I'm going to suggest a different problem - track power.
Do you have lots of feeders from your track bus to your track, or are you relying on rail joiners to carry power from one section to the next? Is your track wiring soldered, and are your track joints soldered as well? These are common causes of weak or intermittent track power.
If your engines are stalling over turnouts, you may have unpowered frogs or poor connections to your point rails.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Appreciate all of your suggestions. I decided to clean the track again but this time I used my alcohol and picked up some grime. I also re-cleaned the loco wheels but for a longer time and used alcohol too. Now the loco runs much better at very low speeds, i.e. NCE settings of 2-5. No hesitation this around.
Also, thanks to you guys I used the link to NCE decoders and found decoders for much less than I found elsewhere. I plan to upload videos to my "Jocassee Valley Railroad project blog very soon: www.jvrr.net
In Him
DSFletcher
davidmbedardYes....low end NCE decoders......not the same as the aftermarket ones.
Nope, sorry, but you're mistaken. Here's the Atlas version: http://www.atlasrr.com/pdf/AN12A0.pdf, and here's the NCE version: https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/200250105/n12Aa0.pdf. They have exactly the same features, except the Atlas one has four functions instead of two, actually making it the better one if you need more than two functions..
stupid question but did you clean the pickup wheels on the loco?
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
davidmbedard...the decoder that Atlas uses is low end even though you paid a excessive premium for it. I suggest better quality decoders in your future conversions.....NCE is a good brand for N scale drop in...
Actually, Atlas now uses NCE decoders.
Since you've cleaned the track loco wheels thoroughly, it probably is an issue with the loco. First, make sure the brass strips along the sides of the frame are making contact with and setting on top of and the brass nubs on the trucks. I have had these get knocked out of whack before, causing pick up issues. If this loco is used, you could have crud acumulated in the axle cups on the trucks. Also, the contact between the decoder board and the motor leads can sometimes cause issues.
I have a brand new N scale layout that I have tested five DC Atlas locos on and all run perfect. I was given an Atlas N Master Line Loco Gold Series a week ago. I bought and eagerly hooked up my NCE Power Cab. I have thoroughly cleaned the track with Woodland Scenic track cleaning system. I cleaned the DCC loco with the WS wheel cleaner.
The DCC loco runs real well at med to high speed. At low speed, it "hesitates" at various spots but keeps going. It just does not run smoothly like my DC locos do.
Any ideas would really be appreciated.