Automatic Gateman with Lionel Fastrack

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Hi all,
I am a rookie to the train world, so please forgive my simple question. I have been trying to operate the Lionel Automatic Gateman with the Lionel Fastrack system without success. I can’t seem to get the wiring right. I used the operating accessories track sections but the best I seem to be able to do is get the Gateman to come out of the building all of the time instead of only when the train goes past the insolated/insulated sections. Does anyone have the correct wiring scheme for this accessory? Thanks for your help.

2

Bob,
Not to the actual putting track/accessories down yet, but I would like to know the answer to this one too. I spoke to a friend who owns a dealership and designs/builds layouts. A book is being made on fastrack and accessories and should be out in the next few months. In the mean time, I would like to hear what the learned professionals here have to say. I would also be interested in what I need for a milk car/platform, cattle car/platform, and coal dump/elevator.
Dennis

3

You probably have the wires mixed up. The common for the gateman needs to be the same polarity as the center rail. It is best to take that from a fixed voltage accessory post on your transformer. The lamp lead gets ground, and the coil needs to go to the insulated outside rail. My guess is that you don’t have the coil lead attached correctly.

4

Dennis, the milk and coal dump cars work off the regular remote control track, which Fastrack has a version of. The cattle and horse cars with their pens work a little differently , and may need to have traditional track under them. The easiest way to use those accessories is to use the adapter tracks and convert to traditional.

5

Elliot,
Thanks for the information. I knew we could get qualified help here.
Dennis

6

You’re welcome Dennis. There are lots of others beside me, I just got here first this time.[;)]

7

I’ve found the Lionel Gateman runs better off of DC, but still use the track detection to activate the accessory. With DC the gateman is much quieter, than the loud rattle with AC.

Good luck.

Jim

8

Actually, this sounds like you don’t have the breaks in the track in the 5" operating accessory sections on the same side. See the red section in Big_Boy’s schematic? OR, you’ve tried to lengthen the accessory operating area by putting regular pieces of straight or curved track between the two 5" sections. This won’t work unless you remove the ground bridge (simple explanation: the piece of metal joining the two outside rails) underneath.

Again, going onthe assumption that this is something simple, here’s an image from the Train Station:

The left segment is the two 5" isolated sections joined together. If you look closely, you can see the track breaks on the left hand rail. That’s how they need to be set up, with the section on the right in betwen them.

9

I’m doing something similar and had a question…

  1. Can you have a layout which consists solely of insulated track?
  2. Is the difference between insulated and non simply the connection between the two outer tracks? and is it easy to make normal track insulated?

I bought my son the Thomas set and am doing a small oval using only 2 10" straights…Actually I’ll be using 2 activator sets of isolated tracks so that there will be two independent sides of the oval for activation…

After reading this stuff, I am concerned if this will work…If I need normal track in order for the set to run, then its a problem…Currently all my track is normal, however I need the insulated track for activation…

Any info would be greatly appreciated as I had called Lionel and they told me the insulated track is just normal track, so now i went a bought the extra stuff and it seems I’d need all new track…

thx!

10

scampana: there’s another thread on insulated Fastrack.

  1. Insulated track is missing the metal jumper between the two outer rails. You can remove this yourself.
  2. You could operate an entire layout with insulated rails if you wanted, except that I think you might run into problems with switches.

Apologies! That’s your thread! [:I][:I]

11

Which terminals on the new Lionel transformer (CW80) would get hooked up as the “accessory common”?

12

BR60103,

Thanks! I had done some tests last night and came up with the same conclusion…As it turns out I won’t make the whole track insulated after all…It’s nice to finally understand how it all works…

Pretty funny that Lionel tech couldn’t just say remove the metal jumper!!

As for accessories on the CW80…There are 2 sets of screw downs on the CW80…One for track and one for accessories. The accessorie one has the power constantly on and allows you the ability to adjust just how much power the accesories get…

This, of course, does not pertain to activation…but accessories in general…

Thanks for your reply!!

13

So I am very new here. I tried to follow the wiring diagram but I still can not get the gateman to work properly. It lights and he just keeps going in and out. I guess I am confused because there are 4 wires coming out 2 on each side. I dont know where to connect the last wire as I only see 3 in the diagram. Could you simplify it a little more. Thanks

14

josof, what I did with mine is connect the blue and the purple wire as in the diagram and then connect the green wire to the center rail, rather than accessory power. (for the CW80 transformer). This means that the gateman operates from track power and light brighness and the sprightliness of the gateman depend on how fast the train is going. The purple and green wires are the wires from the isolated rail.

15

Thanks for the information and as you can tell, I am new at this. I think I just realized I may have made a mistake. I have the Lionel Train Orders Building and is that the same as the Gateman. Sorry can you help with this?