Paul3 Sheldon,Oh, c'mon, man. I had a 25' x 50' HO layout with a 200' long double track mainline and four yards. Running under the entire mainline was a single pair of 14AWG wires, and I had drop feeders to the bus every 9 feet. With this set up, I was able to run wirelessly with 5 operators running at the same time (with capacity of 10) using a Zephyr DCC system (3.5 amps). Are you seriously telling folks that this is the same kind of wiring infrastructure that the same kind of layout would have with DC? IMHO, many DCC users over-invest in wiring.
Sheldon,Oh, c'mon, man. I had a 25' x 50' HO layout with a 200' long double track mainline and four yards. Running under the entire mainline was a single pair of 14AWG wires, and I had drop feeders to the bus every 9 feet. With this set up, I was able to run wirelessly with 5 operators running at the same time (with capacity of 10) using a Zephyr DCC system (3.5 amps).
Are you seriously telling folks that this is the same kind of wiring infrastructure that the same kind of layout would have with DC?
IMHO, many DCC users over-invest in wiring.
Paul, I did not say they need it, but they are doing it. As you say they are over investing in wiring. I really don't think you read my post carefully enough.
Dr Wayne runs his DC layout with two wires and few local siding kill switches.
It all depends on your needs and wants. I can show you all sorts of better ways to wire a DC layout than the typical "block toggle" wiring.
I NEED CTC and signals, I don't need to stage cornfield meets, ring bells, blow horns, or speed match dramaticly different power.
My wiring system is built on the bench and then installed on the layout. I build my own black boxes, DCC guys buy theirs.
Do I have lots of wire? yes. Do I spend a lot of time under the layout installing it? No.
The time others spend installing decoders at the work bench, I spend building intergrated relay panels at the work bench that handle cab assignments, turnout route control, signal logic and CTC logic all in one.
DCC does not come with detection and signaling. Signaling and advanced turnout control is a lot of work/wiring no matter how you control the trains.
I designed a CTC/signaling/route control system that does the DC cab assignment part for free while it is dispatching the trains.
And the other free side benefit is Automatic Train Control - run a red signal and you don't end up in someone elses block, your train just stops.
Comparing what I do to DCC is not apples to apples unless you have CTC, signaling and one button turnout control as well.
Is what I do for everyone - of course not. Not many people seem interested in CTC or signals.
Sheldon