help? track weirdness

It sounds like a conductivity issue. Do you have power drops on that straight section of track? if not then put some in and see if it happens again.

each leg of the switch should have power drops connected so you don't rely solely on switch contacts to distribute the power...esp when one hhas a long passenger train with dual motored locos and fully lighed passenger cars.

You aren't doing anything wrong, but you are losing power just long enough for the e-unit to cycle. You shouldn't need more power drops for a layout that small. Realtrax is known for having trouble with those copper connectors at the joints. Take the bad section apart and bend the tabs so they make better contact. This is not uncommon when sections have been assembled multiple times.

well i double checked with my Fluke ohm meter, and i get a tone through this stretch. it goes through the first switch fine, but screws up through/in the second switch.

this MTH realtrax is getting real frustrating! i can get the locomotive to go around, once maybe twice, and then the problem rears its head again!

Join a couple of outside rail together with a wire or alligator clips for testing

Do you have another engine? That little steamer may be part of the problem. Check the wheels and rollers, make sure they're clean. Try locking the e-unit in forward. It is possible that the short distance between rollers may be causing the trouble.

im getting so frustrated with this track! given three seconds i would swap all this MTH for a bunch of good old fashioned tubular O and O27

Try pulling a few cars behind, that should temporarily  join the outside rails together ,  I just look at one piece  real traxk I have here  and both outside rail rails are insulated from each other, I'm not sure if the lock on attaches both outside rail together. If not that can be a problem especially at switches.

Hang in there, you'll get to bottom of it.

If the engine at the top of the first picture id the one having issues, check to see if both front and rear pickup rollers are connected. If the wire to one pickup is broken the e-unit will cycle at the short non powered sections as it crosses the switch.

Not just on Realtrax switches, most any switch depending on radius of the turnout.

I have 10 engines I have run on my Realtrax layout with 7 switches in the main loop and none of my engines have the trouble you are experiencing.

Those switches are O-72's, I do have a couple O-31's in the yard ladder, my engines can traverse those as well.

2 of my engines are Lionel docksiders, those have very short pickup spacing and I only have trouble if they are going slow when they cross the switches.

So check to be sure both ends pickup rollers are working, they are critical.

By the Way,  Love your tagline quote.