Mr. Walker said: "However, on-track recharging would still be more convenient and I plan to look into this idea."
I have found that there is an element of circular logic with using the rails to charge batteries. One of the big advantage of RCBP is that you don't need to clean the track and wheels...except if you want to charge the batteries! In my own experience using the S-Cab system, I fell for this! My first response was to only recharge on dedicated clean track like at the engine facility. The problem was that all the dirty rail around the layout did a very good job of transferring dirt to the wheels, so the clean spot still didn't work! End game, either still have to clean (but maybe a little less) or resort to battery removal or plug in recharging.
I truly believe that RCBP is the future. But right now for my situation I'm going to have to stick with traditional DCC. My hang up is the fact that I don't get to play with my models enough! The months and years since I last used my S-Cab system have not been nice to the batteries. In order to play again, I'm going to have to do some extra maintenance to turn everything back on. In reality this is more of an infrastructure issue. If I were to ever commit to RCBP I would build all of the nice to have support infrastructure to maintain batteries in between use.
It's still the future...
