Lionel 3 rail track

[LANE]

TrainLarry

Lane,

Remove all trains from the track, and disconnect any accessories that may be hooked up to operate on track power. Turn the transformer up a bit, trying to keep the transformer from tripping immediately. Run your hand flat across the track, around the layout, stopping for a moment at all track joints. The short will show up as a hot spot at the faulty point, whether it is a track joint, bad rail insulating fishpaper, or whatever.

Quick and easy.

If this fails, disconnect the track at two points, dividing the layout in two. Power up one section and see if the breaker trips. If it does, continue dividing one of the halves of the layout section in half again, checking each section in turn. Within 2 or 3 divisions, the bad section can be isolated to a couple of tracks.

Larry

 

Success! turned on minimal power and was inspecting track and saw a faint glow. Turns out there was an unseen brad that had fallen while installing an upper level roadbed. It was laying between center and ground. It doesn't take much. Thank goodness I didn't have to start ripping up track. Thank you for your response it set me on the right path. Lane

[TrainLarry]

Lane,

Remove all trains from the track, and disconnect any accessories that may be hooked up to operate on track power. Turn the transformer up a bit, trying to keep the transformer from tripping immediately. Run your hand flat across the track, around the layout, stopping for a moment at all track joints. The short will show up as a hot spot at the faulty point, whether it is a track joint, bad rail insulating fishpaper, or whatever.

Quick and easy.

If this fails, disconnect the track at two points, dividing the layout in two. Power up one section and see if the breaker trips. If it does, continue dividing one of the halves of the layout section in half again, checking each section in turn. Within 2 or 3 divisions, the bad section can be isolated to a couple of tracks.

Larry

[LANE]

I have a good size o gauge layout. Apprximately 15x17. Ihave 2 main lines around the perimeter. Every thing has been going fine until recently the outside line has developed a dead short. MY ZW immediately goes to red light. I have inspected the track thoroughly for anything laying across the rails or bad insulators on center rail and I see nothing. Can anyone give me tips on how to proceed without tearing up the entire main line and checking individual track sections. Lane