Engine starts up when the track is powered up

Yes, it is common on my railroad which has over 30 Rail King locomotives. However, not all of my MTH locomotives start when the power is initially turned ON. All of my locomotives are PS2 & PS3.

I had the same issue.  Here is a link the thread last year.

https://ogrforum.com/t...78#56334474196917978

ToledoEd posted:

I have very little experience with MTH.   Own 2 (one had to  be sent to MTH for warranty repairs a day after taking delivery) probably have less than 1 hr. of run time. I've owned the Bavarian (PS/3) for  about 3 years. Last week  I dusted her off and placed her on my layout full of Legacy engines.  Every time I power up the tracks  to run a Legacy train, the Bavarian starts up.  is this common?  The TIU powers up at the same time my ZW-L is powered on. Anything I can do to prevent this from happening short of cutting power to the block she  sits on?

Ed, might it be missing the watchdog signal? Just to be clear the TIU and ZW power up at the same time and there is no track voltage thru the TIU when it powers up?

BBOYD, Your question prompted me to think about the power up sequence.  I tried  it both ways. First the Legacy Base then the ZW-L-TIU, followed by adding power to the two track blocks.  In that sequence, the MTH engine does not start-up.  However, if I first power up the ZW-L and TIU, then the Legacy base followed by adding power to track 1 and then track 2 or even reverse the sequence to powering up the tracks the MTH engine does start up.  So, now I know, power up the Legacy base first, then the ZW-L/TIU combo and I will not have to deal with a powered up MTH engine.   Thanks for the question!  

I just recently separated the power to the ZW and the Legacy base so I can charge the Cab2 without turning on my ZW-L, ZW, and TIU at the same time.

All command engines, Lionel or MTH listen for the signal from their controller.  If they do not receive that signal they will start up in conventional mode.  The signal that the MTH TIU controller sends out is called the watchdog signal, and it only lasts about 30 seconds after power is turned on to the channel connected to the track the engine is placed on.  After the signal is turned off the engine the engine will start up in conventional mode.

It is possible one or more of the Legacy engines is killing the watch dog signal and there for the MTH engine starts up.  Lots of post in the forum about solutions.  So if it is not a sequencing issue, could be a Legacy engine doing this.  G

Even though many of my Rail King engines startup when track power is initially applied, I use the TIU Controller to start them again so they obey commands. ChooChooPaul's post explains why the engines startup.

Same issues with PS2. Was turning everything on with 1 switch. Now tun on TIU then ZW and all engines act as they should. I am now powering TIU thru Aux as thru 1 no longer works.