Charles says:

Ring Engineering makes a radio control system that will fit into (some) HO scale models. I have one steam locomotives equipped with their receiver/sound decoder and their radio controller. Their system will operate from either DC powered track or DCC powered track, since it uses the power only for the receiver/decoder and not for the receipt of command signals. But even their system is susceptible to dirty track and dirty wheels causing electrical pickup problems because they do not use battery power. I know of no one who is successfully marketing battery power for HO scale trains because battery technology is not yet up to the task of being able to put batteries within HO scale locomotives. A trailing box car crammed with Lithium batteries may be feasible, but I haven’t seen that tried.

I do have quite a few G-scale locomotives that run solely on Lithium battery packs and the AirWire900 radio control DCC system, where there is sufficient room to install these components.

Frank Bushnell says:

For a garden railway with a serious length of permanently laid track, freedom from dirty track problems will certainly be a bonus.
But for an indoor layout, it will generally be easier to just keep the track clean. Modern nickel-silver track does not suffer corrosion problems, and only needs the occasional wipe to deal with any dust.

What scale are you intending to do this on ? And how is your electronics knowledge & skill ?

I am in the process of designing an RC / battery system for use with O scale locomotives. It will have lithium-ion batteries in a boxcar behind the loco, utilises a cheap & simple little 4-channel RC transmitter & receiver, with a microcontroller system to set loco speed and other functions.
I am happy to share my design ideas if you are interested.

Jay Ross says:

I built one G scale loco to run on battery, and was pleased with the results. This was used on a backyard layout that was always dirty, so I was able to get away from dirty track problems, especially because I also ran live steam on the same track, it added to the dirt problem. I did find it a hassle to have to charge the battery all the time, but it was still better than having the dirty track issues. I would not bother to use radio control for HO, as it requires space for the batteries, I am happy using DCC and keeping my track clean, and not having to charge batteries all the time. I have many locos I like to run in HO, and I don’t care to be bothered with battery issues. As far as I’m concerned, DCC is the way to go. It is getting cheaper and better all the time. As for G scale and outdoor garden railways, I think RC and batteries is the way to go. There is plenty of room for the equipment inside G scale, and there is a greater need for it. I would also recommend using LIPO batteries, as they are more compact and powerful, and retain the charge real well.

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