Unwanted Train Reversal at Switches

I'm assuming that your locomotive only has a two-position reverse unit (no neutral), since you mention the locomotive switches right into reverse. The easiest workaround would be to lock the locomotive in one direction only, which would eliminate the unwanted reversals.

 

Are you experiencing this issue with different locomotives, and/or at both switches?

 

-John

First off, thank you for your help. I locked the locomotive in the forward direction using the method you described and it appears as though the power drops out for just a moment as the engine enters the switches (again, from either direction). This would account for the engine switching to reverse but now I'd like to hunt down the cause of the power drop. 

 

As I mentioned before, there are runners from the transformer to each "section" of the layout and the switches are getting power as they still operate. The point blades from the switch are making good contact with the rails. There is no power drop out anywhere else on the layout.

 

 

probably the pickup roller spacing on that loco. try a loco with more space between the rollers and see what happens.

You could also replace a truck with a pickup on whatever car is behind your engine. Run a small feeder wire. I've done this on one engine and it's quite easy and not really noticeable.

Possibly one of the rollers is not making contact or has a loose wire.

Id find a cheap old tender with a whistle and swap the trucks. Then run a feeder wire into the engine.

Thank y'all again for the help.

If you use a 24 gauge wire, and the train stalls with just the auxiliary pickup powered, you will smoke the wire.  18 gauge would be better. Use a short chunk from a piece of extension cord, or a power cord cut off an abandoned item like a lamp or some other small appliance.

To add to Arthur's excellent suggestion I recommend using stranded wire instead of solid wire for added flexibility.What kind of locomotive are you running? There might be an off the shelf part to help you add additional rollers.-John