Norman Rockwell's Main Street Christmas - Auto Reversing Street Car Set

Started by Agustaclan, November 11, 2018, 01:18:47 PM

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Agustaclan

Hi all.  We have had to down size significantly and sold off all our train sets but one HO set but it won't fit in the limited space I have to set up my Christmas village in our current house.   We just bought the battery operated set in subject line.  It has EZ track and works correctly sometimes.  It will work, then stop at reversing bumper and stall, or keep trying to keep going right through the bumper.   Then it might work again!!  Frustrating - have checked all connectors several times, swapped bumpers, changed batteries (yes unfortunately its battery operated).  Can't seem to find a common constant cause!

Granted it's not a serious train set, but it still means lots to these old train folk.  Please let me know if anyone has any input.

bbmiroku

I've had some of these problems sometimes on my electric version in HO (HO and On30 use the same-sized track).  It looks like it is the same set up in that one pair of wheels will have to cross a gap that is cut into one of the rails (and filled in with something non-conductive) before the bumper (the reversing sections).  It causes an electrical impulse to be sent through the other side of that rail, telling the reversing circuit to stop the trolley and reverse the current flow, making the trolley go the other way on its own.

A few problems might be solved by connecting the two auto-reversing sections (labeled A on one end and B on the other) to the reversing tracks (the pieces with the black box down the middle of the underside) in the correct manner (connect A to A and B to B).  If you connect A to B (or the opposite) then either the trolley will stop because it isn't getting power after it crosses the gap, or it will keep going even after it hits the bumper.

Honestly, your best bet will be to return it where you got it and get another one (that plugs in).  Then you can add or subtract track as the space permits, generally in 9" sections.  And use any other kind of trolley you'd like.

Terry Toenges

A few years ago I bought a reversing set that didn't work properly and I had to return it. I had the same problem. It only worked sometimes. Mine was the plug-in one but the problem was the same. I had the A's to the A's and the B's to the B's.
Feel like a Mogul.