I was referring to the entire thread about running in 3 rail. I had some posts in there too about the airwire system and soundtraxx decoders.
But to the more pressing issues, namely not doing what MTH says it should, did you move the selector switch from dcs to dcc?
I too have had engines cut out in certain spots as well. I don't have a keep-alive, but I have found out keeping the rollers clean is far more critical than it was in conventional or tmcc. Ditto for track. I find myself cleaning rollers every few operating sessions, with engines that barely needed attention before I upgraded them.