Wiring Fastrack

[Anonymous]

I am a total beginner to this. Last year when I turned 65, my children gave me a NYC Fastrack set. I had Lionel trains as a kid and remember them well.
I bought a copy of "How to build your first Lionel layout" by Stan Trzoniec. I was able to build the benchwork with some minor difficulties. I started to read the section about wiring and am confused. Trzoniec is working with o guage, way before Fastrack was conceived.
I had several questions about block wiring.
1. When he uses lockons, I am assuming I would substitute Lionel fastrack terminal tracks and I also assume that any track can be a terminal track.
2. I get confused about insulated tracks. He substitutes a pin in his track and that makes it a non-conductor and isolates the block. How do you do that with fastrack. Do you just use one of their isolated tracks? I thought they were only used to activate on/off accessories.
3. I have read alot about wiring and it is still a mystery to me. Does anyone know of a simple reference using Fastrack.
I suppose I am not in a hurry as Lionel has not released the remote switches nor the accessory activator track yet. I appreciate any advise or comments.

[Big_Boy_4005]

[#welcome] to the forum. Generally, you will get the best responses to Lionel related questions over on the Classic Toy Trains forum. I am one of a small handfull of 3 railers that wanders all of the forums.

I'm sorry to say, but I hate fastrack for a number of reasons. The problem you identified in number 2, is just one of many. Lionel made no provision for center rail insulation. The product is so new, there are no books as of yet.

It is possible to insulate the center rail, but it means removing the pin from two adjacent sections of track. This involves bending the tabs underneath to allow the center rail to be lifted high enough to remove the pin. The pin is locked in place by a square stud which sticks down through the plastic roadbed. However, once diassembled, it is difficult to reassemble.

If you do not have a large investment in Fastrack, my advice is to switch now, and save yourself a lot of trouble. There are a lot of good looking 3 rail track products on the market.