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Rail joiners don't always carry power from one track section to the next. If your problem starts just past the rail joint you may need to add another pair of power feeders or solder the rail joiners to the rail at that joint.
There could be many other problems but this is the simplest one.
And to make sure it's the joiners, when your loco stalls simply jump the gap with something to see if it starts up again.
A wire with alligator clips is a great tool for that.
good luck!
You can also press against the top of the joint with an implement of some kind. Often that will be enough to restore the contact with the joiner, and of course it means that the joiner is the problem. You can solder a feeder pair, solder the joiner, or solder a jumper, or crimp the joiner....replace the joiner...
If you have a length of braided wire, often just nipping off one of the filaments or strands and shoving it into the gaps in the joiner will help. If you ask what I do, I solder the joiners when they give me problems.
One last thing to consider. Is the roadbed level at the joint? If it allows the joint to sag a bit when a heavy locomotive passes over it, that could be the problem. Eventually the joiner splays enough that it gets sloppy. Maybe a thin shim of cardstock shoved under the joint will help, too.
Yup it's very common.
What is typical is people read this topic and think we're crazy because they haven't had the problem. After a year or 2 the joiners start failing some and the problems start over time and gradually get worse. If you haven't run a buss yet it's probably time. You can add feeders as you recognize problems, or fix the immediate issues and add a couple more.
Good Luck
I have had good transmission, too, for distances out and along about 30' of staging track I added after the fact. The feeder pair comprises 22 gauge wire, and I thought it was doing the trick.. Any engines parked way out there would dutifully come to life and move when I commanded them to via my DCC throttle. However, one time I had a derailment...you know, it happens
and the inevitable short took place, but the DCC base station's short detection circuitry didn't trip. I knew that wasn't good. Not for the 22 gauge wire feeders and probably very bad for the decoder. So I hastily cut power and beat it over to the engine and righted it. The power path was restored and all the staged engines came back to life. I was lucky.
All this long story to say that...I was lucky. The voltage drop along that distance fed by the lonely pair of feeders waaaaayyy back there under the layout was not so bad that the engines couldn't move, but it was bad enough that the DB 150's shorts detection was physically impossible. The amperage could have fried the decoder.
If you don't have a multimeter, you may find it useful to diagnose voltage issues like this.
I thought that running a sound loco or two around the layout would be enough to spot dead spots and bad connections, but the simple idiosyncrasies of some turnouts, dirty track or wheelsets, etc. made using a loco less than desirable.
One additional point: The more difficult the track is to get to, the more you want it perfect now when you can get to it.
On a previous layout I had a really difficult time fixing a dead, little used, track in a hard-to-get-to place. I tested and traced and tested and traced. It turned out that I had forgotten to put feeders on it and it was electrically isolated. My hair isn't all grey but that problem added some. And right angle drills can be a godsend.
If your problem starts just past the rail joint you may need to add another pair of power feeders or solder the rail joiners to the rail at that joint.
My hair isn't all grey but that problem added some. And right angle drills can be a godsend.