RUNAWAY

TRAINS THEIR CAUSES AND REMEDIES

By Bill Sparks

Most Digital Command Control (DCC) decoders presently

on the market are capable of use on analog (direct current)
layouts as well as digital, without any physical switches or
additional input from the operator. While that feature is
beneficial because you can take an engine from a layout using
one operating system to another layout using the other operating
system, there are occasionally problems that can occur with
analog-capable DCC decoders.
The most commonly-encountered issues with analog-capable
DCC decoders is the dreaded runaway locomotive. Another
far-less-common issue is with some layouts (including our home
layout at the Beaverton Modular Railroad Club) that use a
large-scale, eg- O-scale or G-scale, decoder to provide direct
current to the track, effectively mimicking an analog controller.
I will provide a broad overview of each condition and how to
remedy them, beginning with runaway engine.
A runaway engine is a relatively rare occurrence that will
happen when an operator has his or her engine placed on the
track before the Digital Command Control system is turned on,
and once the layout is powered-up, the engine unexpectedly

accelerates to full speed without any input from the throttle and
irrespective of throttle-speed position (ie- even with the speed
set to zero.) In this uncontrolled condition the engine will
usually not respond to the Emergency Stop button, so the
operator must interrupt track power by turning off the DCC
system. A runaway engine can be a frightening and potentially
dangerous situation should the engine strike and damage other
equipment, but thankfully there is an easy way to prevent it from
happening again. Before walking you through how to prevent
runaways, it should be explained why the condition exists in the
first place.
Ordinarily when a DCC system is powered-up, the command
stations brain sends an electrical signal to the track, quickly
followed by full track power, usually around 12 volts. The
signal essentially tells all decoder-equipped locomotives on the
track, Hey engines, youre on a digital track, so when I apply
the full track voltage in a moment, ignore it and await further
commands. Normally the decoder dutifully complies with the
command and will sit patiently on the track. Rarely does this
system malfunction, but when it does, either the command
station fails to send the electrical signal, or for whatever reason
the decoder does not receive or recognize the signal. Then, when

the command station applies the full track voltage, the decoder
mistakes it as analog voltage and responds by accelerating the
locomotive to full speed- a runaway engine. Since the confused
decoder thinks its running on analog, it will ignore the
Emergency Stop button and will only stop when system power
is removed. The easiest way to prevent this happening is to turn
off the analog function of your digital decoder.
To turn off the analog (direct current) capability of your
decoder, you must first program it by changing one
configuration variable (CV.) In most, but certainly not all (Lenz
and ESU being noteworthy exceptions,) modern
NMRA-compliant decoders (Digitrax, Soundtraxx, Train
Control Systems, and North Coast Engineering,) direct current is
controlled by bit #2, which has a numerical value of 4, within
CV29. So in simple terms, you must subtract a value of 4 from
whatever number is already in CV29. The easiest way of doing
this is by placing your engine on the Programming Track,
calling up your engines number, accessing CV29 and then
programming the same CV to the desired value. For instance,
lets say you get a reading of CV29=38, you would program
CV29 to a value of 34.
Lets say that you dont have access to a programming track

and are forced to use Programming-on-the Main (PoM) to turn

off the DC feature of your decoder. Unfortunately due to
limitations of the DCC system, you cannot read back what
values are in CV29, but you can make an educated guess based
on the following information:

*If your loco address is between 1 and 127 (including the

default address of 3,) your CV29 probably has a default value of
6, so to turn off DC, program CV29 to 2.

*If your loco address is between 128 and 9999, your CV29 is
probably the value of 38. So to turn off DC, program CV29 to
34.

Note: If your loco has had the Normal Direction of Travel

(NDoT) reversed, ie- running long-hood forward in a diesel
engine, add a value of 1 to CV29. In the first example for
instance, if it was an engine with the long-hood forward, with an
address between 1 and 127, the default of CV29 would have
been 7, so to turn off DC the value would be changed to 3. In
the second example, for a long-hood-forward engine with an
address 128 or higher, CV29 would have been 39, so the value

would have been changed to 35.

Some older decoders, non-NMRA-compliant decoders, Lenz,

and ESU decoders CVs vary from model-to-model, so to turn
off direct current on those decoders, please refer to their product
manuals, which are easily obtained free-of-charge online
through the manufacturers websites.
Another situation in which you may wish to turn off the
analog function of your decoder is when your layout uses a
large-scale decoder to provide analog power to the layouts
tracks. As an example, our clubs home layout uses O-scale
decoders connected directly to the command station, and the
output (motor) wires from the decoder are wired directly to the
tracks. Since there is a decoder providing power to the tracks,
the power isnt pure direct current, by which a typical
analog-only engine wont be bothered and will run just fine.
However, when one attempts to run a DCC-equipped
locomotive as an analog loco on those same tracks, it results in
jerky operation at best, and a great buildup of
potentially-damaging heat in the decoder and motor at worst. In
a nutshell, you cant use a decoder to run another decoder.
Therefore at our layout we recommend that if a loco has a

decoder, it must be run on DCC only, and analog-only locos be

run using our version of direct current.
I hope you now have a good understanding of runaway
engines, how they happen, and what you can do about them.
Feel free to contact me through the BMRC website if you have
any questions, or refer to your decoders manual for clarification.
Here is a list of the most common manufacturers U.S. web
linked pages