The last time I ran trains on my layout I ran a loco through all the track and it worked great. Ever since then, I've been working on scenery. As far as I know, I haven't touched any track or wiring. It has been awhile, but today I wanted to see how things ran. They didn't run at all. My layout has become extremely complicated, what with all the turnouts and switches. But I went around pushing and wiggling wires anyway. They all looked good. And I inspected every inch of the track: it's all clear. But hey, presto, now suddenly my loco runs--but it pays no attention to my controller. Even if the throttle is off, the loco takes off by itself, running at a steady speed, and doesn't stop. If I turn the throttle way up, it still just plods along, taking no notice and doing its own thing. Then only control I have is to change the direction. Does mean there is a short somewhere? Has this happened to anyone else?
Chaya, are you running DC or DCC? This would make a difference as to a cause. Also, you may want to ask this also in the forums about control systems as you might get some good advice from other scales. If it's DCC, what has probably happened is that the locomotive was, at one time, selected and the throttle cranked. To get it back under control you'll need to acquire it again in your system and then turn the throttle to "0." If you're running DC, I have no idea why you can't simply turn it off, but if you have a multi-tester you can at least test the dead track problems. It'll tell you if they're even getting juice.
It's DC. I'm using a Controlmaster 20. What would I test? The tracks are obviously getting power or the loco wouldn't be zooming around all by itself.
If you can unhook the controlmaster, you may want to test the DC voltage coming out of the controller. Set your scale to about the 20V range (or the next highest) and see if the power goes up when you turn it up and goes down when you turn it down. If it's staying constant, the controller may be faulty. It should be off when you put it all the way to zero. Other than that, your addition of switches and such may have introduced an accidental bit of power-feeding to the track through one or more switches. This will be harder to figure, but with the Controlmaster still unhooked from the track (but leave the accessories hooked up) you may want to test DC voltage over the track in several places. If you have voltage to the track then something is not right with some of the new stuff.
I had the same problem, but my engines went full blast. I unhooked my Contromaster 20 and hooked up another power pack.The trains ran fine.I sent the 20 to MRC to get it fixed. Now everthing is running fine. Curtis
You win the prize, Curtis. I just did exactly what you did, and the loco ran beautifully on an old MRC power pack from the 80's. Then I hooked the track back up to the Controlmaster 20, and had the same problem again. Now I need to figure out whether I need to send the whole thing back to MRC for repair or whether I just need to buy a new throttle. Now that I know the problem is with the Controlmaster 20, I remember having dropped the throttle last week. So maybe it's just the throttle. I'm having a heck of a time getting any life at all out of those throttles. Have you had the same experience, that they go bad if you just drop them?
Yes, I dropped my throttle. MRC only charged about 10.00 dollars. That has been the only trouble I have had with the CM20. Good unit. I wish MRC would make an upgraded walk around trottle. Curtis
I wish MRC would make the throttles period, instead of forcing us to rummage through the dustbins of hobby shops and haunt ebay for them. There are plenty of us out here who love the Controlmaster 20 and don't have any intention of changing. An upgraded throttle would be GREAT. How about both you and I write to them to suggest it? The least they can do is say, "No." Which they probably will.
OH-kay....Can't help myself, so...I gotta say it. Wishing that the manufacturers would continue to mass produce obsolete electronics is like wishing that Phillips would continue to produce 8-tracks. Gotta say more...time to seriously start thinking about converting to DCC. It took me a while, but three years ago, I finally bowed down to the DCC gods. Got rid of the rat's nest of DC wiring under my modular layout and installed DCC 12 ga. busses (red and black zip), 14 ga. mid-feeders and 22 ga. 4" track feeders (soldered to the underside of the rail foot on every single piece of rail!) all connected by brown, and red IDC's. Since it's a modular layout, each module's wiring is connected by color-coded Anderson Power-Poles. When I was running DC, I would route power using my Tortoises on every switch and divide the sidings in half, so I could park engines on one end, and pick up and drop off on the opposite end. Running from Red to Yellow meant crossing over using a center siding that was switched (Red/Off/Yellow) by a Center-Off DPDT switch, then a throttle change after I had stopped the engine (and train) and thrown the DPDT switch to the other throttle. It took several operating sessions to figure out the protocols. It worked okay and I was happy with it, until I heard SOUND in my Athearn Challenger. As crappy as that MRC sound was, I decided I needed it, and the conversion to DCC was begun...especially when I discovered I could not run several Challengers and Big Boys on the layout at the same time using the wireless controller because they would ALL respond identically at the same time!! Now that I have re-wired everything and am running DCC, it is sooo simple to run trains much more prototypically!...especially in Echo and Park City yards. No more messing around with throwing DPDT switches under the fascia to go from the Branch Line, to pick up sand gons at the sanding facility having to traverse both east and west bound mainlines, then return with the empty gons and make up the remainder of the Park City Local's cars into the consist...and head out on the westbound mainline back to Ogden. DCC just WORKS! If I'm running two Geeps on the head-end, I can de-consist them, park one of them, and do the switching using only one engine, make the train up, and then couple up, and re-consist them...and head out west bound! Of course, I could do all of that previously, by using my Tortoises to route power, but it got complicated and my Geeps had to be exactly parked in the center of the siding, one on either side of the gaps forming the boundary between the track power controlled by either the east or the west switch and the way it was thrown. Now I don't have to worry about all that Bacon Sandwich, shorts and runaway engines being controlled by somebody out on the mainline somewhere distant. Bite the bullet...start planning on converting to DCC As Soon As Possible. Cheers! Bob Gilmore Here's DCC wiring in-progress on my Echo Yard and Park City Yard modules after the rat's nest of DC wiring had been unceremoniously removed.
