Hey all, I'm working on the California Polytechnic State University Rose Float team, and part of our design this year required the use of some electric train parts, which we actually got donated from Bachmann.

We're using the Large Scale Thomas & Friends trains since they are the biggest and therefore most stable wheel base. We're trying to make the train speed up and slow down at specific parts of the track, and if possible we would love to not need a controller/sensor to accomplish this. We were thinking of having sections of track be different voltages than adjacent sections, slowing down or accelerating the train as it passed over each section, but we haven't tested this yet and I'm worried this could damage the motor, and how we will accomplish this. Are there some sort of rubber isolators that you install in the track that would let you isolate a piece of track from the rest of the circuit? Would the only way to accomplish this speed variation be to program a controller to vary the voltage across the whole track?

If you guys can shed any light on our predicament or direct me where to go for the next step it would be much appreciated!