Wireless Charging

http://www.clag.org.uk/battery-radio.html

Bernd

Is it time....

Is it time to go back to the horse and buggy?

Ouch

As far as I can tell there are very few of us that actually enjoy running on batteries (in a scale smaller than G). You have chosen another “Reverse Running” sure to spark some comments and I look forward to following along. As far as signaling needing power to the rails, hogwash. When we can charge an engine with a 5 volt wall wart then why would you need more than a battery to detect a train or car. In fact, why not put the battery in the car and simply use an Arduino to indicate the location? Still no power to the rails. (Fuel for the ensuing fire.) 

Regurgitated Forums Posts ...

Boring.  Not really anything new here.

As far as wiring the rails ... I expect the best and most practical solution would involve only powering small sections of tracks (i.e., service areas or loco sheds) which would allow for prototypical down time as the batteries are recharged.

I found this statement interesting concerning TOMA:

"This is forcing me to plan all aspects of my layout right from the get go."

Whereas elsewhere in the forums, Joe explicitly mentioned that TOMA specifically involves working on one (or several) modules to completion with no concern for the rest of the layout.

It's the technical details I'm working out

You misunderstand. "All aspects" as applied to the small piece I have carved off to build first.

I'm not planning the full layout configuration in detail, I'm planning all the technical details of the standard processes up front to build any and all module sections to full completion including planning for OPS on this subset. The result will be a blueprint for the entire layout construction process I intend to follow on the full layout, piece by piece.

Building just a small part of the entire layout to full completion is driving out a LOT gotchas up front. Later, as I plan and build the rest of the layout to completion bit by bit, I should experience fewer surprises late in the process like I did with SL1.

90% of the MRH readers don't read the forums

You realize, of course, that 90% of the MRH readers never read the forums. So it will bore only 10% of you ... its new material for the other 90%.

Wow! - I read your article and that what I am writing about.

To me the expression Dead Rail,  Dead Rail Society evoke elan, something cool, something you want to know more about. For me the expressions get past the gatekeeper into my subconscious mind where decisions are made.   Power on Board (POB) will never get past my gatekeeper.  To me POB is kind of offensive.  It distracts from the concept.  

Your conscience mind arguments are spot on except where you literalize Dead Rail.  Dead Rail is a concept and it does not mean the rails will never have any electricity of any type.  That's absurd.  I am sure that's what turned me off to your argument for the expression POB.

Mike Lee

Live rail lives!

Some good points, Joe. As an N-scale modeler, dead rail wasn't really an option for me, though I was initially very intrigued by the idea. As it's turned out, keeping my track uniformly conductive hasn't been the problem I remembered from my days in H0 back in the 1980s. I guess metal wheelsets and constant-running has cured 90% of my prior conductivity issues. The other 10% quelled with CVS alcohol swabs and my TidyTrack loco-wheel cleaner. I've only recently been running my new eSPee Masonite track-cleaning car, but the constant-running alone seems to have done the trick.

Never say never...

Dear Mike,

...unless one actually uses "Dead Rail" to model a railroad which by-definition needs it,
like a prototype wood-railed logging tramway...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

@Joe F...............

Is this true? How do you know?  I read the forum every day and occasionally post.  I would have thought it was the other way around, 10% don't read the forums..........

Peter

Reading Forums or ......

Or follow posted links.

Bernd 

Missunderstanding ...

Yes, I suppose the following words "of my layout" caused the confusion ... 

90%

Seriously???  I would never have thought that!  90% of MRH readers are probably missing the best part.  

correct

Yup, they are missing the best part of MRH.

Elan

I had to look that up. "Elan: energy, style, and enthusiasm."

I completely agree. Dead Rail may not describe the situation accurately but it's catchy, evocative, and certainly captures the imagination. POB is sterile and uninteresting.

Dead Rail lives!

Thanks for debunking

Lately, I've had several new modelers tell me how I need to get on the dead rail wagon.  When I mention occupancy detection and the issues with optical over current detectors I get the deer in the headlights look and they change the subject.  