Errr, I think the O.P. just wanted help troubleshooting her problem with her layout. I use DCC like you Bob, but I realize not everyone wants to bother with it, especially those who have loads more legacy equipment than I do.
Sorry, to be a dollar short and day late. You controlmaster is designed to run on memory... should you disconnect your hand held from the power pack. My guess is something has gone wrong with the cord or plug on the hand held. This is a low voltage system that talks to the power pack through a type of mother board. Similar to the MRC momentum type features. My first question should be did you wire your layout to the Atlas approved "Common Wire"? You might want to check the manual and if memory serves me correctly MRC does warn not to hook the Controlmaster 20, to common wire. It's a long story but I helped a friend wire his layout and he choose the same transformer. I learned a lot from trouble shooting his layout. Along with other experiences. I hope this helps.
Oh...There's a distinct possibility that you're correct. However, the O.P. is not the only one reading this thread, so I wrote my comments with that in mind in case there are fence-sitters out there who need just a little shove to finally make the DCC move. Maybe the O.P. is one of them...I don't know. Switching to DCC would certainly solve the O.P.'s discontinued DC throttle problems now that it's clear it's not a wiring or track problem, although I realize it's an extreme solution... one which I undertook...and one I am very happy with! Honestly, do you think I don't also realize that "not everyone wants to bother with it"? That is a myth actually, since it's a lot more "bother" running a layout in DC that in DCC any day. You know this, I know this...anybody who is running DCC knows this...but not everyone who is still using DC knows it...not by a long shot. I was one of 'em, until I actually got things done enough to hook up my layout to DCC. I am not going to not contribute simply because "not everyone" agrees with me. If they don't, that's okay. If they are fence-sitters, maybe my remarks will nudge them over into a really fun and exciting aspect of model railroading that the DC crowd simply cannot partake of by continuing to use antiquated electronics. One of the other things that got me going finally was the failure of both my 25 year-old DC throttles...so, this thread lit up a memory and a line of action that really benefitted me (I have outlined some of the benefits in my previous post), and permanently solved my inoperable DC throttle problems. Cheers! Bob Gilmore
Well actually you didn't have to say it, Bob. And I have no need to "bite the bullet." I was hoping the old days of people pressuring fellow hobbyists to convert was over, but apparently not. I appreciate that you had problems and I appreciate that you are now very happy. I do not have any problems whatsoever. My layout runs incredibly smoothly--delightfully so. I don't want to control headlights, I don't like the fake-sounding sound systems, and I am the only operator--so I have absolutely no need of DCC. I also have a very limited budget and locos that I want which cannot be converted. The only thing that would change for me if I got DCC would be a thinner bank account. This has been talked to death and by now I thought everyone knew that there is a large contingent of happy DC layout owners, for their own reasons (listed above). DC is therefore nothing at all like 8-tracks, which manufacturers will be happy to tell you while they're raking in the profits for their DC controllers. I was perhaps naively expecting that I could discuss my system without having someone pop over to type up a DCC rant.
Hey Rick my friend, nice to hear from you. Your comments ring little gut-feeling bells in my head, so I suspect you are correct. What is an "Atlas approved Common Wire," though? You mean the main power bus? The only Atlas stuff I have is rolling stock. I don't think I got a manual with my Controlmaster 20, but I'll rummage around.
Okay, here's a great tip for all you Controlmaster 20 fans: turn off the "nudge" button. I followed Rick's sage advice to read the manual (thanks Rick!) and found that "nudge" should be used only for slow-motion operations like coupling: otherwise you should keep it off. Curious--and aware that those kinds of bells and whistles often lead to problems--I turned off the "nudge" switch and TA-DAAA, my handheld controller works once again. So to re-cap, what appeared to be a problem with a broken controller that no longer controlled my trains was fixed by simply turning off the "nudge" switch at the power pack.
Well, fine. I just question why anyone would jump into a DC topic telling everyone to go DCC. It seems obnoxious to me when I ask a Digitrax or DCC question and someone writes a treatise about how they'll never go DCC, or it's all crap, etc., etc. It happens and it happens often. I am not trying to control what you write or keep you from contributing. I have no such power in any case. Much as you think the O.P. should go DCC I think your post was off-topic, but the world is big enough for all these opinions. When I got back into the hobby in 2007 I wanted to start over in a new scale, and I went DCC because it just looked like fun, but that's me. In any case, we seem to have fixed the problem. Best regards, Adam
Ok guys easy on the DCC discussion. First off let's get Chaya's problem solved. Oh, yeah I guess we already did that. LOL Chaya, my friend. Good to know you are back-up and operating. The Controlmaster 20 is one of the best Analog DC, MRC power supplies you can buy. It is amazing what you can do with it and your trains will always run smooth. Atlas Common Wire, (A type of common bus) you'd know it... if your layout was wired to such nonsense. Don't give that a second thought. Oh dear, well I got to say this. I mean I didn't start the fight. He did. Seriously! I too am one of those who has chosen to stay with Analog DC although, I have Cab B hooked up to a MRC Prodigy, DCC system. Through a DPDT toggled "switch". COL The fleet of locomotives I've acquired...well...to put it simply, it would be to expensive to make the conversion. What locomotives I have on DCC, will remain unchanged. Just don't be looking for me to convert over anytime soon....not in this life. Not on my bucket list. Funny how reading a manual...well...you know what I mean. Got a full day ahead of me...visit later.
I know, Rick, and do I feel dumb. I have never been the type to avoid instructions and maps. Being a mechanic in the Army, in fact, made me into a manual-nerd. So I have no explanation and no excuse for why I did not read it more than once and just put it away in a folder. I was astonished to see that there are precautions I should be taking each and every time I turn it on that I had no memory ever reading about. But then, I can no longer remember things like what I did over the weekend or what I had for breakfast...
