What's the approved solution for connecting a Legacy system to Atlas O track? Should I use an Atlas O track power section? If I do...does it connect both outside rails...like Lionel Fastrack does??
Thanks for any kind response.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Legacy does like the common on both outside rails. Regardless, if you only have one rail connected, try this:
Connect the Legacy base wire to the common output on the transformer that is connected to the track outside rail(s).
I don't know anything of the Atlas track but we use Legacy and TMCC in S gauge. We put it on both rails by using a capacitor between the two power wire to the track. If you do not know if the atlas track power section connects both rails you can check that with a simple continuity check, either an ohm meter across the two rails or power up the track and try a 14v light form the center rail to each of the outside rails. To see the how to get the signal on both powered rails you can go to http://www.tuveson.com/ see the section "TMCC for S" and look at "TMCC signal improvement". Carl has been a great help to the folks in S gauge using the TMCC/Legacy systems.
Ray
Originally Posted by SD60M:
What's the approved solution for hooking a Legacy system to Atlas O track? Should I use an Atlas O track power section? If I do...does it connect both outside rails...like Lionel Fastrack does??
Thanks for any kind response.
I connected all my power drops to Atlas track using Ingeniero No1's method shown here in his layout build thread. Works great, easy to do, no soldering and easy to change or move around later if you need to.
I have DCS using Star wiring (per Barry's book). I added Legacy later and connected the Legacy signal wire to my TIU's common outputs. I only have the commons connected to one outside rail (same rail on all loops of track) and it all works really well here. Many recommend connecting the Legacy signal to both outside rails which could be done with a jumper between the outside rails. My layout is only 6'x16' right now, but I hope to expand soon. It currently has 2 loops of track and some spurs and sidings.
Before finding Alex's build thread I was going to use the Atlas powered rail joiners or make my own. Alex's method is much easier and I am really glad he shared it in his build thread and I found it before I started building my layout. He spells out the proper drill bit size, screw size and wire size used. He has done all the heavy lifting in figuring this out and it really works well, IMO. As a very satisfied idea thief, I would highly recommend his methods. And his curve and track spacing jigs work very well also, I copied those as well. 
I made my own wire rail joiners and powered Atlas track that way. Legacy had no issues controlling the train on the track with only using one of the common rails.
Thanks for the replies...I appreciate it.
My experience with wire connecting the Legacy Cab1L base was that this part of it was pretty much trouble free. What I didn't know and do now is that Legacy uses the ground wiring in your house for signal transmission. Because the train room part of my house is old and wired before ground was a code requirement I had a lot of trouble with Legacy at first. After correcting this condition by adding ground myself, performance is excellent.
SD60M,
For Atlas O Track connection definitely follow Alex's advise posted by rtr12, however Legacy runs really really well with DCS, 1st I connect the Legacy Base to the opposite outside rail that the DCS/TIU would not be running on, then I connect the Legacy base to all the TIU Black out channels running to all my FasTrack blocks, this sets Legacy signal on both outside rails for max signal strength. This sets up great Legacy signal thru out my entire multi-level layout. I credit Marty F for his advise on working with both DCS & Legacy signal strength, from DCS magic lights to Legacy max signal, I have followed his advise and my layouts always run perfectly. Further working on my own I have found that violating the 12 track join rule for setting up blocks really does degrade signal strength thru out my layouts. IMO the best way to run Legacy is to run both Legacy and DCS together, using the block engineering method.
PCRR/Dave
