Help with 132 Automatic Stop Station

[Civil War]

 I have the Greenberg Repair and Operation Manual for Lionel Trains but the wiring diagram for the station makes no sense to me. I think I want to use a piece of insulated track for the switch.

1 how long of an insulated section do I need? More than one section of track?

2. The diagram shows fibre pins on the center rail only. Shouldn't there be fibre pins at both ends of the insulated rail?

 Or am I all screwed up.

 Thanks

[dsmith]

Terry,

1.  The Greenberg manual that I have states the following "An insulated track block 3 or 4 track sections in length, depending on the length of the train, is installed in front of the station."

2.  Fiber pins are at both ends of the center rail only.

On my layout I am using 2 track sections for the insulated center rail block and have had no problems with the engine over running the block.  I also added a toggle switch on my control panel so that I could easily turn the station stop on and off without removing the roof.  It's is a fun additon and I love to use it when running passenger cars.

[Taranwanderer]

I have to expand on what Dave says here. First off, my set-up only uses one section of insulated track, but mine is on a trolley loop, so it only needs one section for the trolley to stop. A traditional train with a consist (and the accompanying momentum) will likely need 2 or 3 sections to stop. As for the insulating pins: I have to somewhat disagree with Dave here. Not only do I have fiber pins in the center rail (which allows the 132 to reactivate the section when it is activated by the outside insulated rail,) but I also have fiber pins in the insulated rail to activate the 132 in the first place. Unless you're going to activate the 132 with some other section of insulated track somewhere else, but you need a section of insulated rail somewhere to activate the station--I just chose to use the same section that the trolley stops on in the first place. So the trolley hits the piece of track, it stops because the center rail has no power, but it activates the 132 by completing the common circuit (the 132 has its own center-rail power feed,) the thermometric strip does its thing, then completes the center rail power to the insulated section the trolley is sitting on, and away she goes. Most definitely needs 4 fiber pins. The toggle switch for the on/off without removing the roof is a great idea, Dave! Anyway, good luck!

[Civil War]

 Some great info here. Now what I need to know is what wire goes to which rail? In the Greenberg guide on page 353 it shows a wiring diagram for the 132. The Station has terminals numbered 1, 2, and 3. #1 goes to the center rail outside the insulated section, #2 goes to an outside rail outside the insulated section and #3 goes to the center rail inside the insulated section. What activates the station, and what would an insulated outside rail be for? Also where would I put a switch to turn off the operation of the station? Thans much for any help.

 

[Serows1]

Terry, 

I also have a 132 station operating on my layout, I used Greenburgs instructions as David suggested and mine works great.  I am using 3 sections of insulated track just after the station to slow down and stop the train in front of the station because I run a postwar trains that tend to coast longer the faster they are traveling.  I only have the center rail insulated and it works great. 

In the pictures below, the insulated sections start at the black activator section in front of the log loader and go three sections back so that when the train stops the passanger cars will be right in front of the train station.

 

I'm not sure what Taranwanderer is talking about and no offense but when he says you need to "activate the station somewhere" on the layout, I am not sure what that means. My station is always active unless I remove the roof to adjust or turn off the train stopping feature and I like David's idea of a toggle switch on a control panel to do that, I may have to investigate further, thanks David. 

When the train rolls onto the insulated section of track it will stop because there is no power to the center rail, as the train enters that section of track and the contact between the center rail and outside rail the train makes activates the station mechanism and after a predetermined amount of time, set by the lever inside the station, the center rail will then receive power and the train will continue on. The mechanism is a nickle-chrome wire that heats up when power is applied to it and it expands, when it expands enough it bridges a very small gap and makes contact and lets power continue to the center rail I hope explanation helps.

Good luck and have fun! 

Paul

[Taranwanderer]

Hi Paul, What I meant by "activating" the station is this: once a train (or in my case, trolley) stops on the (center rail) insulated block you create in front of the 132, you need a way for the station to send power to that center rail again to re-start the train. If you don't activate the station--either by a switch or by an insulated rail--somewhere else or on the same piece/block of track--the train will just sit there. It has to get that center rail power from the 132, and the 132 is activated by something--usually an insulated rail. Let me ask you this: when a train stops in front of it, how do you have it wired to make the light come on and the nickel-chrome wire (aka, thermometric strip) do it's thing? You have to turn the station on somehow to make the magic happen, right? :) That's why I have fiber pins both in the center rails of my block and in the outer insulated rail--it's how I turn the station on. Or, do you just have your station always "on," and if that's the case, the strip is constantly cycling between heating up and cooling off (bending and straightening,) which I would think would dramatically shorten it's life. OK, so now I'm curious how you have it wired...

[dsmith]

Here is the wiring diagram for the 132 Station Stop.  As you can see, only the center rail insulated rail has the insulating pins at both ends.  An outside insulated rail is not needed to "activate" the station stop function.  If you read the instructions above the diagram you can see how the circuit works with just an insulated center rail and no outside insulated rail.

On my layout I added a toggle switch to the control panel.  The wires from the switch connect to connection points 1 and 3 in the diagram.  When the toggle switch is closed, the thermostat switch is bypassed and the train will not stop at the station.  When the toggle switch is flipped the other way, the train stop works and the train will stop at the station until the thermal switch heats up and the train continues.  The toggle switch is handy because you don't have to remove the roof of the station when you do or do not want to use the station stop function.

 

[Taranwanderer]

Paul and Dave: wow, that's what I dig about this site--just when you think you know how something works, someone with more experience comes along and explains it better! :) I was under the impression (incorrectly) that terminal 2 needed to be energized for the station to operate and return power to the center rail. Turns out, all terminal 2 does is turn on the light! So, the only thing my outer insulated rail is doing is turning on the light when the trolley stops on it, which is still kind of a neat effect (like the stationmaster is turning on the light for the trolley/train passengers) but it's indeed not needed for the station to operate. I had to go downstairs and disconnect #2 to see what happened, just to satisfy the psuedo-electrical engineer in me. Thanks for setting me straight. I see the light-literally! ;)

[Feathers]

Been looking for the schmatic ...much thanks.

 

At 1st I didn't see the current path but it must be through the bi-metal strip that is wound around by the insulated (asbestos wrappng) Nicrom wire.

What bulb voltage and watage are recomended? I think a #51-6V but how does the voltage of the rail (variable contigent upon speed of train entering the isolated section) some 10 to 18 Volts RMS get reduced to just constant 6-Volts RMS?

Feathers

[lionelsoni]

Why would you think that a number 51 is right?  You need a lamp that can stand the track voltage, like the "L431" that Lionel recommends or the number 57 (240 milliamperes), which is a very similar 14-volt lamp.  I generally use number 53s (120 milliamperes) for stuff like this.