Hi everyone! A newbie here, I'm helping my neighbour with her model train set. I'll attach some photos, it's controlled by a Marklin Central Station 60212 and is about 17 years old. I'm a bit confused by the controller, need to read up some more, but it's in running mode and there is power to the track.

The issue I'm having at the moment is the trains will not continue to roll on the track. I'm only measuring 8v on the track, is this expected? What I can see is the contact points appear to be rusted, I tried to clean them with a wire brush and some cleaning wipes, helped the train travel slightly further, but it always stops after a short distance.

Is this a common issue, the rust seems to be quite uniform across the tracks, centre section? What is this type of track called?

The rolling stock is also Marklin. I've tried two trains, one rolls slightly, the other will not, there is sparking between the contact shoe and the contact point on the rail.

Is it correct that the rolling stock is addressed and that the controller detects which are on the track?

Appreciate any help or ideas anyone has, it is a beautiful set, be great to get it running again. I'm in Australia.

Hi Michael
You raise several issues
Using the 60212 CS1 unit
It is not the most user-friendly unit and its age shows (I still have mine, it works but when compared with a CS2 or CS3, it is night and day... but it works
There were multiple revisions. The last Märklin one is 2.04. The next were made by ESU.

Train stops after a while
Märklin tracks (C Track and K Tracks) use stainless steel rails but iron studs and these are prone to corrosion. Using Grade 5000 (very, very fine grain for car bodies) abrasive or a Roco eraser could help a lot cleaning the track. Normal sand paper is a disaster as it creates grooves allowing dirt to accumulate

Measuring the track voltage
Common multimeters measure pure DC or 50Hz / 60 Hz AC.
The digital signal is way to rapid to be similar to AC thus causing the reading to be totally crap. So 8V does not mean there is an issue with the 60212 but that an improper instrument is used.

Train detection
Train detection is about detecting impulse (on a reed contact or a slider-activeted contact track or an occupancy track. There is A TRAIN but the unit is unable to tel which one it is

Addressing a train
Yes train are addressed specifically by an ...address (sorry) and a protocol type (In your case MM2 (updated Motorola ) So the 60212 talks to a specific train while the others keep their present speed, direction, lights, sounds, etc

General hints
Trains are like ladies and hate to be ignored: you must use them regularly because of bad contacts all over the place:
- between wheels and rail
- between wheels and chassis
- between slider (ski) and the "Pukos" (studs)

So a good cleaning seance may help you a lot, then let the trains roll and progressively they will stop less and less.

My train

If I ignore it for more than a week then I start having problems
Cheers
Jean

Thank you everyone, I will read and reply properly, but for the moment, re uploading the image of the track, appears something when wrong with the colours.