Track power

I believe the wall plug is DC and the CW-80 is AC, so you should not use them both at the same time. The CW-80 should be more than enough to power your layout.

If you are using Fastrack, Lionel makes a terminal track section that has a barrel connection and they make a wire that has that at one end and bare wire at the other ends to attach to your CW-80. If you don't have or don't want to spend the $$ to get the terminal section and wire (it's really not necessary) the best place to connect to Fastrack is to the underside. There are small tabs for pos and neg on the underside that you can connect to. You can either solder or use these neat .110 female crimp connectors (available on the bay).

You also might want to split the wires coming from the CW-80 and make two attachment points to your loop about halfway apart on your loop. You should also check the continuity of the Fastrack with a DVM to make sure you are getting good voltage at all points on your layout. Fastrack connections can be finnicky and there are several threads on this Forum that describe excellent techniques to improve that.

If you are not using Fastrack, the best way to make your connections to the track are by soldering or you may be able to use a lock-on.

My advice would be to disconnect the isolation track and gateman from the system and get the layout running properly first and then add them back in to see if those could be creating the problem with possible incorrect wiring.

Best to use just the CW-80 transformer alone for track power.

The best advice would be to purchase a bigger transformer to accommodate your expanding empire. The Lionel GW-180 is a good transformer to step up to.

Larry

Thank you guys. Do you know if the section of the track that hooks to the wall outlet can still be used if the train is only running on the transformer?

Yes, it can be used as a regular section of track.

Larry

I am going to work on it tonight. I'm sure I will have more questions. Thank you for the quick responses!

So I have my insulated section of the track hooked to power at the start (where the train first crosses it). I have the activator wire hooked to the ground section of the track which is where the break spots are at. When the train crosses it the gates man comes out as it should. When I connect the opposite end of the insulated track (last part the train crosses) to the rest of my layout the gates man comes out and stays out regardless of where the train is. Any suggestions?

When the open end (to the right of gate house) is connected he comes out and stays out without train

I got it going. I must have mixed up the 10 in piece that goes between the insulated pieces. The one I was using had a bus bar under it which was causing it to operate incorrectly.