Peter,
There are some things of which you should be aware:
- The battery in a PS2 engine does not maintain the engine's speed when power is momentarily interrupted, rather, it keeps it making sounds and keeps it in DCS mode.
- If it's all of your PS2 engines, it's unlikely that the issue is related to a defect in the engines.
- I'm not aware of anything in DCS that could cause the issues that you're experiencing.
- The fact that your other, non-MTH engines don't have batteries has no bearing on the problem.
- What you're experiencing is power-related, not DCS-related, so DCS signal strength isn't at all a factor.
I suggest that you look at the spacing of the pickup rollers and also at the non-traction tired wheels of your offending engines. It's possible that you may be momentarily losing either Hot (center rail) or Common (outside rails) due to the engine's wheel and pickup roller geometry.
Further, some steamers may not have a good Common connection via the tether between the wheels on the tender and the engine itself.
If the problem happens most often around switch tracks or uncoupling/unloading tracks, loss of Hot or Common is a reasonable possibility.
It would also help to know exactly which PS2 engines exhibit the offensive behavior, as well as more information about the track topology where the issues occur.
