Neil Erickson - Exploring Dead Rail battery powered trains

Clinic,
Neil shows us how he controls his On30 layout without track power.
From the NMRAx virtual convention 13th June 2020

[josephlupinski]

RailPro is a US made system and is a battery compatible. Dead Rail grew the most out of G scale since out door track will patina which is not electrically conductive and requires more work to not only clean the rails of debris but to also clean the rains ensuring bare metal for a good electrical connection. Lithium Ion battery packs have offered the G scale community a solid power source that allows for hours of run time based on size of the battery installed. It is not advisable to try and go cheep and build your own batteries or adapt them from other sources. You want to buy some that allows circuit protection to ensure a breaker trips in the event of a short.

[docwithnodegree]

I know this is an old video so this comment will probably never be read... But I always thought about a great place to keep the rails clean and install the charging ports would be in the engine house or the roundhouse, that would be a great way to say that the engines and the operating session has to always come back to zero.

[steveboshakis]

i have a 500 sq foot HO layout and keeping the track clean enough for DCC locomotives is a real challenge Dead Rail is for sure in my future it looks like the solution and no more reverse loop worries track plans get to be realized as never before

[mpetersen]

Considering the first powered model trains were self powered clockwork designs moving to Dead Rail is just going back to the hubby's roots.

[lyndonfoster]

Much appreciated. looking for methods of making battery cars that can be put with several different locomotives, and I particularly like railpro in both large and smaller scales. Like your channel

[russellschundler]

When running a large layout there is a need to track trains and manage, at the signal block level ... speed, block entry, train right of way privileges, and much more. How is this done with battery operated trains? How are other devices powered ... turnouts (switches), signals, buildings, etc.?

[davidwp]

I have a battery operated train set that is also has a r/c engine. My question is if I were to get a similar 2nd engine, is it possible to manually change the frequency so as to not conflict with the 1st r/c engine? Thanks.

[apocalypserailroad]

I don't believe that DCC will survive the collapse! I believe people will go back to rheostat style controlled layouts. I have my solar panels and battery system all setup for the collapse, and I will be using the DCC that I have, but I also have my old rheostat style controllers. There's lots of left over rheostat style equipment, and people will use whatever they can get there hands on. No way DCC companies will survive the dollar death, let alone most model railroad companies.