With the kind permission of RickB here are my thoughts on the DCC Concepts Rolling Road. These are available through a number of re-sellers so feel free to pick one that suits you. Each one of these packs will do 4 axles in a variety of scales, they come set for OO/HO So inside the package pick the block size suitable for your own use. To swap scales, undo the screws that hold the 2 bearing sections to the plastic spacer, just a couple of points to note, the screws are small and I enjoyed a good couple of minutes scrabbling around the floor looking for one of them! They are also quite a soft metal and I did, without much effort, manage to snap the head off one as I fitted it. Fit the blocks on the track to align with the axles and apply power to the track, I am using a spare length of Peco Code 80 for this, I plan to test it on some Kato at some point. Atlas GP9 TT fitted to the blocks, I did experience some connection issues though, I'm not sure if it because being N scale the loco was too light to make a good contact but with a little wiggling I got it running ok. I did find it a little hit and miss and in future I'd probably use something to fix the blocks in place as the action of going forward to reverse makes the blocks move so you then have to fiddle about again to get a good contact. Given the dearth of such products on the market this seems a decent offering and I think with a little practice and fettling of the set up it could certainly become a useful tool. I'm just DC, don't know if you DCC guys could use it for programming but it is certainly handy to see if a loco is running true and for working on locos with the shell off. As discussed with Rick, I hope this is of use to you guys.
It does vary a bit from seller to seller and also on how many axles you need. The base pack is for 4 axles, I bought 2 packs to give me flexibility for 6 axle stuff and paid around £68. Several re-sellers on ebay, DCC Concepts price was high by comparison. I should add that, within 30 minutes of me emailing the company about the failed screw, they emailed me back asking for my address to send me a new block and screws out free of charge, and on a Sunday too! Good service.
Just a quick update on this, I put the blocks on to a piece of Kato track, and the issue of the intermittent running disappeared so I guess my length of Peco track wasn't 100% flat/straight. Now installed on the Kato track it works like a dream.
