Help with MTH RailKing

[Greg]

I just set up my son's track which we had put away for a few months. The set up is pretty simple, using 4 switches (3 rights and a left). It is the oval sample shown on the switch boxes with one siding and one cross over through the middle. I apologize if my terms are incorrect.

The engine runs fine by itself through the whole layout but when cars are hooked to it the engine loses power when it hits a section between two particular switches. It runs fine with cars attached through the rest of the layout.

I have checked and rechecked the connections and just can't figure it out. As I noted, the engine runs fine by itself (with tender). Two of the cars, the caboose and a flat bed car, draw electricity to light lights, other than that none of the cars being pulled draw electricity from the track.

Is it more likely a problem with one of those cars or possibly one of the switches? Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[GeorgeHO]

Put a jumper wire (another hookup to your transformer) on the section of track that is bad. That should get rid of the problem. You probably have some track that is not making good contact. If you have a voltmeter, you can turn the transformer on with no trains on the track and see if there is a definite place where the voltage drops, but if the problem is a poor contact that is restricting the current (flow) than that will not show up except under a load. Also, watch the lights on the caboose and flat car to see what they do.

 

[Greg]

THANKS! I will try the jumper and I have a meter I can put on it.

 

[Marxed]

how old is the set? when i first read the post i kinda assumed it was new and threw out the idea of dirty track and didnt reply .... i often get spots in my track in which the trains slow down.... best way to cure that is just to clean the track off really good, it may not look that dirty, but once you start wiping it off you'll see just how much was on it

 

[ezdays]

Greg,

First of all, welcome to the Gauge.

It does appear to be a voltage problem. When you load the engine with cars, there's not enough momentum to get you past the bad track. You may not be able to measure the voltage drop at the track with a meter until it is loaded down. The advice given is good, although I'm inclined to agree that the track needs cleaning.