Running DCC engines

[ndbprr]

If one was building a corridor layout with four tracks for through trains and a switch lead on both sides plus two yards and a branch it is conceivable that there could be 8-10 GG1's running on the through trains (mostly AHM and IHC)or diesels and steam (brass with can motors, Athearn, P2k, Kato, Atlas and others) , 2-3 switchers in the yards (Atheran, P2k and Kato) and four switchers out switching the industries and one on the branch making 18-20 engines operating simutaneously both feasible and probable (subject to how many people show up). Is a 5 amp DCC system going to be adequate? How many power supplies do you suggest? How would you break up the system? Thank you

[nfmisso]

You only need one system, with additional boosters.

20 engines need about 10A, and if your are running lighted passenger cars, don't forget about them, figure another 0.1A per car.

A single 5A booster is not enough. I would use three 8A boosters: one for two mainlines, another for the other two mainlines, and a third to cover the switch leads and yards.

See: http://www.dcctrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm
[url]
especially sections 3.1 and 3.2

[ndbprr]

SInce the railroad will be a big dogbone with staging at either end I am thinking about one booster for the inner loop, one for the outer and one for the yards and switching. most of the older high amperage stuff will be on the mains. If I have two consists of three GG1's or Athearn engines I figure roughly .75 amps each or 2.25 amps per consist which would be 4.5 for two trains max. Most will be double headed. Don't have any lighted cars. The siwtchers are predominantly P2k and Kato or Athearns with Ernst transmissions so I figure I might be able to get by with one for that effort. Worst case scenario I split the two sides and use one on each side of the railroad.

[Anonymous]

We currently have a fairly large double-decked layout running DCC with a main system and a booster. At any one point in time because of consisting we will have more than a dozen engines running. Basically, we split the railroad in half for the system and the power booster but in addition we split each of the sections down into power districts. For the most part, the yards, and the larger switching areas are on separate power districts. this alleviates the problem of worrying about amperages over the entire layout because not all engines are in the blocks (power districts at the same time. Additionally, we are controlling the amperage in each district thru the power controller, so that yards, and industrial areas have a lower amperage than main lines. This seems to be working just fine. Hope this helps.