I’m new to this hobby. What started out as buying something old and simple for my son and daughter to play with has turned out to be a major project for me.
I have a O-27 layout consisting of four remote Marx turnouts (two left, two right). I’ve followed YouTube and on-line instructions on how to add non-derail feature to these turnouts. I do not use insulating pins and rail, instead I put an inch or so of black electrical tape on the rail and then thin copper tape over that with a wire soldered to it and connected to the left or right terminal depending. This works the same as a full insulated rail but the benefit is less surface area keeping the solenoid energized and lessens the risk of overheating it. I have some capacitive discharge units on order which I plan on adding. Hopefully they will arrive in the next week or two.
All this works great. The problem I have is on my two different engines, when it crosses the copper tape it throws the E-unit into reverse. On my Lionel 249 (1958 model), I can simply disable the E-unit and keep it running in forward only. My other engine is a Marx 1666 and there is no manual switch to disable the E-unit. If I disconnect the turnouts from the transformer, the E-unit does not go into reverse on its own, so I know it is not dirty brushes or the E-unit itself.
The way I have it wired is:
- Transformer hot track terminal to center rail.
- Transformer common track terminal to outside rail.
- Transformer hot accessories terminal to center terminal of each turnout.
- Transformer common accessories terminal to eight switches.
- Each switch to left or right terminal on each turnout.
- Wires soldered to copper tape to left or right terminal on each turnout.
Any help would be appreciated!
Bob