Hi,
I have two ovals. I have a switch on the inner oval and want to crossover the outer oval with a 90 crossover. Problem is that the 90 does not seem to isolate the two tracks. When I start either train up it wants to start the other one. Is this how the 90’s are made? Is it malfunctioning? Is there a way to modify it so it can be used to cross a completely seperate track not on the same block? Thank you for any help.
There should be a piece of metal shaped like a plus on the back of the 90. Cut or uncrimp and fold one of the track pairs. Then crimp a new peice of wire across the “plus” where you disassembled it. And yes the 90 was made correct. Its made that way so there is continuity when making a figure eight.Hope that helps.
My understanding is that on the underside of the crossover, there are jumper wires that connect the small inner rails to the outer or lead rails. By removing these jumpers, fixes this problem but may create another. The small rails within the center part will now be dead and short locos may lose contact there, but longer ones will do just fine. Seems like there was a thread on this very problem not long ago. Ken
Thanks guys, I will check it out! Thanks for the help!
Just a follw up. Thanks for the info. It worked like a charm. I did mispeak and say 90 instead of 45. I am using a 45. Same solution applies to both though. Also on the postwar 90 and 45 that I have there are no extra metal pieces in the center. So at least on the 45 that I just modified there is no reason to believe that engines will run any different with this modification. Thanks again for the help! Easy 10 min. fix.
Glad you got it working. It sounds like you are using tubular track?
On my tubular track I unsoldered the center pieces from each other and inserted some rubber insulation between them.
Here are a couple pictures:
I see what you mean. On my 45 there are no metal pieces in the center. It is all plastic. I am using a postwar 45 027. The same goes for the 90 I have. All plastic in the center. Thanks for the pics!
Just for the record, although Lionel has always insisted on calling these “crossovers”, they are actually called “crossings” in the real world. A crossover is a pair of turnouts used to move between two parallel tracks.
