will an electric train set shock you if you touch both rails at the same time?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

?

2

a bump, just a yes hurts like heck, yes but just a light zap or a no would be great

3

Just an itty bitty bit.

4

thanks spacemouse :slight_smile: , didn’t know and wanted to know how worried to be with the kids…

5

Only if you paid full retail for it.

Andre

6

With 18 volts, you can feel a very slight tingling, but nothing more…unless you lick them or press your lips to the rails. Not that is a shock!

7

you get off it quick when you feel it

8

There’s no real harm, unless you’re running high voltage (10,000 volts) or a lot of current, 50 amps or so, should do it. The high voltage will shock you… the high current will burn you. So, as you’ve been warned above, keep your mouth and lips off the track.

9

I love trainboyH16-44 response to this! ‘If you press your lips against the rail’!!! This is taking your love for the hobby WAY too far!
Happy Christmas!

10

Back when I had DC and in a hot sweaty garage I would get a shock, the sweat on my arms helped zap me when my arm would touch both rails.

11

Maybe with your tongue. You guys gotta be kiddin. you can’t feel 18 volts. Hell, I can’t even feel a 12 volt car battery, and some of them have over 1000 amps! Yall got good imaginations. Merry Christmas.

12

You can bet in recent years you would have read articles with headlines “Two Kids Killed by Electric Trains!”, “State to Ban Electric Trains”, or “Electric train volts linked to kids cancer”, or some such stuff so common in America. Government investigations. Bans in some states. Consumer Reports rates the safest eletric trains for kids. Etc. Etc. I don’t think it’s happening. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. I think they’re still safe. I love bsteel4065’s comment on kissin’ the tracks!

13

Unless you have abnormally sensitive skin, the voltage on model railroad track is too low for you to feel it, even with wet skin. If you feel any tingling at all, it’s probably static electricity from your body discharging into the rail, especially if you have a carpeted floor. And if your body has too high a static charge when you touch the rail, it can destroy a DCC system or the decoders within locomotives.

14

One year when I set up a train under the tree our dog went over to sniff the tracks and touched his nose to both tracks. He jumped and started barking at the train but never went near it again. He lived to a ripe old age so it had no lasting effect but he never was fond of my trains.
Enjoy
Paul

15

Beware! Such rails can carry 16,000 Millivolts!

Bob Boudreau

16

Metal watch bands can be painful.

17

Speaking from experience?

Now I know why they put directions on the shampoo bottles! [:p]

18

Yes, If you are a dog with a wet nose. I remember when I set up my HO trains on the floor as a youngster and watching my dog coming over the “sniff” the tracks. She moved back real fast.

19

“will an electric train set shock you if you touch both rails at the same time?”

The “short” answer is no [:D]. Get it… “short”… nevermind.
Dave

20

it does not hurt sometimes you can feel it but not always as others have said please dont make out with the rails[:I] it does spark if you run a skrew driver over the rails though. Tim