Lionel 42" path remote control switch help

Hello,

     I believe that I'm having this same problem.  For me, it only happens when the train is going from the turnout to the stright part of the switch.  The sparks occur in the center of the switch on the inter outside rail of my Right hand 42" 027 Lionel switch.  If I go slow the train will stop.  I see my Amp metter dance when the train is passing though the switch, but in this this one direction.  I am I have the same problem as mention in this thred?  I called Lionel and they never heard of this problem.

Thanks 

I have eight of these switches(042) and have not had this problem.They work fine and probably have less sparking than my 027's.I'd check your wheels to see if they are guaged correctly.I run through them both ways and even have one slaved to a switch on top of my layout so the reversing loop underneath is always straight when the train goes into the loop.I had a derailment here once in a while and cured it that way.

                                                                                   Ed

I had a similar problem running my Polar Express Berkshire through 027 lionel switches.

 I found that either the non-flanged drivers would short to the fat middle rail at the red arrow (when on the turn-out) or the wide collectors on this loco would short to the corners of the swivel rails at the blue (out)and green (through) locations.  I fixed this by placing small pieces of scotch tape (only a temporary Christmas layout) on just the locations mentioned to stop this.  These problems should be less pronounced on your 042 switches, but I would not be surprised if this is affects those switches as well.  I do not believe your control rails have anything to do with your problem.

There are other locomotives with gearing just inboard of the wheel flanges that will almost always contact the fat center rail on any lionel 027 switch shorting the track.

 CW-80:  Has very low tolerance for any shorts or sparking anywhere on your track.  The overload protection circuitry is very fast acting I've found compared to my PW V model which you could arc-weld with before the short circuit protect feature activates.

Hope this helps,

Roland 

these forums are weird...  tried and tried to get the pictures to work right....finally found that by clicking in the dead white space to the right of each thumbnail the full size image could be brought up!  Anyone have annny tips?

Roland

Hello,

     I performed some more testing.  I discovered that the short or spark only occurred with my Williams all metal bottom box cars.  I can run a Lionel Post-War Switcher and standard cars throught the switch fine.  I did stop the spark thanks to this forum.  I placed electric tape where the spark was occuring on the outer rail.  Now I can run Lionel and Williams car through this switch.  Thanks!!!

Like this:



and:



Rob

Thanks Both!  I went up and was able to fix my post.  Appreciate the tips!

roland

P.S.  Glad the thread starter has been able to fix his problem

Wanted to Bump this thread back to the top so Swipesy could reference it for his "Replacement Switches" thread.

Hope it helps, sounds similar to me...even the same loco.  Strategic placement of electrical tape was a miracle for me!

Roland

1666Columbia: Sounds like you talked to the same Lionel Tech to whom I have spoken. Talk to the train people on this forum for the correct information and help. All the best.

Rob & Roland:  Thanks for the clear photos and your insight.