I have about three engines that stall while going over a couple of my Fastrack switches. They are not convenient to reach, so I was wondering - could a circuit like that used to prevent passenger car light flicker work in a similar way to provide enough momentary power until one wheel set and roller get over the dead spot?
Terry
Yes. September 2008 CTT shows you how to connect a second roller pick-up on another car to the roller pick-up on the engine.
Kurt
If you’re thinking about using a capacitor for energy storage, I’m afraid it’s not very practical for a locomotive. There are two problems: You would need a very large capacitor to keep a locomotive going. But even more of a show-stopper is the problem that the capacitor voltage is DC. This means considerable redesign and rewiring of the locomotive’s electrics to locate them downstream of the rectifier that you will need to charge the capacitor. Adding a pickup is the way to go.
Thanks Bob, if anyone would know, it’s you. I’ll look into the pickup method. I did discover that by adding a common drop near the switch, the voltage was raised so that two of the engines no longer come to a stop.
Terry