Jeff,
With PS1 and PS2, and not knowing precisely what's inside (white battery, BCR, green battery, other) before you try to get them to move on the test track, and without being able to remove the shell to check, the only way to proceed before testing them is to make sure you charge them for a good amount of time, either on a track, or via the charging jack if they have one.
How much time? Based on experience with both at least 20 mins if you want to attempt to have it move. You could get away with 5 mins if you don't mind not testing movement.
This second situation is simply a test to see that the sounds come on and, after the 5 mins, how long it takes for them to turn off after you remove power. If the sounds die immediately then the battery, or BCR if present, is bad and needs to be replaced before doing anything else.
If they take 7 to 10 seconds to die out then you're now good to try the drive test, after 15 more minutes of additional charging of course.
Finally, to be totally safe, and for extended running on that track, that 20 mins should extend to a couple of hours at least. In the extreme I believe that MTH in the past has recommended something like 10 or 12 hours for a full charge if the engine has been sitting for longer than a couple of months, which is of course seriously impractical for a quick test at a train show.
Mike
