having issues with operating locomotives on the layout i currently have a zephyr system as my command station and all my locos are kato and they all have mrc drop in n scale sound decoders. most of the time they all work fine with the exception of one or two i have about six on the layout at a time only 4 or 5 running at a time though. my problem is that the locomotive will randomly stop for a second or two at certian spots on the layout sometimes the loco will all together shut down and most of the layout it operates fine just those spots and i did clean the track thuroughly in those areas and i did get some crudd off. however the loco still has issues and i also cleaned the wheel sets aswell both with rubbing alcohol and a no lint cloth. the loco that has the most of these issues is a kato p42 with the mrc sound. also some of the other kato engines have had issues aswell but they are far and few between i know the mrc decoders arent the best but i dont know of any other decoders that have sound and are drop in ( plug and play). my layout is somewhat congested in some areas with track so im not sure if it might be a lack of power issue or not because i know cheaper sound decoders can use extra power. i dont know im at a loss. HELP!!
It's hard to say without being there and tinkering ourselves. It could be the DCC system (extremely remote possibility), could be the decoder (MRC sound decoders are notorious for being faulty, even out of the package in HO...not sure about N), or it could be the connections to the track or between sections of track.
You say the tracks are clean...no reason to pursue that any further. Have you pressed on the rail joins on either side of an engine when it stalls to see if that restores power? Using a pencil butt or a small section of wooden dowel, you can press the end down onto one or more joints and see if the engine moves off again. If so, you have found the problem.
Basically, anthing that moves,wobbles,oscillates,spins, is going to cause wear and changes over time that will...not might...will affect performance. Mechanical joints that are meant to be static, if they can spring up and down or sideways even a few thousandths of an inch, will eventually fail. Track joiners are known to fail over time, and that is why so many of us just grit our teeth and solder most of them up. Or, we solder tiny lengths of wire around the joints as jumpers.
If several engines are doing this, and the decoders are good, then I would suspect the track, and since you say the track is clean............
thank you for the input it makes sense all of my track is kato unitrak and none of the joints are soldered i am capable of soldering however not sure on how to do it with unitrak without melting the plastic roadbed. there is an area that i practiced on and it worked out ok but i still melted the roadbed.any suggestions??
Yeah, see, that is the kicker in all of this. The MRC decoders just don't inspire a lot of confidence on this forum. Some posters insist that they have several that have run fine for years, but someone like David, and several others who post regularly, insist that they have had one major headache with MRC decoders. So, unless you have been using your track a lot, putting it together and then taking it apart 50 times so that the joiners are well worn, I would be inclined to suspect the decoders.
I had Bachmann's EZ-Track on my first layout. I did sprinkle beach sand over the plastic ballast to make it look better, and I did use a light bead of latex caulk to keep it put. So, the joiners were not really allowed to wobble or move, and I had good power transmission along the rails. I know that your brand of track is highly regarded, and would not feel confident blaming it for the issues you face. If your track sections are not firmly established and held in place by glue or anything, then yes, you may still have the odd joiner that is giving you problems, but I would have to have a look at your set-up to judge for myself.
-Crandell
mmr1229...locomotive will randomly stop for a second or two at certian spots on the layout...
The above is why I solder rail joiners, but one other thing to try, get a can of "Tuner Cleaner" from Radio Shack and use a nozzle tube to get some into the wheel wipers. There is a chance, if the wheels have had crud buildup, that some may be in the wiper area, too. I also use it on my switch point contacts. John
thanks to everyone i think i might be dealing with more than one issue here or at least a combo of both railjoiners and power to the decoder. i found the decoder issue and it was exactly what csx robert had said not making good contact to the trucks i fixed that, and it did help, but some of those same spots on the layout are still giving me the same problems so i guess im going to get out the soldering gun also my track has not been secured down yet due to changes i have been making so i'm hoping after i secure and solder the track the problems will go away. i would hate to have a decoder problem because all of my decoders are mrc and i don't know of any other decoders that are plug and play with sound. but i guess it just is what it is. thanks again