For those of you not familiar with the term, it refers to battery operated locomotives.
I was first introduced to the term when I joined the Finger Lakes live steamers who have a fantastic multi acre (12 I believe with 1mile of track for at least one of the gauges). They have a fantastic railway in multiple gauges including Gauge 1 ( G gauge).
Although they are set up for electrifying the tracks, most of the Gauge 1 operation I have seen is Dead Rail, which eliminates many of the problems we all know so well about powering from tracks.
I have yet to run my G Gauge MTH Big Boy there, but look forward to it.
With the advent of Lithium batteries and more advances to come, I believe if a manufacturer had the wisdom and foresight to see the opportunities of incorporating the existing sound and operational DCS features into a new line of dead rail locomotives, they would usher in a whole new era of operation, and sales.
Just think about all that rusty track laying around that would work just fine with dead rail. How nice would it be not to have to worry about track electrical connections?..
I have seen the advantages of battery operation with my recumbent electric bike that I can ride 60 miles without pedaling over any hill in the finger lakes. I need a new knee and could not enjoy riding at all with out my electric bike.
There are kits to be purchased, but I have not yet found a source of a production locomotive that incorporates the features of DCS and Dead Rail, or even a completed locomotive ready to go.
Picture below is Gauge 1, dead rail operation Finger Lakes Live Steamers
Mike Brooks
