Resetting track shorts caused by derailments

That is the process I use, and have had no issues.

Power strip with a breaker and on/off switch with everything plugged into it.

If I pop a breaker, I switch power off at the strip, fix the derail, reset the breaker, then power the strip back up.

This ensures the TIU sends new watchdog signals on all channels so I don't get engines coming up conventional.

Joe, you may want to consider using Polyswitches in your variable voltage lines.  With the correct value used they will trip before your bricks or TIU and they auto reset when fault is cleared.  See more info here http://www.slsprr.net/technical/CircProt.htm

Replacing fuses can be expensive.  I use circuit breakers.  A breaker having a value of 10 amps or less should open before a TIU fuse blows. They can be had fairly inexpensively.

On my layout I know the location of short (eg which loop etc.) and I just power off that Lionel brick (one brick per loop), fix the short (derailment) and then depress the red button and turn the brick back on.  I only power off my power strips at the end of an operating session.  I think the only way you could injure your electronics would be if you held down the red button (breaker) while turning the brick back on or if the short were still there and you turned the brick on and then depressed the button. In over 5 years of constant use I have only burned a fuse in the TIU once.

Dear Susan:

It looks like I should use the  "Hold Current of 9A to run two long passenger trains or two postwar trains - Mouser #650-RUEF900 " I have up to 3 trains running at once, on a 4 channel TIU layout, powered by two lionel bricks. This means that there may be two engines running on the same channel at once.

I guess there is a chance that 3 engines could be on the two channels powered by the same brick. Would this size of polyswitch still work?

It looks like I connect the polyswitch  between the transformer hot terminal and the TIU. In my case I have one brick supplying two TIU channels, so I would run these through a terminal strip on the input side to keep the wiring simple.

With my wiring layout, I will need two of these polyswitches, however  should I buy some spares?

Thanks for your input, as this looks like a simple yet effective solution, and improves on having to power down the entire layout, thus disturbing other train operators using different parts of the layout.

Do you think I will be able to find some of these at York in April?

Thanks: JK

JK, the 9 A will work as you described.  If you do wind up with 3 trains on one brick, it might trip the brick.  Yes the Polyswitch is wired in series in the voltage line.
The Polyswitches may not be available at York.  They are so reasonably priced, you may want to order some different values for other circuits such a 1.5 to 2 A protection for turnout power.

Please be aware the Polyswitches are auto reset after the fault is cleared, but you will have to turn the power off and back on for reset in that section.

This is the only thing you need for short protection.

https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/3259945169936428