Lionel accessories on Fastrack

Are you using the FasTrack Accessory Activation track set?   If so, are your gapped pieces (5") on either side of your connection to the accessory with the gaps on the same rail? ....AND, is/are the piece(s) of track between the gapped sections of the isolated variety (two outer rails NOT connected)??  Is your wire connection between the track and accessory to the correct (isolated) outer rail??  

If all of this is A-OK, we'll need more info on how you're hooked up.  Could be a gremlin or poltergeist!   Might need to call in an electricist!!

Many times I've seen regular Fastrack used between the two accessory activation pieces.  This will certainly cause the above scenario. This has especially been true if you are trying to put your 5" activation pieces on either side of a curve as Lionel only sells insulated sections as 10" straights.  Regular Fastrack has the outside rails tied together with a metal strip on the underside.  You can easily remove these strips to make your own activation extension pieces.  As DKDKRD said, the gaps in the 5" pieces need to be on the same side - then every piece between the two 5" sections needs to NOT have the metal strip on the underside tying the outside rails. 

Jim70,

if you tell us about which accessories, we can help.

many of the postwar accessories with three wires are easier to set up with a separate fixed accessory power source (or ACC posts on the transformer) and then use the third wire off of the FasTrack isolated outside rail to trigger the accessory.

They were triggered with a contactor that temporarily completed both hot and common from the weight of the train.

even with two wire accessories, I prefer not to power them with track power.

I'm planning to try hooking up the double signal bridge to a Fastrack activator track soon.  I want to include curve track in the "activation zone" so that the full zone is about 4-5 tracks long.  I only found a photo of a straight section online (taken from another page on this forum):

So if I remove this metal strip (on the left track in the above picture) from my curve tracks, I can include them in the accessory activation "zone"?  Is there any problem with operating a train through an extended zone like this - the train won't run out of power, will it?

Thanks!

I have many curves isolated with no problem. You will need relays to run the signal bridge. 

Thanks for the reply.  Sorry, I don't know a lot about electricity (less than the average person on this forum, surely): what's a relay?  I have the "plug, expand, play" version so I was just going to plug it into the activator Fastrack and go.  That doesn't need a relay, right?  (Or at least, no relay other than what's already built into the track/accessory?)

Can you put the metal strip back on the track after you take it off?

Thanks!

Yes, the metal strip can be put back on your track if you are careful not to mangle it when you take it off.

Can you identify which signal bridge you are planning to hook up? Is it Lionel, MTH, other? Do you have a part number? Can you post a picture? Thanks!

You are right! The Lionel Double Signal Bridge - Plug-Expand-Play (434-683174) does not require a relay. There should be a 3 prong connector that plugs right into the activation track.

Good luck!

BC1989 posted:

Thanks for the reply.  Sorry, I don't know a lot about electricity (less than the average person on this forum, surely): what's a relay?  I have the "plug, expand, play" version so I was just going to plug it into the activator Fastrack and go.  That doesn't need a relay, right?  (Or at least, no relay other than what's already built into the track/accessory?)

Can you put the metal strip back on the track after you take it off?

Thanks!

Yes, that is how to expand the activation zone. be sure to properly align the 5" pieces with the cut rail for isolation on the same rail at the beginning and end of the zone. Then, use regular track with the bars removed in between.

The plug n play system assumes that you are running at fixed voltage for LionChief or Legacy engines. The accessory may not have enough voltage when operating in conventional mode.

Yes, the bars can be replaced to return the track to factory. Use a large wide bladed flat screw driver to work the tabs with the least amount bending. Flat side under to stand it up, edge at the in a vertical position aligned with the tab to bend down.

Thanks all.  Yes, it's the Lionel plug, expand, play bridge, Lionel #6-83174.  I'm also using Lionel #6-81317, the accessory activator track.

Unsurprisingly, I've put this double signal bridge over two loops of track.  It works correctly on one, not on the other.

The inner loop works fine.  I used the accessory activator track and removed the metal strips from underneath four Fastrack curves (O-36).  The four curves and the activator track itself are between the two 5" insulated sections.  The signal works perfectly.  It's green until the train enters the loop, then it's red while the train is in the loop.

On the outside loop, I went even simpler but it's stuck on red all the time.  I removed the metal strips from two curves, which are the only pieces between the two 5" insulated sections.  I remembered to put the breaks in the insulated sections on the same rail, both on the same side of the track as the plug.  (This is also what I did on the inside loop, which works fine.)  And yet the signal remains stuck on red all the time.  Is this just defective or is there some common error I haven't tried correcting for yet?

Thanks!

I should perhaps mention that I find it strange that the two activator tracks are not identical.  Did Lionel recently adopt new tooling?  The plug fits properly in both.

They may have changed the style or look of the lock-on plug section, but it appears that the tracks with rail break are using the wrong rail on the second track.

The directions for accessory activator track make note to use the breaks on the rail opposite the lock-on. In the photo, I see a break on the same side as the lock-on.

If you look on the bottom of the activator track, the white wire is connected to the isolated rail. The 5" tracks with the rail break align with that rail.

I have a Lionel Gateman, the 364 Lumber Loader, and one Lionel accessory activator track section all here at my mother's house. I have successfully wired the 97 Coal Loader on my tinplate layout at my family's lake house, but not with these accessories here, even with Fastrack before.