I have a Lionel HolidayTradition Express. The train came with enough track to make a 12' oval track layout. I extended the layout to a 23' oval layout. Here is a description of my problem followed by a question:
After I setup my 23' layout, with the lockon track power connection attached to one of the end curved pieces, and the power on, I had a problem getting the train to run in either forward or reverse. All other commands to the engine worked fine. Someone suggested to me that I could solve my problem by adding another power lockon to mt setup, so I added the additional power lockon to a curved piece at the opposite end of the oval from my original power lockon. That gave me two 12V 2.5 amp power supplies providing power to the track. In addition, I cleaned the track to make sure the tender was getting good contact. I turned the set on, making sure both power lockons were on and both were supplying power to the track. THe train worked just fine with this setup. However, for some reason or another, after having run the train a couple of times over the chistmas Holiday, and having it sit idle for three days, I'm back to getting no forward or reverse to the engine. I cleaned the track again, but that did not solve the problem. I've checked the tender and engine on a test track (made up of two track sections, a lockon track power connection, and an original lionel 12V 2.5 amp A/C adapter) and I get plenty of power to the engine, both forward and reverse, and all of the other commands work as well, so I know, or have to assume, that the tender and engine electronics are fine. I also have to assume that the problem seems to be in getting enough amps to power the train when it is sitting on the 23' layout.
So, here is the question. Could my problem be that I need to boost the amps to the track layout, and could I achieve that goal by adding yet another 12V 2.5 amp power supply to the layout giving me a total of three 12V 2.5 amp power supplies connectd to the tracks?