No, I am saying that they are easy to run on accessory power. Because they are not pre-wired to the track, you can run them on whatever you like, including the track.
A Lionel controller is just a momentary SPDT switch. When used with a Lionel O27 turnout, you connect the (controller) switch common to the outside rails, which is the turnout terminal on a shiny metal plate. You connect the other two switch terminals to the other two turnout terminals. The common between the coils is already connected to the center rail. So pushing the lever of the controller just connects one coil between the center rail and the outside rails.
The Marx turnout brings all three coil connections to the outside. So you can duplicate the wiring of a Lionel by connecting the common coil terminal to the center rail and the common of the controller to the outside rails. For accessory power, just connect the common coil terminal to the accessory supply instead of the center rail.
Bob Nelson
So are you saying that they do not run on track power? And if not how would they be hooked up to accessory power?
They work fine with O27-style controllers, but they don't work the indicator lamps in 022 controllers any more than Lionel O27 turnouts do. They have no internal connections between the switch-motor coils and the track; so they have to be wired to the controllers in a slightly different way. But they are much easier to adapt to capacitive discharge or simple accessory power.
The guard rail is definitely not original equipment and is always homemade. Those ones look very nice. I have seen much worse.
Thank you again. Do the switches work with regular lionel switch controllers? Or do they need special Marx controllers? And that guard rail looks like it was an official accessory for the switch, not home made. Is that just really good custom work, or was there a commercially made switch guard?
Eight in a circle, just like O27. They did make turnouts in O34, which are not hard to find. Here's a pair: http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-L-R-Marx-O-Scale-Operating-Switch-Track-Set-Lot-/260615060781?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3cadde3d2d Note that someone has installed a guard rail across from the frog, on the curved path. This is a very common modification, since the frog, designed for the Marx fat wheel flanges, easily derails Lionel trains.
Ok, thank you for the information. I did know that it was O34, but thats about it. How many does it take to form a circle? I'm guessing 8. Do you also know if Marx did anything else to promote the track? Possibly a switch?
It has the same profile as and connects to regular O27 track without any adaptation. It's called O34, which, as with O27, means that the diameter to the ends of the ties is 34 inches. The radius to the center rail is 15.75 inches, which means that the actual diameter is 33.5 inches, not 34.
One little trick that it can do is to make a neat double crossover in a corner with 4 regular O27 turnouts. Connect a left-hand and a right-hand turnout together at the facing-point ends to make the inside curved track. Then connect the curved outlet of a left-hand turnout to the straight outlet of the first right-hand turnout, and connect the curved outlet of a right-hand turnout to the straight outlet of the first left-hand turnout. Then fill in the outside curve with two O34 sections with a short half-inch straight plug between them.
Could someone tell me everything there is to know about Marx's wide radius track? I want to know about them before I buy a circle of it.
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