Hi,I just finished ballasting some track, and now my engines will start/jerk and stop like their not getting enough power. I used a bright boy after I ballasted, could it be they need a more intense cleaning? All the engines are DCC.
any suggestions
thanksArt
Could be, but since you bright-boyed it already, probably not.
My guess is that your rail joiners were not soldered, and you got some glue into them. As the glue hardened, it broke the electrical path through the rail joiner from one rail to the other.
You could very carefully go back and solder the joints, or you could add more feeders. A simple test is to use alligator clips to jumper between one rail segment and another, and see if that helps. If it makes a big difference, you've found your problem rail joiner.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I agree with what Mr. B said. Probably got glue into the rail joiners. Do you have feeder wires every 3' to power the track like you should?
You might be able to push the joiners back and forth with a screw driver to get them to make better contact. (if they're not soldered.)
I soldered all rail pieces and have feeders every 3 ft.
DId you wait for the glue to dry before using the Bright Boy or was it still wet? If you used it right after ballasting and the glue was still wet, all you did was spread the glue around. Go over it again.
aet I soldered all rail pieces and have feeders every 3 ft.
Hmmm...That's different. Did you maybe get some wet glue on your loco wheels??
I'd clean the loco wheels and see if that makes a difference.
Be sure and clean the tops and the insides of the rails, just not the tops. Sometimes a bright boy can leave tiny pieces of the matte medium or glue on the railheads which can get picked up by the engines. I'd clean the engine wheels and go over the track with a track cleaning car, or just a soft paper towel (Viva etc.) and maybe some alcohol or other cleaning solution.
Look very closely at the rail, maybe even use a magnifier you'll probably see small coatings of glue that didn't get removed. BILL