Lionel No. 132 passenger station

[San Jose]

Problem: the train stops at the station but does not start up again. 

I notice buzzing at the engine while stopped, with a  spark between the contact on the thermostat strip and the contact on the thermostat assembly when the buzzing stops.  Then the buzzing starts up again and stops with a spark at the contacts.  This oscillatory behavior continues indefinitely as long as train is stopped. 

The resistance between the contacts reads zero when I manually make the appropriate contact. 

I have tried the following:

1. clean the contacts with solvent and light sanding;

2. change engines;

3.  align the contacts on the strip and thermostat assembly so they face each other squarely.

None of these work.  I'm at my wits end............any thoughts from you all?.

Thanks, Nino

 

 

 

 

 

[cwburfle]

Did you turn off your reversing unit? The locomotive has to be set to run in one direction only.

[BigAl 956]

The station works by shutting off power to the track block. You must disable the reverse unit and lock the engine in forward. Also the bahavior with modern era electronics can be a bit unusual.

What engine(s) are you attempting to use the station with?

I use mine with an MTH protosound locomotive and I noticed it takes a while to get in sync. When I first run through it I wait until it cycles half a dozen times then I manually trip the reverse to get it going then the station operates properly. And by proper I mean the protosound engine pulls in and stops. Then the station cycles briefly twice and the engine moves on.