Hi… First let me say this is really great site…I’am not a big collector,but I have a few piece’s and add a few more each year…Guess I’am re-living my childhood with the Lionels LOL…My question is will 022 remote switchs work with 027 tracks? If so how do you hook them up to a ZW 275 Watt transformer? Thanks for any information and help you can give me …Jack
Welcome seafox (jack)! Postwar lionel, in my opinion, is the greatest! The o22’s will work with o27. To make them work together, you will have to crimp the rails on the 022 switch ends to copensate for the smaller track pins the o27 has. By getting some special transformer plugs tou can make it so the 022’s take power from the ZW.
Welcome to the forum.[#welcome]
Yeah they’ll work, just a couple of minor things that you will have to deal with. Pin diameter is smaller on the 027 track. There used to be mating pins, I haven’t seen any in a while, but then I haven’t looked for them either.
The other thing is curve radius. 027 forms a 27"circle, the 022 switches are 1/8 of a 31" circle. Depending on your track arrangement, you may have to fudge things a little.
A lock-on works on both regular O and 027 track. Generally, a wire from post A or D to the center rail, and one from any of the U posts to the outside rail.
The 022 switches have a little tapered plug with a screw on the end, which fits into the side of the switch motor housing. Hooking a wire from B or C to the plug allows you to have power to the switch seperately from the track power.
Heres a pic of the fixed voltage plug…
Yup, that’s the gizmo. Always at the bottom of the box, and often a complete mystery to beginners.[swg]
While what Jerry says is true, I would strongly suggest that you NOT crimp the rails on the O22 switch to make them accept an O27 track pin. Once this is done, it’s next to impossible to reform the rails and make them accept a standard O pin.
What I would suggest, rather, and what I usually do, is to force the larger O pin into a readily available O27 track section. It will deform the O27 rail, but fit very, very tightly, and can then be easily inserted into an O22 switch. O27 track is much less expensive to replace than a useless piece of O track with crimped rails.
If you must crimp the rails, don’t do it on your O22s. Get another short section of O gauge track to lead into them.
[#welcome]
A couple additional items -
O-gauge track height is about 1/4" higher, so you’ll need to shim up your O-27 track (one or two, anyway) to match the height.
As Elliott noted, you would use ZW posts B or C to power the plug on the switch. Return power is through the track, so you don’t need to connect another wire to post U. Recommended operating voltage is 14-16V.
Easier than simply forcing an O31 pin into an O27 rail is to spread the rail by putting a screwdriver into the bottom of it, put the O31 pin in, then pull the railhead tight around the pin by squeezing the web back together with small long-nosed pliers. Then remove the pin and squeeze just a little closer to the head to make the hole slightly undersized. If the pin is to stay in that rail, put it back in and pinch the railhead over the notch in the pin to lock it into place.
Hi… Just wanted to thank you all for the help and information…Jack
I strongly urge the use of the constant voltage plug, wired directly to the transformer, so that you have 16 volts.
Using track power by itself can sometimes result in sluggish reacting switches, which can cause derailment when relying on the non-derailment feature.
Older 022’s don’t always “snap-to” very well on track power alone, and can certainly use that extra boost of power.
Your trains will thank you for it…
I’m showing my ignorance here too, but, being a Super-O guy since childhood, I’m hoping you can all forgive me…
I’m thinking of replacing some switches on my layout with 022s, and my question is: do all Lionel switches labeled “022” have an 031 radius? Just trying to get close to my Super-O’s 036 radius, and 022s seem to have a good rep. Thanks!
With repsect to your replacing your Super-O switches because you don’t want to repair them anymore, maybe you could use manuals and switch them with a can motor as someone did using 1022 manual O-27 switches. This way you keep your radius, and don’t have to worry about repairing.
Hopefully someone here will see this post, and can point you to the link where it shows the 1022 swtched using the can motor. I thought it was a good setup.
Actually, if you do a search on 1022, it will bring up the post or thread on Adding Remote control to Postwar 1022 manual switch. Since the Super-O manual has the same type lever for flipping, I can’t see why you couldn’t incorporate this scheme. This would maintain your track/radius/matching integrity and give you a remote control switch. I think it is easier than trying to fit a O-22 or other different radius. Send me those Super-O switches, I’ll fix them.
If you are going to use any post war switches, I recommend you go through them and fix all the problems before you put them in your layout. I wrote a long post on how to fix all the problems in these switches. 022/711 Switch operation pblms It is a lot of work, but better than installing the switches and then taking them all out again. The problems are mostly associated with age, not use.
Bruce Baker
[#welcome] seafox. Jack.