Powering off engine while in siding/working area

If you put a 1 3/8 piece of track at the start of each siding they come with a wire connecting the center rail and you can cut that wire and add a switch.

First make sure you have the center rail insulated from the connection of that siding to the Main line !   I use small toggle switches to feed the power to the siding!!!

You only need to interrupt the power to the center rail in order to turn off power to a siding or yard track. The 1 3/8" Fastrack "fitter" piece comes with the center rail already nicely cut, but has a wire underneath that connects two tabs on either side of the cut to override the cut rail and continue power. In order to interrupt power, simply put the piece at the beginning of your siding or yard track with the underneath wire disconnected and removed.

Now run a wire from one of the tabs underneath the fitter piece (where the removed wire was previously connected) to a simple toggle switch mounted on your layout and run a wire back from the switch to the other tab underneath the track piece.

When the switch is in position A, it will allow power to by-pass the center rail cut and supply full power to the siding so you can drive your engine onto it and, once on the siding, flip the toggle switch to the other position to cut power to the siding and the engines.         

Switches come in a variety of styles, including lighted options, and can be mounted near a particular siding or all together like on a control panel.

@Richie C. posted:

Now run a wire from one of the tabs underneath the fitter piece (where the removed wire was previously connected) to a simple toggle switch mounted on your layout and run a wire back from the switch to the other tab underneath the track piece.   

You can connect a power wire anywhere on the isolated siding. Rather than at the fitter piece.I prefer somewhere centrally located on the siding.

I use common houshold toggles found at the local hardware store. They're overkill in voltage rating and inexpensive.

It's a good idea to isolate and add a toggle to any track where you think trains may be parked and unused. This also prevents a catastrophe in the event you forget a switch is thrown into the siding.

It's also possible to cut a break in the center rail with a dremel but the fitter pieces are much neater. BTW fastrack switches o48 and above have a fitter with the removable wire already integrated.

@BobB78 posted:

As I am finally at a point of building out my electrical part of my layout. I am using Lionel FastTrack and running all Legacy engines. I am trying to figure out how to have my multiple engines sitting on a siding or in the working yard they can be powered off. While I am running Legacy, I do not currently have any base systems installed. I am running them on a PM180 with a PM 360 w/iphone. I am assuming at this point and until I can get configured with Base 3, I would need to wire in a switch between center rail and common? Am I on the right track or are there other options for this?

Thanks,

Bob     

Hi Bob, as the others have mentioned I have 10 switched sidings insulated by a 1 3/8 track section with the jumper wire removed. Each switch powers a section of track after the insulted piece. On a couple of sidings I used one of the terminals of the 1 3/8 section on the siding side. It works fine for me.

Gene

Thank you everyone for the info and the images. I thought I was on the right track ;-) but just wanted to make sure. I also enjoyed some of the images which provided me with some inspiration!

Bob

I’ve often thought about installing an on off switch on sidings etc but still have not done so. I leave legacy and TMCC engines sitting on a hot track while running other engines and have not had any issues. Been doing this for years. My thought (which doesn’t mean much) is that an inrush of 18 volts really smacks the electronics. After initial track power is turned on then all boards are accepting the 18 volts as they are designed to handle for long durations.

@romiller49 posted:

I’ve often thought about installing an on off switch on sidings etc but still have not done so. I leave legacy and TMCC engines sitting on a hot track while running other engines and have not had any issues. Been doing this for years. My thought (which doesn’t mean much) is that an inrush of 18 volts really smacks the electronics. After initial track power is turned on then all boards are accepting the 18 volts as they are designed to handle for long durations.

Anything you turn on, tv, espresso machine, air conditioner, light bulb, etc., anything and everything, gets power applied immediately.  Do these things fail earlier than normal because of an inrush when turning on?  Not likely, but ...

It comes down to this: Did the person who designed the input circuitry inside your locomotive, vs. your tv, espresso machine, or air conditioner, properly take this into consideration?

    If you believe the answer to be yes, then don't worry about it.

    If you know that the answer is no, don't use it, or even buy it.

    If the answer could be no, then by all means don't turn it on and off unnecessarily.

Which do we have here?

   Is Lionel stuff, especially the electronics, generally robust?   Yes.

   Are there occasionally, but fairly rarely, problems?   Yes.

In light of this what's the definitive answer?

There isn't a clear one, but I'm leaning toward "Don't worry about it".

Why?  While we know people come to this forum for help with occasional electronics issues, in general there are not many of these issues.  Additionally, there are some well-known chronic problems, but also not many.

I know that there are several, perhaps many, people who will disagree, especially if they've experienced a failure themselves.

Think about this however: We're only hearing about the ones that have failed.  What we really need to know also to put this in perspective, and in extreme cases whether there's a crisis, is how many good ones didn't fail?

And this we don't hear about in this forum -- ever.

Don't worry about it.  For almost everything in our hobby there are far more good than bad, and for those things with chronic problems we have our friends here reporting them so that that we can avoid those specific offending products.

Mike

I used lighted toggle push-buttons for my freight yard power.  Consider having illuminated switches for the power, that way you can easily see if the power is on a given track.