DCC and Large Scale

[overall]

What is the best way to control Large Scale Trains ? I have not had much experience will Large Scale trains. I received an LGB set as a gift and I have become intrigued by Large Scale. Most of my experience has been with HO and O gauge. I have built layouts in both of those scales. I have heard that DCC does not lend itself to running Large Scale but I can’t imagine why. I picked up a Bachmann catalog at a train show and noticed that some of their “spectrum” Large Scale offerings are DCC ready. Can someone elaborate on this some more?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

George

 

[SERABILL]

 I don't run track powered DCC but from what I have heard, it certainly does work in large scale. You need to be sure that any motor decoders are powerful enough to handle the motor in your locomotive and the boosters need to be of a higher current capacity so that you can run the larger engines.

[two tone]

Hi George,

                        I run Bachmann consolidations that are DCC ready but I run anolouge, I find the locos are great.I have a 5amp power supply and use the train engineer to control all of my layout. My track is LGB turnouts are controlled by aristo units and I find the T/E is great for running it all.. The only advantage of DCC is that you can run 4 or 5 locos on the same track but you would need to update your power supply. and posabley think about another sort of controller

[lownote]

 That's a big can of worms.

 

A lot of people like batteries. You put batteries in a loco or in a trailing car, and then run each engine via remote control. The advantage is you cna use really cheap track and don't have to worry about track cleaning or continuity or shorts due to reversing loops. Despite this battery has little appeal for me as I dislike the charging and the limited life span of battery packs

Some people wire the layout into blcks and run that way, with conventional DC. Seems crazy to me, but it works for some people

I run on conventional DC, but with remote control in each loco. Track power stays at 21 volts, each loco has a decoder and I use the airwire throttle, which sends DCC commands over the air. Aristocraft is going to release a new remote control system that is similar but easier to use than DCC. I'm gradually switching from brass to stainless track

Lots of people use DCC. I'm thinking of going to DCC myself. A lot of the people I know of who use DCC swear by stainless track. On my layout, the trains often speed up on the stainless and slow down on the brass, even though stanless is less cnductive than brass.

 

I've been happy using QSI decoders, which accept the full range of DCC commands and have excellent sound buit in. 

 

 

[ztribob]

 George,

I use a Digitax DCS 200 control unit with raido contol.  I have 7 locos with decoders in them.  If i was coordinated enough I could run all 7 at the same time on the same track.  I have done it with three at a time when I was showing off for friends, until I was distracted and ran two of them into each other.  I often run two at a time without much trouble.  My track is all brass and I don't have too much trouble with keeping it clean.  I just pull a track cleaning car around occasionally or use a dry wall sander with a scotchbright pad on it.

Bob in Kalamazoo

 

[cacole]

 How well DCC works outdoors depends upon your climate and the type of track used.  Myself, I run everything from batteries and the AirWire900 wireless DCC system from CVP products so I never have to worry about track cleaning.  My trains will even run without track. 

Digitrax and a couple of other DCC companies make high-amperage G-scale decoders specifically for Bachmann and other brands. 

I have both brass the stainless steel track outdoors, and nearly all of it is Aristo-Craft.  Their brass rail is a different composition than HO or O scale track and doesn't corrode nearly as bad, even outdoors.

The main problem people seem to have with using DCC outdoors is the need for rail clamps or the soldering of jumper wires around rail joints instead of relying on the rail joiners provided by Ariso or other brands.  Good electrical contact is essential, even for DC operation.