It’s a little known fact that that the original lyrics for ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees were about DCC model railroads. Just before the song was released the record company execs stepped in and changed the words. As a result DCC modellers everywhere lost a ‘sing along’ anthem.

Enough fake history.

My little O9 (On18) Hunslet loco has been hesitating on one of the points (switches) on Thomas and Sons.

I suspect the track isn’t perfectly flat (because I packed DAS modelling clay around it) and the loco isn’t well balanced (because it has a large white metal figure in the cab and no weight at the other end).

I’ve never used a DCC ‘stay alive’ before but I thought this was a good opportunity to try one.

The Kato 103 chassis was fitted with a Digitrax DZ126 decoder and I’ve swopped this for a TCS KAM4-LED decoder with a built in ‘stay alive’ system. It was a simple job to solder the wires to the contacts on the chassis. (I don’t plan to use the LED capability… yet).

Now the loco runs slowly and smoothly.

What a big difference!

To celebrate I did a little dance to the Bee Gees video.

Sing along now: “Whether you’re a Bo-Bo, or whether you’re a Co-Co, you’re staying alive, staying alive….”