Voltage Drop and Connectivity issues

You approach will work to correct a poor center rail connection.  Lionel has recommended to put a very slight bend in the center rail tab - bend towards the long outside ground pin - to get good connectivity between sections.  Several new 30" straights I purchased had zero center rail connectivity between sections.  Bending the tabs works, don't bend too much.   For power feeds, I like to run both hot and common wires to the track.

Sean's train shop has a good video on Fastrack fixes.

@Tracker John posted:

You approach will work to correct a poor center rail connection.  Lionel has recommended to put a very slight bend in the center rail tab - bend towards the long outside ground pin - to get good connectivity between sections.  Several new 30" straights I purchased had zero center rail connectivity between sections.  Bending the tabs works, don't bend too much.   For power feeds, I like to run both hot and common wires to the track.

Sean's train shop has a good video on Fastrack fixes.

Thanks for showing the video, it was very informative and I learned a lot from it. You mentioned power feeds. Since you run both hot and common, I was wondering what wire gauge you use. Did you also have to hook it up to a power source or did you do something that kind of resembles what I did? I’m just wondering because I just thought I should ask because the wire I used is 18 gauge.

My Fastrack efforts are the Carpet Central style - on the floor or tabletop - so power bus wires on the underside of the layout are not feasible.  I use 20G speaker wires for track power feeds that are up to 10 ft long and connected to a terminal strip(s).  From the terminal strip to the transformer, I use heavier copper.  For these layouts, the trains are short and the amperage draws are low.

For a large layout running double/triple headed engines and dozens of cars, a bus with 14G power wires running under the layout is recommended.   Drop track feeds wires down to the bus at 4ft to 6ft intervals.  Slowing of the train on any section is an indications an additional track feed is needed.

@Tracker John posted:

My Fastrack efforts are the Carpet Central style - on the floor or tabletop - so power bus wires on the underside of the layout are not feasible.  I use 20G speaker wires for track power feeds that are up to 10 ft long and connected to a terminal strip(s).  From the terminal strip to the transformer, I use heavier copper.  For these layouts, the trains are short and the amperage draws are low.

For a large layout running double/triple headed engines and dozens of cars, a bus with 14G power wires running under the layout is recommended.   Drop track feeds wires down to the bus at 4ft to 6ft intervals.  Slowing of the train on any section is an indications an additional track feed is needed.

I actually found a video on feeder wires from Lionel and I tried to copy that as best as I could, I didn’t have 16 Gauge speaker wires but I do have 18 AWG copper. According to the video it’s says that the jumper wires can be helpful in avoiding voltage drops. I also ran my train on this to test it and it ran perfectly.

This issue only happens on my layout when I run two engines because I have an 8X8 which allows me to have two loops.

Here’s the video from Lionel.