Fastrack Girder Bridge does not WORK

Are you talking about 6-81248 or something similar?

The rails are single pieces. I've had no issues with them. Try taking a wire brush to the pins at the ends of the rails. They might just need a light cleaning. Who knows what kind of solvents, etc are on them from the factory.

As far as I  know the 6-82110 Fastrack Extended Truss Bridge has not arrived so it must be something else. 

Mike

base11 posted:

Bought two of the newest versions of Lionel's new girder bridge with the built in rails.  Neither one conducts electricity !!.  Replaced it with two regular Fastrak straights and all is good.  Obviously I have to call Lionel tomorrow to find out what's going on.  My questions is--Does anyone have these and are they working correctly?  If you have had the same problem, let us know and I will relay that to Lionel.  Thanks for any help

it's good to post the product number. it does have a metal base. Have you checked continuity with a meter between the rails and the base? There shouldn't be any.

http://www.lionel.com/products...irder-bridge-6-81248

I Checked everything numerous times.  Changed track pieces, tried putting beige in different locations, nothing worked.  Finally took it back for a refund.  Very disappointed because the girder beige was a definite design improvement.  Very realistic.  I'll probably just get the old style girder bridge that was adapted for Fastrack.

You said you would call lionel. What did they say? 

Romiller 

I have the same problem.  I have two of these newer Fastrack girder bridges (6-81248) back-to-back over a "lake".  I do have a small "island" of land to support the center area between the sections.

At slow speed my engine stops at the rail joint between the two sections.

At higher speeds the engine will go over both bridges.

I intend to check the continuity on the center rails this weekend to see if the "fix" by bending the center rail tab will work.

Please post if you have talked to Lionel and they have offered a suggestion.  I will also try to call Lionel if I cannot find a solution.

BTW, the rails are not as bright a silver color on these bridges than is the rest of the Fastrack. The rails on the bridges are a more of a matte color gray.  I have cleaned the rails several times which seems to help temporarily but not for long.

I guess you have encountered the TOP SECRET Chinese non conducting metal rails...Sheeesh, what next? 

I will be at York and I will talk to someone at Lionel.  I will post what I find out

I talked to a Lionel rep at York.  They also had some problems with their girder bridge on the display layout.  He said they have had a lot of feedback on the problem.  It is probably a manufacturing problem.  Possible solution is to put some pressure on the center pin using the edge of a table.  They got their loop running.  

Base11

Did you get your bridge to work?

I took both of mine off of the layout, bent the center rail pin toward the existing outer rail pin and put everything back together.  I even fastened the bridge to the layout with a screw to keep it from possibly shifting.

Train ran fine for a few laps so I thought that the problem was fixed.

That was a week ago.....today the engine is stopping again at the joint between the two bridges....

You would think that brand new Lionel fastrack bridges would work better than this or at least they would have included a way to get power to the bridges if they suspected a potential problem.

They look great, however, there does appear to be a connectivity issue...

Not only check the center rail, but the outside rails.  I don't have this bridge, but I do have lots of FT.  When I have dead spots, it's almost always a bad outside rail connection, not the center rail.