Well , I gave up on my fast track and took it all out. Today my last batch of Menards track came in. This loop is 12x9. I started to put it together, but each joint was, lets say a little loose. well a pair of needle nose vise grips and a little work, all is well.. It has a constant 18 volts all the way around , so, I'm a happy camper now... I have 7 different loops on my layout ,so I'm hoping this will be the last time I replace some track... ya right... Bob..
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FWIW, if you measured your 18 volts with a digital voltmeter and no current flowing to a load, you wouldn't detect even a very poor connection. It is only when a substantial current is flowing through the poor connection that you will see a voltage drop. A one ohm joint is troublesome, but the meter wouldn't even flinch at a 1000 ohm junction without a load current flowing.
I have a KLine boxcar with a voltmeter in it.that's the way I judged it
If the boxcar was the only thing on the track, you really didn't measure anything useful.
Thanks Dale for the info
Doesn't the K-line car have a resistor bank to create a load? Though I have no idea if that suffices to make the measurement accurate.
How about pulling the voltage car with an engine that is drawing about an amp or so? Would that be enough of a load?
I don't know if the boxcar has an internal load. An engine and/or a bunch of passenger cars with incandescent lights would work. You might want to stall the locomotive with your hand at various test spots so that it draws more current. If it is crawling along, it won't draw much. A PW engine would draw more than a modern can-motor engine.
How wide are the curves on the track you bought.
If you have only one feed point in a loop, you can pull apart the track joint (all rails) just to the left or right of the feed point. This makes all the current flow in a well defined path from the feed point to your test point, rather than an ambiguous path that could be either way around the loop.
With the 36 curves I got it runs great with everything I have including TMCC engines and others with a load behind. Thanks for all the feed back !!
ok, getting back to the track. Did you compare to previous Lionel or USA track that is out there for standard gauge. I was just curious as Menards advertises this track being made with a much heavier material. Please let me know your opinion on this. Thanks!
JoeG
Wow, that says something when fastrack gets replaced by tubular....jim
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