They come with different cables, but with respect to reliability (or lack thereof) they are the same.
The '92 is for the Start Up control panels.

Are the turnout motors problematical then?

Hi
I agree with Peder, my Märklin 74491 (I have approx 70 of them) once modified worked for me for more than 15 years of intensive usage (using Rocrail).
I tried for a moment Viessmann 4554 but died rapidely and were very noisy.
My previous layout were N gauge using Fleischmann and Arnold Rapido switch motor and they had similar issues (So not only Märklin).
This goes also to say that MOS FET transistors that drive these motors are perfectly capable withstanding the voltage spikes unlike most of microswitches. So it is a pity that Märklin does not develop a digital version w/o those unreliable microswitches.
Cheers
Jean

Hi Mark

Electronician Engineer from France here.

The microswitches are needed:
- to allow analog operation by children (who may press the button for too long
- to allow reporting the position of the switch on LED equipped control command 7271

What destroys these microswitches is the reverse peak voltage when the inductive load is switched off.

Having started C track from the very beginning I can tell many design changes on these switch motors
- first units with only one microswitch and must lower power
- second units with higher power (current) and two micro switches inside
- third units with spark protection soldered directly between the microswitch legs
- change of sticker for warranty claim protection

Having used also Arnold Rapido and Fleischmann N Gauge switmotors, I can say this problem is not specific to Märklin.
Having bypassed all my microswitches now, no more issue while using with digital and Rocrail control. Timing set to 100 mS

Cheers
Jean

Hi Mark
My activity as Engineer was about linear electronics, then digital, then application software, then system s/w, exporting my design in the USA for the Atlanta airport parking system, the Fare Collection system in LA, then system sales in Taipei, Nanjing, Beijing, the Netherlands, Toronto, the UK and much more.

M track was well designed but in normal iron so prone to rust. Solenoids were using nylon for coils and nickel-plated sliding path in which the iron core in a nylon sleepbed was sliding.
I have used various production years in M track and the last years 1990-2000 were much more precise than the early years from 1956 with painted underneath, large switch lanterns, and cutting edge under the rails.

C track is now excellent, being made in stainless steel. I recommend to leave the microswitches in place and simply add a thin shorting wire to connect the pins together. Why? Because the motor together with the turn-out mechanism makes a complete system where bouncing back is possible and prevented partly by the microswitches.

Cars not staying on contact tracks: the M Track solved this using these slider-operated, directional contact tracks (reducing the risk of a slider remaing on the contact track). Now with digital CS3 etc, then no matter where the contact comes from, its duration is controlled 200 mS standard. This allows for much more sophisticated automatic operation (occupancy,etc)

IMO the "crème de la crème" is using a train management s/w like Rocrail. One of the many steps further (to a CS3-based automatic) is that it knows in real time where each loco is, with each cars, what type of traction, type of train (international, local, goods, shuttle), what train calculated length is permitted to go into blocks of sufficient length. It can also operate in the Aquarium mode (each train heads to where it wants based on permissions (electrics don't go to non electrified sections, local trains don't go on main line) and much more possibilities.
The other mode is the Schedule mode Trains go through a specific path (e.g. a railcar run in the country or a steam loco processing at the depot and at specific times (layout-time) or time intervals. These are called schedules like for the real trains.

Train automation is really fun
Cheers
Jean

Hi Mark

The first time I went to Montreal was for the Expo 67 with students of my Engineer School and the last time in 2017 but only for short stays and I never worked there.
Expo 67 was fabulous

Rocrail
Schedule mode
- each schedule has an origin block, intermediate blocks and a destination block. Each of these blacks may call for waiting time or direction change
- Schedule time may be relative (time after calling the schedule) or absolute (model time after a clock, either real time or accelerated time X2,..X10
- once finished the scgedule may start another schedule, sometimes depending on conditions (e.g: If cars are decoupled then start schedule y, otherwise start schedule z
- schedules may include a turntable activity.
- there are no groupings of schedules that I knw of. They are all available until called for like colours on a painter's palette

Contact tracks with CS3
- contacts are scanned periodically by the CS3 every x milliseconds
- events store chains of commands (switch or signal position, sounds, loco fonctions, speed, direction change, ANYTHING) and can include logic commands (And, Or, Random,..)
- the CS3 includes an event recoder: push the red button, do any action on locos, switches, signals, functions, then stop recording. You just created a record you may edit and / or play-back any time
- events are started either manually or by a contact CHANGE (closed or open) potentially associated with conditions.
- every command to a switch / signal has a duration specified in the signal or switch description (typ 200 mS but adjustable from 100 mS up to 5 S

So, no matter what the contacts are doing, NEVER will a solenoid be activated for long.
Note: on recent 60831 60832, long duration are converted into busts or activation (non continuous).

Cheers
Jean

Hi Mark
Yes for me, flying to Canada and returning from New York was my first time in America. What a discovery it was. Yes I remember a automatic people mover taking you everywhere into the big pavillions.




Not sure I understand your viewpoint. Here is mine:
- schedules take ANY loco from its starting point (block) to its ending point. It does so using routes and blocks which autorisations may differ and prevent a train from moving (an electric cannot use a non electrified block.
- actions can be started associated with conditions (e.g.: a specific loco, a train, a type-local,-shuttle,-express,..), a time, even meteo conditions. These actions can do ANYTHING (drive trains, start schedule (via Tours), modify displays on the screen, etc)
- Any type of sensor can be used indiscriminately like occupancy, slider-operated, opto sensor (on the humping yard). The ones I use the least are reed contacts.
- Why not Reed contacts? they force to have magnets on cars or locos. Their positive side is they can be actuated in very specific conditions BUT this is total useless because Rocrail allows all this and much more, for free, without the ugly magnets and all the wiring.
- Why not using catenary as a contact? Of course you could but again, Rocrail can do it for free (If locotype=electric and location is xyz and direction=forward... etc) There are NO LIMITS to the detection of a specific situation (e.g.: one of my steamers has a mobile coal level in the tender, so when it enters the coaling station, the coal is raised).
- Grouping? Each loco can belong to one or more categories (era 1..to era 6, steam, electric, diesel, fast train, post train, regional train, shunting,..). Each block has permissions for specific locos or for loco types, or for a specific length.. I cannot name them all, just too many. So it is a matter of matching the specifics of a loco and of a block that will shape the next block in Aquarium mode.

Cheers
Jean