delete

Your nephew will be fine if you add a fast acting breaker - say a Lionel direct lock on.  there is not enough amperage to shock and hurt him unless he is playing with the electric outlet cord.

mwax516 posted:

Might be a very silly question, but I'm showing my little nephew my layout and when he was manually moving an aluminum car there was a short on the track. I'm not a very educated electrical person, but is there any safety issue I should know with manually holding aluminum cars on a powered track? Plastic cars (obviously) do not transmit electricity. Thanks! 

 I suppose there's always the chance of a minor or serious shock pushing metal cars or even plastic one by hand. Lots of guys have been zapped pretty good with wrist watches with  metal straps . I used to use a screw driver as a reverser  jammed between the center  and outside rail . Yep pretty stupid  .Anyway turn off track  for your nephew if pushing by hand.

 .

Tender skin can be zapped a bit.  I have noticed that if the underside of my forearm is touching the rails while they are powered, I get a slight tingle.  I have also noted that if I have an open cut somewhere on my hand let's say, and it touches live rail, it tingles a bit more, Ouch.....LOL

Thanks for the responses. I guess I was wondering if the aluminum cars have insulators in them to block the electricity if holding by hand. Will keep track power off from now on for him but he likes seeing the cars light up (don't blame him lol)

If the aluminum cars have close clearances with metal wheels, they could short the track power more readily if tipped or derailed.