03-14-2018, 05:30 PM
MountainMan Wrote:It sounds like you have a short that is draining power to something other than the track.
That's my thinking, too, but I haven't yet found what it might be.
FiatFan Wrote:As I was reading the section above the edit the same thought occurred to me: power supply. Do you have access to a different one that you could hook up temporarily?
Tom
Yeah, I have an old transformer, and I hooked it up directly to the track - the first test was on the track which, when the CM 20 is "ON", is always live. The locomotive ran, but very slowly, as before. Interestingly, to me, at least, is that the power light on CM 20 began to glow, so I'm guessing that power from the transformer was flowing into the CM 20, even though the latter device wasn't turned on. It was, of course, still connected to the layout.
Next, I put the loco on one of the switchable tracks which had been newly ballasted. The switch to that track was in the "OFF" position, so that section of track, despite the common rail, was isolated from any track that is normally powered track. When the transformer was connected directly to the track, and the power pack turned "ON", the locomotive responded immediately and took off at higher speeds than normally used on the layout.
I'm not sure if that means that the CM 20 is faulty, or, if there's something draining power from it, perhaps beneath the layout.
I'll have to have a look there later tonight.
Wayne