Basic power question Z

[Bbel27]

Hi, I purchased a small Z scale train set for my grandsons and we are now building scenery for it. This is probably a basic question but I need some guidance. When I added two little bridges with lights on them, the train only makes it around the track 3/4 of the way now. I imagine the two lights on both bridges are taking power away from the track. I'm hoping there is an easy and relatively inexpensive solution. I imagine the two lights on the bridges are taking power away from the track. I'm hoping there is an easy and relatively inexpensive solution to this. Any advice is appreciated. (Besides buying a new HO set! 😊) Thank you.

[trainman203]

The lightbulb draws hardly any of your current as all.  It sounds like you have one or more loose track connectors between sections of track (called "rail joiners.")

Since you are very new at all of this, you certainly don't have the multimeter that experienced model railroaders have, but don't despair!  There is, what we call down here in Mississippi, a "Southern Engineering" testing method to locate the problem!

Run the train to the location where it stalls, and leaving the power on, systematically start pushing a knife blade point in successive cracks between the two rails.  I would put good money on the train jumping to life when you hit the right one.

When you find it, you'll need to probably tighten the joint up with pliers, but be very careful, it doesn't take much to make it so tight that you can't put the track back together again. Not much more pressure than the weight of a gnat will probably be enough.

There's always the possibility that the injection of some electronic contact cleaner from the hardware store into the joint might work too, in fact I would try that first.

Since you are certainly running on an oval  of track, there's going to be two of these places that create a dead stretch somewhere between them. Fixing one will deliver power into the dead zone. But it fails, you may need to go find the other one and fix it.

Hope this helps.  Try this and report back so we can see how you did.  There's a bunch of us here with long years of experience with these trains. I've been at it over 60 years, but I still occasionally find problems and issues that I have to figure out even after all this time.

[trainman203]

One thing I forgot to mention, you said you were doing scenery.  If this includes putting ballast on the track using a diluted white glue of sorts, the glue may have seeped into the joints, This commonly happens.

If that's the case, a more radical solution might be required, but let's try the stuff in my first post first.

[Bbel27]

Thanks so much my friend. I will certainly test the track as you suggested. I am away from the house for a week, but I will do this as soon as I get back! Again - appreciate your time with this.

[trainman203]

The whole time I was trying to help you, I forgot that you are inZ scale, which is so small it's unbelievable.  At that featherweight size, if a gnat shirts on the rail it will stall your train.  Before you do anything, assiduously and surgically clean your rail.  There are 1 million different ways to clean rail and everyone thinks their method is best, but one thing is true, and that is that it's best not to use abrasives while cleaning track.  The little scratches it creates on the railhead will collect dirt and oxide, and the grit is guaranteed to get up in your locomotive.  A small rag soaked with isopropyl alcohol is good, and a pink pencil eraser is actually pretty good too, its abrasive content is pretty low.

Report back and let us know how it goes.

[Bbel27]

You were right! The connection on one of the straight tracks was not seeded well. Thank you so much for your advice. The train is making its way around the entire track now. We can start our scenery work now. Appreciate your time in helping us/me!

[trainman203]

Great. To quote the late editor of Model Railroad magazine Linn Westcott, "Model railroading is fun."