Greg, that is normal behaviour. If you turn the knobs too quickly the loco will not have much speed set on it. To get the brakes squealing, you need to make sure you haven't turned it off on one of the loco's functions (function on = brakes off.....I know, don't ask, we all think that is daft!). To activate it, don't use the knob, rather just tap twice on the speed curve on the touch screen. The loco should then come to a smooth stop with the sounds of brakes.

The issue with locos taking off at speed is a known one, just search the Digital threads here for 'Alzheimer'. This can be a problem if your loco is sitting on a dead section, such as a signal area when the power is restored. It is to do with decoders remembering their previous speed setting, and acting on it.

When I power my layout off, I usually set all signals to green, and stop locos with the control knob. That way, if they remember their previous speed setting (0) they should not disappear into the distance when power is restored.

Don't know if it is in the manual. I learnt that from reading threads on this forum, it was bugging me no end having to wind up the knob 20 times just to get half speed on a loco, when someone coincidentally mentioned it on the forum.

Editing our club magazine keeps me at the computer long enough as it is (not that I get that right every time!).

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry to bring this thread up after so long, but I'm having a similar issue with my CS1's knobs.

I got mine used, and I guess it was bought at most 1 or 2 years after it came out, so I believe it was very used, but with all the care someone could put on his beloved train sets. What happens is that most of the times I'd rotate the knobs, and it would not react as expected. I found out that if I pulled the knob up gently while rotating, it would respond quite better. Not the worst in the world, but specially when controlling two trains at once, it was not pleasant. So i gained courage, and ended up opening the Control Station, getting to the knobs and pry opening them as well, and found out they were quite dirty. I cleaned, and it got much better, but they are still loosing steps quite often.

Photo after cleaning:


I can't seem to find the Marklin's web page with spare parts for it, and I was thinking if I should just take it to an electronics store to get their help (I don't have any official store nearby, and I'm not much up to spend a lot on repairs), or maybe trying to get an equal or similar rotary knob and exchange them myself.

Any thoughts, tips, opinions on what should I do? I do accept miracles as well
Thank you in advance!

Well, I haven't done that to the entire electronics, as they looked and even smelled brand new! But I did tried that before opening the rotary encoders/knobs, without any noticeable difference... That's why I decided to open them. It was a little scary, I must admit!!
The before cleaning photo isn't very good, but there's quite a difference on those blacked/worn out areas before and after cleaning.
Here's the before-cleaning photo:


I guess my only option is to find a very similar pair of rotary encoders and give it a try... If it doesn't work, I guess I can solder the old ones back in place

Maybe next week I'll order a few, and after a deep breath, replace those things...

The repair for that will be to swap the wiring of two pins of the encoder. Just because it is a drop in replacement physically doesn't make it identical electrically unfortunately. So the solution is to work out which pins the two phase signals come out, lift those out of the circuit board, and use some fine wire to connect them to the others PCB pad. As you have already discovered the problem it is easier to work around on the second one.

Keep in mind that the CS1 was built by ESU for Marklin, so best to approach ESU for spare parts if they still have them!

Where did you find your replacement encoders? Might help someone else with the same issue who is looking for help.

400€ for the CS1 Reloaded software??

All it ever was was a software upgrade and a beefier 90w power supply, it certainly never cost 400€!

Not that it is still available.