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DCC Systems
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Tztyn asked: <br /> <br />"What are the factors to consider in making the DCC v. DC decision? <br /> <br />Right now I am in the armchair phase of modelling. I have some snap-together track with about a half dozen switches that my daughter and I play with on the floor. Plans are to start building a layout in a few months (once the basement is finished up)." <br /> <br />My response: <br /> <br />Hmmm, have been thinking about your question. So I am going to make some assumptions that will probably get me into trouble, but here goes. <br /> <br />1) I am assuming you electrical knowledge is only slightly beyound knowing how to turn out the lights in the house (this is where I was at in the hobby). <br /> <br />2) I am assuming the one area you are nervous about in the hobby is the electrical wiring if it starts to get "intricate." <br /> <br />3) I am assuming you are in the hobby for life. <br /> <br />4) I am assuming you love the computers you own, love being on the internet and wouldn't go back to a typewriter if they paid you too. <br /> <br />5) I am assuming that you are thinking ahead in the hobby over the next 20 years or so. <br /> <br />6) I am assuming you prefer simple over complex, but are willing to nibble away at the complex so that it becomes simple. <br /> <br />7) I am assuming you want to have a number of turnouts, sidings, passing track, etc so that you will be running more than one train at a time (maybe with your son or daughter or a buddy). Build it and they will come. <br /> <br />8) Want to impress your friends with how sophisticated electronically you are? <br /> <br />If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then you are an excellent DCC candidate. <br /> <br />The simplest wiring you can do on a more "extensive" layout is wiring for DCC with manual, not electric throw switches. David Barrow lays this system out in his "Dominoes" theory of building benchwork and electrical work. But some of the most complex wiring you can do on a layout is one run with DCC including computer run trains and signalling (remember nibbling at the complex so that it becomes simple). <br /> <br />Block running on a layout with DC wears thin quickly, especially on smaller layouts where you can be throwing block toggles a lot in a very short space and time. <br /> <br />All the "whistles and Bells" - quite literally - are being designed with DCC in mind. <br /> <br />Imagine how impressed your non-train friends will be when you explain how DCC works (once you have figured it out...lol). <br /> <br />DC is yesterdays technology, DCC is tomorrow's technology. Already in Europe, companies like Marklin are marketing "starter" train sets with a DCC system enclosed. Its only a matter of time before this becomes a North American reality. <br /> <br />All the R&D in the industry is towards DCC and nothing is happening R&D wise in DC. The most exciting areas are decoder functions increasing - some of it pretty exciting, signalling, computer running, and an area that no one has explored but I think is only a matter of time, animated structures you purchase that are ready to run, with decoder included.
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