So it's been fifteen years since I've done any model railroading and I'm starting to get back into it. It sounds like all the serious hobbyist use DCC. I have almost no idea what DCC is. It's got to be better than operating blocks with dozens of selector switchs though. I know so little I don't even know what to ask. Where can I find basic beginner info on DCC? What type of cost are involved? Can someone just give me the basics? Can you run unlimited trains?
To me, the beauty of DCC is the simplfication of the wiring process and the ability to run mutliple trains without block control.
Kalmbach Publications has a starter book or two on DCC for the beginner and DCC basics. If I were you, I would start there and then come back with some specific questions. This forum is loaded with expertise and people willing to help.
Welcome!
Rich
Alton Junction
Davethedoer It sounds like all the serious hobbyist use DCC.
Allow me to dispel that rumour...there are many members here and elsewhere who don't run DCC layouts and they are rather serious about their preferences in toy trains and train handling.
It is true that DCC offers a lot of advantages, but it can also be complicated and costly, particularly if you are interested in sound decoders. There are many threads in our archives where a lot of good folk have argued this subject to pieces. If you would go to the right side bar and find "Search Community", you can enter DCC vs. DC, or something like that syntax, and then click on search. You'll find long and heated threads where all the usual positions and polarizations have taken place.
I operate in DCC and would not go back to DC. At least one of our members has tried DCC and reverted to DC in a hurry. In my view, DCC is a more realistic way to manage train movements, but some users here have elaborate DC control systems that mimic DCC very well. I am not able to do a cost and time comparison for you, but I'll let you figure out which might be more costly as the complication and materials use rises.
Tony's Train Exchange site has a DCC primer. You can't run unlimited trains because the DCC systems have a maximum amperage rating that, if exceeded in any one location on the layout, will shut down the system. We use boosters after breaking the layout into power control districts. Each booster boosts both the voltage and the DCC signal imprinted on the current.
Costs vary depending on the manufacturer and the capabilities of the engines and of their onboard decoders. Sound decoders are about four times the price of a simple motion control decoder.
-Crandell
I've been back in the hobby for 6 or 7 years now, after wandering in the wilderness with my trains packed in cardboard boxes in the attic for 40 years. Yeah, I'm older than dirt, but not too old to learn. As a techno-geek anyway, I liked the idea of DCC. My first "documentation" came from Tony's Trains, a shop in Vermont that's very knowledgeable in DCC and trains in general:
http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm
I quickly found out 3 things: DCC is a much easier and better way to run your trains, old trains can be expensive to convert, it you have a lot of them, and my old locomotives weren't worth squat anyway. From my viewpoint, the only reason not to go with DCC is a large fleet of old, good engines you'd rather not go through the effort of converting. That's a perfectly valid reason, but if you're starting fresh, by all means give DCC a very serious look.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Here is a link for new people. Take your time before jumping and you can keep cost under control. Store the link in Favorites for future reference.
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn2/DCC.htm
Start at Introduction.
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
First welcome back to the hobby.
In a nutshell you could consider DCC as remote control trains with a common power source. The remote signal is mixed in with the power of the track and picked up by the computer chip in the train. By doing this you can have several trains running on the same layout at different speeds and different directions without switching a thing. You can also have 2 or more people controlling several trains the same time on the same layout. Neat stuff.
Springfield PA