Stan, I wasn't aware of the W-B-B-B locking into neutral. MTH had only suggested the w5B to reset it. So if one does that, the loco can't be run in conventional, but will start up with conventional sounds? Correct?
Correct. You can lock an engine in Neutral, Forward, or Reverse depending on what the engine is doing when you activate the feature using W-B-B-B. Then, when the engine initially powers up in conventional, the sounds/lights come on at the volume level set by the trimpot and be locked in N F or R as set. Subsequent presses of the DIRECTION button (or intermittent track voltage dropouts if you have them) will not affect N F or R.
Note that this is "normal" operation; what was discussed earlier in the thread was the possibility of a power surge/transient (the most likely culprit) bypassing this lock and causing the engine to take-off. I'm not sure the final story has been written on that, nor if there's a bullet-proof solution at this point.
Stan,
Must this be done from the transformer with the TIU off, as Robert said, or can I do this from the DCS remote while in Command mode? Is there a way to read out or know what the loco is locked into in Conventional mode without having it take off?
I guess you're also saying is that the best "bullet proof" solution is to connect all spurs/whiskers with toggles and turn on only the spur you want the loco to start from, to prevent any abnormal "accidents"?
Tom
