I need help with an electrical problem. I have a reversing loop made with Realtrax that runs around the Christmas tree. From there the track goes into the next room where I have another reversing loop. There is a single power supply about halfway between the two loops.
I am having a problem with the switch under the Christmas tree. When the train enters the switch there's a lot of sparking. The switch moves halfway from the curved to straight position and then stops. When I try to move the switch manually there's a loud buzzing sound and there's a physical resistance that prevents me from moving the switch from one position to the other.
The problem seems to happen when the train enters the switch from the curved side of the track, or when it enters the switch from the straight side and continues toward the curved track. It doesn't happen when the train enters the switch from the straight side of the track and continues on to the straight section on the other side of the switch.
Now to be clear -- there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the switch itself. When I remove the switch from its place under the Christmas tree and move it to the reversing loop in the other room it works perfectly. Likewise when I remove the switch from the reversing loop in the other room (where it works perfectly) and move it to the reversing loop under the Christmas tree it suddenly has the same problems mentioned above.
I pushed a caboose around the reversing loop under the Christmas tree to check the power level. The caboose stayed lit the entire way around with no noticeable drop in power.
I tried adding another lock-on with power and ground wires running directly from the transformer to the reversing loop under the Christmas tree. That didn't solve the problem.
I've tried running the train with fixed voltage from my MTH TIU, and with voltage running directly from the transformer to the track. In both cases I still have the same problem.
Interestingly when I remove a piece of track from the reversing loop under the Christmas tree the switch works perfectly. In other words if there's a gap in the loop the sparking goes away, and the switch behaves the way it's supposed to. But of course I can't run the train around the reversing loop if there's a piece of track missing.
I had essentially the same set up last year but I never experienced this problem before. The only difference between this year and last year is that I had a siding along the straight piece of track that runs between the reversing loop under the Christmas tree and the reversing loop in the other room. Otherwise the setup was exactly the same.
Help !!! I only get to run my trains once a year !!! Does anyone have any suggestions ???
