Bachman (Dept 56) Train problem

[Anonymous]

I am very new to the world of trains, so I'm not sure where the problem lies here. I have a small track that I'm putting in a display for a vaillage I'm building for the seasons.... here's the problem.

The track is the grey EZ-track, no switches, just track. The wire from the track wasn't long enough to reach where the controller was going to be so I used some 16g stranded wire to extend the length to the controller. I put the train on the track and the engine will go ok until it hits one piece of track, then it stops. The track is all new, and it worked before I set up the display.... question is what is wrong with this one piece of track that the engine won't go over? Is this something that I can fix?

Thanks for any ideas,

Stephen

[tstage]

Stephen,

Hey, welcome to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

Run you finger over the top of the track to feel whether the rail is even or not. You should NOT feel a bump or ridge in either direction. If you do, then the track isn't installed properly. Usually this a more common problem with non-EZ track. The EZ track is constructed so that ridges and uneven track is eliminated.

Is it only one a section of track? Do you have electrical continuity? (Or, does the light on the front of the locmotive still light up if pushed it over that section.) If it doesn't, then you may have a bad section of track, or a contact on the end got bent or is broken.

Hope that helps...

Tom

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply!!!

I took that part of track out and put it back in, all of the couplings look good and there are not any bumps. The light however does go out when it hits that part of track. I might see if I have another section of that track and see if it still happens. I don't get how there could be a continuity problem though. If one section was bad would the train still move? Wouldn't the circuit be open?

Like I said I'm new to this so I'm still learning. My son (6yo) loves seeing the train move and was dissapointed tonight when it didn't work right.

Thanks again,

Stephen

[dgwinup]

Is the dead section in the middle of your set-up or on an end? If in the middle, does the rest of the track have power on either side of the dead section?

If the rest of the track has power, then the dead section is bad or really, really dirty! Try cleaning first.

Try reversing the section of track that has the problem. If this gets power to the dead section but the NEXT section goes dead, then you have a bad connection on the section you just reversed. Move it to the end of your track and make sure the end with the bad connection is at the very end of the track.

If none of this works, you have a bad section of track and will have to replace it.

Hope this helps. Don't want to disappoint the little guy again!

Darrell, not dead, but quiet...for now

[Anonymous]

Well, not sure why, but I just switched two pieces of track and everything is working. Very strange from an electrical point of view, but then again that's what makes this so fun [:D]

My son was very impressed today. He wanted to make it go as fast as it could. I persuaded him not too though.

Thanks for the help!

SD

[selector]

It would seem that there were two loose connectors (rail joiners) on that one piece of track.. I can see no other explanation. When you removed it and switched it to another location, you ended up with a better contact for whatever reason, and all is well....for now.

[Leon Silverman]

Rail joiners have to fit tightly enough on the rails to offer resistence when you pu***he track ends together. Otherwise, there is little, if any electrical continuity established.
Snug rail joiners will make the tracks hard to pu***ogether. If not, the rail joiners are loose and have to be squeezed down. The spring hooks on EZ-track will offer resistence on their own, making it unlikely that you would have noticed that the rail joiners were fitting loosely.