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Good morning all.  I am new to the OGR Forum and this is my first post.  I just put up a dozen Glenn Snyder Rail Shelves in my "train room" last night.  I have heard that storing MTH locomotives on the aluminum rail shelves will drain / kill the batteries in the locos.  Is this true?  If so, are there any other train companies that have batteries in their locos?  I believe Lionel and K-Line do not have batteries.  If it is true that the aluminum rail shelves drain / kill batteries, I was planning to just cover the "center rail" in the rail shelves with electrical tape.  Any and all comments and suggestions will be appreciated.  Thanks!

Last edited by Pman
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Originally Posted by Pman:

Good morning all.  I am new to the OGR Forum and this is my first post.  I just put up a dozen Glenn Snyder Rail Shelves in my "train room" last night.  I have heard that storing MTH locomotives on the aluminum rail shelves will drain / kill the batteries in the locos.  Is this true?  If so, are there any other train companies that have batteries in their locos?  I believe Lionel and K-Line do not have batteries.  If it is true that the aluminum rail shelves drain / kill batteries, I was planning to just cover the "center rail" in the rail shelves with electrical tape.  Any and all comments and suggestions will be appreciated.  Thanks!

Hi Pman- Welcome.

 

I have had the Glenn Snyder shelves for 15 years and have not had this issue with my MTH locos. Although you can install batteries in your Lionel TMCC and Railsounds locos for uninterrupted sounds, it's a good idea to not store batteries in any of your locos. 

Have not experienced any problem with my Snyder extruded shelves draining any batteries.  My MTH engines stored for display on wooden shelves need to be recharged just as much as those on the aluminum shelving.  Of course, installation of BCRs help to alleviate that concern, and installation of the newer type green MTH batteries.

Originally Posted by Pman:

I was planning to cover the "center rail" in the rail shelves with electrical tape.

 

Why do these shelves even have a "center rail?"  I think that its only purpose is to unnecessarily compress the roller pick-up springs on locos & powered rolling stock.  If I had these shelves, I would choose a "two-rail" version (if available), cut out the entire "center rail," or at least remove the center rail spots that align with any roller pick-ups.  I never let powered items sit on layout trackage for long periods of disuse for the same reason. 

 

 

The shelves are not connected to the battery, and do not play any role here. Sitting on the shelves kills the batteries, not the shelves themselves.

 

A dead battery, especially in PS2, is not a tragedy, and not in PS1 either, if you just follow the procedure:

 

If loco has sat a while (weeks+), put it on the track, turn on the power (half throttle or so), leave it in neutral for 5 minutes for a minimal charge, then run. The PS2's must have a charged battery to run correctly, but no damage can come from a dead one; the PS1's (some) can be damaged by attempting to run (not just charge) a dead-battery loco.

====

 

I have aluminum shelves; some locos sit there for years. No problems. 

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