I power my seasonal Fastrack layout using a Lionel GW-180 transformer. I *thought* that device includes sufficient short protection. But a few months ago I had a one-year old Legacy diesel parked on a siding, and noticed smoke coming from the coupler. The coupler melted a bit, and when I took it in for repairs, was told that the circuit board also was fried!
I would appreciate any suggestions for an additional device I should add to the circuit to prevent this from ever happening again. Thanks
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As you learned, "Transformer internal breakers protect transformers, NOT trains."
PTC Resettable Fuses have so many sizes you can find the smallest one for each application. For your siding a 3 Amp hold PTC should work. A PTC will auto reset when fault (short) is cleared.
(PTC = Positive temperature coefficient thermistors)
PTC Resettable Fuses - AKA PolySwitch, Polyfuse, PolyTron, MultiFuse
See more Circuit Protection for Toy Trains on my website.
One other point, it is important to try to figure out what shorted and why. This sounds like it was something like the legendary "high resistance ground " possibly and might be difficult to find and diagnose.
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