New to CTT Forum

[sclairfan]

Hello, I am new to this forum I usually hang out on the garden Railway forum. I have been searching this forum to educate myself on Lionel Trains. I have been working on some Lionel layouts that were recently acquired by our local museum. A room at the museum was just renovated to house the collection and we are now working on restoration. Here are my first questions. Some of the track has rusted on one of the layouts but it has been cleaned somewhat. Can track in this condition affect a TMCC locomotive? Some times it will run and some times it will not run. I have had it going for hours at a time but after stopping it, I have been unable to get any response from the locomotive. Any suggestions, maybe install new track?

[phillyreading]

Welcome! While new track offers the best electrical connections, there are other things to be looked at as well; is the track connections at the track pins tight fitting?, and is the track clean from rust. Look at the underside of the track as well, because the track may have bottom side rust that will quickly eat through the rails of the tracks itself. Especially on large layouts you will need additional track power hook-ups at every third piece of track. While command control systems are nice, be sure to read the instruction manual before wiring for command control. Transformers need to be selected with referance to the brand or style of trains you want to run, I would use at least a 100 watt transformer for a large layout.

[sclairfan]

 Hello Phillyreading, The layout has numerous feeds to the track but I am not sure how many at this point, it also has a 7 amp power supply all TMCC lionel equipment.  I noticed that some of the pins were rusted as well so changing the track may be the easiest way to go. I was not able to check all of the pins without removing track and distrubing some of the scenery so that too could be a problem. .Thank You for your reply and the nice welcome. I will post our progress on this site and photos if I am able to.

[Firelock76]

Welcome aboard!  You won't be sorry you came. There's a lot of experience and wisdom here.

Af far as track problems, it's a lot better to replace old rusty track than try to resurrect it, I found it so.  I was running my Christmas tree layout with some 40 year old Lionel track I had as a kid and the stuff was so far gone by that time it arced and sparked like the Fourth of July.  Tradition three-rail tubular is still pretty reasonable, and there's all the other options, FasTrack, Atlas, Gargraves, you name it.  Just buy the best you can afford and you won't go wrong.