Using the bandit hand car with problems

[Anonymous]

I am using the(Lionel) bandit hand car that follows ( or leads) my Lionel Pa flyer w/fastrack. The problem I am having is that the train catches up to the hand car.... Now, I have to admit right now I am using the fastrack with the black middle rails and the silver middle rails combined in my layout. it seems that the hand car slows down at the track with the black middle rail... I am thinking that the paint or material used for the black rail in not conducting well thus slowing down the hand car... Has anyone had this problem or problems with the black rail track..I do plan to purchase some more of the silver middle rail track. I wonder if this is why Lionel is replacing the black rail with the silver rail according to other posts on this forum..

[brianel027]

Cooker, the conductivity problem could be part of it. But it's also a visual thing too. I think the silver center rail looks better on the FasTrack with the light colored roadbed. Whatever the reason, Lionel does have a program to replace your black center rail track.

I don't know about the Lionel handcar. I do have a K-Line one on my nephew's layout and find the train frequently catches up with it. The K-Line hand car is geared to give the uneven motion effect of the two guys pumping. Your PA Flyer steamer has a DC can motors which run faster on less current. One answer is to have a few more cars on the train. Cars with die-cast trucks will make the train run a little slower on the same current. Having an additional lighted car may help.

But I've found that running the handcar and the train is sort of a game of catch-up... cat and mouse if you will. And you almost have to approach running them together on that level and make that the game. "Pump faster... Don't look now Joe but we're about to get run over by the train."

The other thing I've found is the handcar seems to keep pace better when we run one of his MPC-era Lionel engines. Those typically have an open-frame AC motor and use more current to go the same speed as your DC can motored engines. So with more current going into the track, the handcar runs faster, while the MPC engine runs slower than the others.

I'm not knocking the DC can motored engines. For all it's simple looks and details, that PA Flyer engine you have is very decent. I've got a couple of that type of steamer that I've had in the neighborhood of 10+ years with no complaints.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the silver rail looks much better. Do I have to call Lionel to get the track replaced. I do not intend for the bandit hand car to be my focus of my layout just a fun little thing to try out...

Thanks for your feedback

[dmestan]

Cooker - call the Lionel service # and they will send you an return authorization to replace the track. It cost me around $7 (incl. ins) to ship the old track back them. I received the replacement track via UPS in 5 days.

Don