Question about Lionel Fastrak operating track

[Anonymous]

I am new to model trains but have memories of the Lionel trains around the Christmas tree as a kid and wanted my kids to have a simlar experience. I am also new to forums such as this and apologize in advance if this question is not appropriate here, etc.(I tried to search for a similar problem in your forum). I recently purchased the Lionel North Pole Central Christmas Train. I also purchased a Christmas Dump Car 6-26870. The gentleman at the (authorized Lionel) dealer recommended the fastrack operating track 6-12054. The train runs quite nicely around the track (we also added the inner passing loop). However, I cannot seem to get the car to activate (dump) reliably. I line the car up on the track (with the transformer in “neutral”) and press the unload button. I’ve been careful not to press too long (certainly not for ten seconds). Occasionally I’ll hear it activate but not dump (perhaps power is not set high enough at the transformer on this attempt?), and occasionally it appears to dump normally, but most frequently it doesn’t activate at all – no noise etc. In fact, if it does activate appropriately, I can’t repeat the dumping action – with the train in the same place etc. (perhaps this behavior is normal?). The set came with the CW-80 transformer but I don’t see any difference with my father’s old Lionel RS-I transformer. Could someone help with a way to possibly troubleshoot this problem? Thanks very much.

[thor]

I just bought a tipping car and that piece of track too and I agree with you that its a problem to get it to work.  However, you can, with practice.

What I did was to put a 'marker' (a little figure but you could use anything suitable) by the trackside such that when the front of the car was exactly level with it, I knew the central plunger was right over that electromagnet which is way too small IMHO.  Then put the train in neutral, crank up the power and hit the button and i should work every time but the positioning has to be dead on.

My 4yr old figured out how to do it before me!  She runs the train as slow as it will go and jockeys the direction button till its lined up then zaps it.

However, I think the mechanism is too stiff and I dont know about yours but I have a heck of a time getting that sidepiece to latch back again afterwards, if you dont squeeze it right in the center it wont latch.  So I'm going to see if I can take it apart or examine it carefully to ease up the action a bit so it works a bit better, right now as its brand new, its way too stiff.

[Anonymous]

That information really helps. Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.
The kids certainly are enjoying the trains.