In planning my layout I opted to use Lionel and K-Line O Gauge Tubular Track, and for swicthes I had on hand several pair of Lionel’s venerable 022s.
However now that they are installed, the inside loop that I created has no power at all. It doesn’t matter whether the switches are set for the main line or the inside loop, the inside loop stays dead.
…and to my knowledge the insulator pins (for the derail feature) are set correctly.
Any ideas on this???
Thanks
ken
These switches are not power routing like the O-27 1022 or Flyer S gauge varieties…
Now for the real problem - check your electrical continuity of the layout - if you insist your fiber pins are in place for the non-derailing feature, and I have no doubt that they are, your inside loop has no ground connection!
The properly placed fiber pins placed between a pair of left or right switches to another loop of track insulates the entire unconnected loop (the one w/ no lockons) from a ground connection. Use a lockon to run ground & center rail (as long as you’re running wire anyway) connections to the dead loop and you are back in business.
If you run your new loop from a seperate power supply or as a seperate block, you will then need 3 fiber pins at the crossover switches.
Rob
Did you check and make sure the shorting pin for constant power is not installed?
Any resolution on this?
Rob
The pin or plug for constant voltage only deals with the power to the solenoid on the switch and can not affect anything with power to the inside loop. Maybe you have an unwanted insulating pin somewhere in the tracks coming off the switch.
Lee F.
krapug1,
Not sure exactly how you have connected your outer and inner loops, but agree with ADCX Rob that the problem is not with the center rail (power) but rather with the outside rails or “grounds.” (“Returns,” “commons,” or whatever we are calling them today.)
It is quite easy to insert the nylon insulating pins into each of two switches correctly,* but if you then connect the switches in a certain configuration you will find that you have inadvertently isolated (broken the continuity of) both outer rails. That is, the center rail of your inner loop is getting power but has no return.
You should be able to test this theory simply by running a wire from an outside rail of your inner loop to an outside rail of your outer loop, well away from the switches; or, from an outer rail of your inner loop to the common post of your transformer (presumably a “U” post) whichever is more convenient.
*You can find instructions for 022 switches here: