# Setup Advice



## Sybaris (Nov 26, 2011)

Hello
I have a grandson who is old enough now to be interested in trains and want to set up my old engines to run around the Christmas tree this year. 

I have the Lionel sets and extras that I played with in the 60's/70's but haven't gotten them out in over 30 years. I got curious about new stuff so I downloaded the latest Lionel catalog.......... wow, a lot has changed since I was a kid. 

I purchased a fastrack oval and hooked up my old ZW transformer,.......... engines and transformer still work!

I am planning on setting up a large oval with an inside passing loop (a decoupler in the loop) and have a few questions:


1. I'm a little confused about the new controllers. If I purchase left and right fastrack switches for the inner loop what kind of controller and other (if any) accessories do I need to operate the switches from the controllers? 

2. Will a fastrack decoupler operate the Lionel 3419 helicopter launching car?



thanks!


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

This Lionel 3419 Maintenance Manual seems to suggest that your car uses a manual launching lever. If it's a magnetic trigger in the center of the car, the Fastrack uncoupler will do the job.

As far as the Fastrack switches, if you're buying them new or complete, they come with controllers, no additional parts required.


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## Sybaris (Nov 26, 2011)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> This Lionel 3419 Maintenance Manual seems to suggest that your car uses a manual launching lever. If it's a magnetic trigger in the center of the car, the Fastrack uncoupler will do the job.
> 
> As far as the Fastrack switches, if you're buying them new or complete, they come with controllers, no additional parts required.


Thanks!

I was under the impression that those CAB controllers will operate the switches without connecting a lever switch controller???


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

There are new Fastback command enabled switches that will run directly from your TMCC/Legacy controller. Even so, they come with the standard wired controller. I didn't see any mention of TMCC/Legacy, so I'm assuming you're running conventional with that ZW, right?


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## Sybaris (Nov 26, 2011)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> There are new Fastback command enabled switches that will run directly from your TMCC/Legacy controller. Even so, they come with the standard wired controller. I didn't see any mention of TMCC/Legacy, so I'm assuming you're running conventional with that ZW, right?


I could run with the ZW but am considering an upgrade so that I could control the switches without direct wired levered controllers. Just not sure what all would be required to do that.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, there are two ways to control switches using command/control. First off, there are the TMCC enabled Fastrack switches I mentioned. If you're buying new switches, that's the way to go. You can also use the Lionel SC-2 control to switch them, of course it has to be wired to them. You can have one SC-2 handle 5 switches, and if you do a small mod to the SC-2, it'll handle six switches.


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## Sybaris (Nov 26, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. Got it figured out now.


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