DCC with Atlas terminal track

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

I hope this isn’t a dumb DCC question. [%-)] I’m just getting back into HO railroading and started with an Atlas track kit. I plan to use 100% DCC for track operations. My understanding was that I could just connect the DCC wires to the track and things would work. So I connected wires from my Digitrax Zephyr Express to an Atlas Terminal track.

I have a Bachmann DCC engine and was happy to see it ran fine, all the way around the loop in my 4x8 table. But then I noticed when running slowly over the Terminal track, it would stop. It only runs if both sets of wheels are on either the left or right side of the terminal connection.

I assume I just don’t understand something about DCC wiring. Is this expected? Will it be better when I add more feeder wires to other points of the loop? Or can someone point me in the right direction? Or is it best not to use the Atlas terminal track at all?

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

2

I’ve never had an atlas terminal track but I assume there are embedded wires connecting the screw terminal to the track. Maybe one or both connections is not a good solder joint? To test that theory disconnect the track at either end and wire your track wires temporarily directly to each rail (use alligator clips or just your fingers). If an engine passes your dead zone then you need to try to fix those joints (if they’re exposed underneat) or replace that track.

3

Might be a bad connection to the rails on the terminal track section itself and when the weight of the engine is on that section, the connection is broken. (?) With the engine running in the loop, press down on the terminal track with your hand and see if the engine stops.

Mark.

4

Hello All,

[#welcome] to the forums.

As has been mentioned your first few posts will be moderated which will cause a delay in their being posted.

Because of the way DCC works- -both power and signal packets travel down the same electrical path.

This path can be the rails or what is known as a “Track Bus.” This is a set of wires that run roughly parallel to the track under the pike that begin from the booster/command station.

In your case, this is the DCC output of the Zephyr Express.

Feeder wires are short sections of wire that connect the track sections to the track bus.

Modern Nickle-Silver track, albeit an improvement over brass, is still not a great conductor of the DCC signal. Add in sometimes unreliable track joiners, and signal transmission might be compromised.

Atlas track plans are based on DC operation and power, not DCC.

Yes, they can be “converted” to DCC using a track power bus and feeders for more reliable signal transmission throughout the trackage.

You mentioned you are running a DCC locomotive but didn’t mention what type; steam or diesel?

On my DCC pike, I have many re-railer track sections throughout along with numerous turnouts.

I have a Bachmann USRA 0-6-0 (steamer). On the bottom, there is a small protrusion or “bump” to facilitate the drive gear.

After careful inspection, I found that this protrusion would contact the raised center section of the re-railer tracks along with portions of turnouts and causes a temporary loss of power to the loco because the wheels would lose contact with the track.

The solution was to take a motor tool (Dremel®) and grind down this protrusion so it would clear these r

5

Wow, thanks everyone! This was my first post and I can’t believe all the helpful replies! I tried pressing the track when the train was running but that had no effect. However, replacing the Terminal track with another one fixed the problem!

Probably this was caused by the Bachmann engine itself, as jjdamnit suggested. I’ll investigate that later. But I think any of the proposed solutions would work.

When I start laying down track permanently I’ll be soldering the feeders.

Thanks again! Don