black center rail curves that’s for emergency purposes, and this seemed to fit the bill. Swapped in one of those curved sections, and that did it. So that one curve of Fastrack must have gone bad somehow, but it is working well again. I thank all of you for your help once again, I truly would not be able to fix all these problems with the advice and help I’ve gotten from everyone who’s responded. Thanks again and stay safe!

James

So far I've been lucky with suspect O36 Fastrack; having a meter to read the track voltage helped immensely; bought all of my Fastrack beginning in 2014; I used the solutions above especially the bending of the center contact and cleaning the contacts.

If it is a permanent layout your might consider soldering jumpers between to the bottom side of the track between pieces.  Lionel has a video about this on YouTube.  It is what they do with their display layouts.

I had the same issue-  a bus wire jumper connection wire soldered to the Fastrack curve had become disconnected- re-connect and problem solved.   I was careful as I assembled, followed the Mike Reagan recommendation of checking as I assembled the track sections.  Frustrating at the beginning , but now it all works well.  

See:  https://www.modeltrainforum.co...rack-troubles.63465/

These track sections are probably the best as far as a "toy" assembled and torn down- like a "carpet central".  rugged, and easy to assemble. But for a permanent layout setup, you have to put them together well up front, using soldered vs. quick slide connections, as designed. 

I have been pleased with Fastrack- it is running well, now three-four years later screwed down in a permanent layout.  

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'd caution about bending the tabs as far as illustrated, before you finish your layout, you'll have several broken tabs.  You only need a small angle on the center rail pin for a good connection.

FWIW, I also use Deoxit D5 on the pins when putting Fastrack together, works great and solves many connectivity issues.

John, I've [carefully] put that same angle bend on every joint of a 12' X 11' Fastrack circle and have not broken a center-rail tab. It is the same issue as putting a slight bend at the very tip of the point rails of O72 Fastrack track switches. It is some kind of die cast "pot" metal which does tend to brittleness and extreme care must be taken not to exceed what the metal will "give".

I have had three outside rail pins spontaneously break though.  Again, the pins are die cast "pot" metal. I seem to recall discussion here about a bad batch of pins?

I think there was a batch of pins in Fastrack that was very brittle, I broke a couple myself.

On then very few occasions I had a dead spot problem I found the problem piece of track and just replaced it. My 0-36 loop has 2 10” straight pieces that have been acting up and causing a problem on one curve and a bad connection on those pieces.  I’ll be removing those problem children with a couple of new pieces.