I do, however think keep-alive should become as important as sound for new locomotives.

Thanks for the sanity check.

Joe

It's about what's most accurate

It's not about what's cool, it's about what's more accurate. POB is all-inclusive of battery power, Dead Rail only a subset, and maybe not a large subset either. So it's misleading.

If the "dead rail" layout has some live rail sections, is it still dead rail? If a floor has some wet spots on it, is the floor wet or dry? If the house has some rooms with termites and others without, does the house have termites or not?

Isn't being "sorta dead" like being "sorta pregnant" ... ?

If you don't have dead rail everywhere, then why the subterfuge? Power on board will describe everybody, dead rail almost certainly is not a universal term for the battery power trend.

It's not about firing the imagination, it's about what is most all-inclusive when when considering battery power and discussing it. It's not about ambiguity, it's about clarity and minimal confusion. 

I'm not saying the dead rail term never applies ever. Just use it where it correctly applies -- and that won't be nearly as often as when POB is correct. POB is the broad general term. Dead rail is a specific special case.

"Elan: energy, style, and enthusiasm."

I associate batteries with transiency, homeless ness, or other unconnected or limited state. Wall power associates with bounty stability,and permanence.....DaveB

Fuel for the fire

"Does your roof leak?"

"Only when it rains."

Are your rails live or dead? It is simple as that.

At the risk of being redundant, there must be ways to detect a car or train without having to put power to the rails or keeping wheels clean. (Granted the rails do seem to be a natural for conducting current but those of us who use POB are generally ok with optical detection or running dark. Don't tell anyone I said that.) 

Of the hundreds, or thousands, of forum members and the 10% who only read the magazine, what percentage use detection for signaling? This seems like an excuse for not experimenting with batteries. Consider one engine to pull a track cleaning train, for example, as an extra. This could add interest to an opp session and an excuse to try POB. 

In this world of super

In this world of super computers in our pocket, I'm not sure being wired really represents bounty to many people now adays. It represents restriction.

Anyway, given the concept of ELAN, I think I might disagree with Joe on this. No term in the history of civilization ever because popular because of accuracy over catchiness.

Also, I'm not sure what your examples are supposed to mean.  Dead Rail isn't supposed to be a literal statement on the state of a layout. Technically since copper alloy is an inert material it was never alive regardless of whether electrons are moving through it. The vary term "live" wire is not literal. a section of track does not become a living thing when current is flowing.

Whereas all your counter examples are about literal states. a floor with wet spots is a wet floor. a house with a single room infestation of termites is a house with termites. There's no Branding to those things. Dead Rail is "branding" a hobby concept.

Well if we want accuracy

Then let's call it Battery Powered (BP for short). 

Power on Board can be things other than batteries like live steam, CO2, wind up springs, etc.

But I have to admit "Dead Rail" has an appealing sound to it.

Paul

Ironrooster's post actually

Ironrooster's post actually points out where the phrase dead rail fits in our modeling language. Live Steam, is technically dead rail (though I suppose you could use the rail for control...though rail is a horrible transmission line and probably wouldn't be a good idea.)

But we don't call it dead rail. We call it live steam. So dead rail is a branding term for electrically powered locomotives with on board source. It plays off both the existing "live" in live steam, the live as in live conductor for a track powered layout and so it makes sense within the context of the existing terms. POB does not. POB encompasses live steam, though live steamers have zero need for it.

I suppose an MTC-16 is POB too. It's power is an ICE. Though I don't think many would include 16" gauge amusement park rides as a model railroad...even if MTC faithfully built them from EMD's actual F2 drawings.

(They should, if I ever win the lotto, I will scrape up as many of those as I can and build a huge garden layout) 

Dead Rail ...

If the trains can run without any power to the rails, I'd consider it "dead rail."  You want to add some (prototypical) voltage to the rails for signaling/train detection that is fine ... I think it would be easier to do this, as you would not have to add all those resistors to the wheels if the rail is only being used for train detection.

"I'd consider it "dead

So it would be live dead rail?

"Battery on board" seems to be winning this logic contest......DaveB