Going to DCC

[Guy Papillon]

Last week I wrote a post with the very same title asking if I should convert my existing layout to DCC.  This morning I pluged in my newly acquired NCE Power Cab system. I hooked it to a lenght of flex track,  put a Brodway Limited Paragon2 Mikado on it and followed the instructions.  All went fine and easy.  After a few minutes I was programming CVs to control the volume of different sounds.  I then hooked the wires to the DC layout, put the loco on the track and opened the throttle.   The loco ran perfectly. I know now what means "controling the loco instead of the track". I should have done the move years ago.  And I wonder why all I read about DCC up to now intimidated me to the point to postpone that decision for years.

Thanks to everyone who helped me make that decision.

P.S. my next decision : how many sound equiped locomotives do I really need?

[selector]

It depends on your tastes and desire to improve realism.  If you double, wouldn't two engines working in concert sound more realistic?  If that doesn't matter, then the number doesn't matter.  Have some with sound and some silent.   That's one great thing about this hobby...you can have it all ways...eventually.  Congrats on your decision and purchase.  I think there is no looking back for me.

Crandell

[tomikawaTT]

Guy Papillon

P.S. my next decision : how many sound equiped locomotives do I really need?

Really need?  None.  (Humans need oxygen, water, food and protection from the elements.  Everything else should be labeled, "Want.")

So, how many team uniforms do you have to provide?  One per active player, plus one for each benchsitter.  And it would probably be nice to have a few spares.

So let's look at this from the other end - which locomotives on your roster DON'T need sound?

1. Displays, whether in a glass case on the mantel or stuffed and mounted in the City Park.
2. Permanent hangar queens (aka shop scenery.)
3. The B unit in an A-B-A consist.
4. Locomotives which never leave hidden staging (don't laugh.  I have one.)

If you only have one sound loco, but there are two locos moving, the silent loco will become conspicuous due to the absence of sound.  If, like me, you have a large roster and every unit moves during a full operating schedule, you might have a financial problem...

Have fun!

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with silent, smokeless locomotives)

[tstage]

Hey Guy,

Thanks for the update.  Welcome to the wonderful world of DCC!

I remember when I switched to DCC back in early 2006.  Even though I only had a Bachmann E-Z Command and a couple of decoder-equipped locomotives (which I installed myself), it was SO much fun to operate both of them with DCC that I've never looked back.

As far as sound-equipped locomotives, how many you "need" is entirely up to you.  I do enjoy sound and have a number of locomotives with sound decoders.  However, I sometimes enjoy running them "quiet", too.  In my small-sized basement, too many active and/or idling locomotives hissing and chirping, popping and banging can get a little overwhelming.  While sound is neat in diesels, I think it really excels in steamers because of the variety of sounds - in particular, the chuff.

Glad to hear you're happy with DCC and your new Power Cab.  Have you tried yard mode yet?  That's a nifty feature for switching.

Tom

[Texas Zepher]

Guy Papillon

This morning I pluged in my newly acquired NCE Power Cab system. I hooked it to a lenght of flex track,  .... I know now what means "controling the loco instead of the track". I should have done the move years ago.  And I wonder why all I read about DCC up to now intimidated me to the point to postpone that decision for years.

I've been using command control since CTC-16 days.  I immediately saw the possibilities.  I've always wondered what took the entire industry so long to postpone.    I can easily see how one would be intimidated the way some people write about it.   In the early days of DCC I think there were some folks who liked to umm umm shall we say, "show their knowledge" of the topic by bringing up the 8% quirks and execptions and how to deal with them rather than focusing on the 92% rule.   The quirks and exceptions got the majority of the press and scared people as yourself away.   

P.S. my next decision : how many sound equiped locomotives do I really need?

I know that is ask in jest, but it is very easy to get carried away.    For me when I started all of this a sound decoder was $295 all by itself.   Add the cost of the loco and installation time and speaker cost.  It was easy to get into that mind set.  When I started seeing sound locomotives for under $150 I was buying them all because they were such a good deal.   I had forgotten about the march of technology and how things always get much better for cheaper prices.   Consequently I have far too many locomotives.  Not a good thing as that took money away from some other areas that need more attention. 

[rrinker]

 There's an awful lot of bogus information out there about DCC, which certainly intimidates people. And not all of it is from anti-DCC people. There's some real junk spewed by supposed DCC 'experts' that gets people to cut corners and then become frustrated with their switch.

 I was attracted to the merits of command control when I checked out The Complete Book of Model Railroading by David Sutton from the local library and read the chapters on ASTRAC. By that time, ASTRAC was gone, and the systems that appeared in tiny ads in MR were way beyond my means, but even as a kid I could see how the idea of just driving your trains anywhere on the track just like the real thing was superior to the insulated sections and toggles I was using in my layout.

 AFter college and armedwith a whole lot more electronic knowledge that I had before, I discovered teh CTC-16 articles in MR. ANd the followups, and the CTC-16e. One reason for getting the MR 75 year DVD - I have all those issues fromt he 80's, plus all the C/MRI ones - but I paged through all of those issues so many times, they are falling completely. Pick a month in those years when they did NOT have a CTC-16 or C/MRI article and I'll show you a near mint issue . I was beginning to gather parts to build a CTC-16e system when, via Trainnet on Compuserve, I became invovled in the early stages of the NMRA standardization that led to DCC. I was veyr much against what was originally submitted as DCC, it was severely lacking in capability compared to the then-new Railcommand, successor to CTC-16. Eventually DCC evolved into more liek what we know today, and after another not entirely voluntary hiatus from the hobby, DCC was well established and the first thing I did after aquiring a coupel of locos was to buy a DCC system and some decoders for them, and I haven't looked back. For me, after researchign things, Digitrax won out simply for Loconet. No other system has anything like that, and I DO want to have signals and detection and I do NOT want to install multiple systems, one for control, one for signalling, etc. Plus there are plenty of DIY options for equipment to connect up, which appeals to my techie side. One of my computer interface, in fact, is a home built device.

                                --Randy

 

[richhotrain]

Guy Papillon

P.S. my next decision : how many sound equipped locomotives do I really need?

Here is the required forumula to determine the number of sound equipped locomotives that you really need:

NOSEL=LOML / ALOL

In layman's terms, Length of Main Line divided by Average Length of Locomotive Equals the Number of Sound Equipped Locomotives that you really need.

For example, if your mainline is 60 feet (720 inches) in length, and the average length of a sound equipped locomotive is 10 inches, you really need 72 sound equipped locomotives.

Rich

[Guy Papillon]

Rich.

Brillant.  But I would modify the formula like this :

 NOSEL= (LOML / ALOL) - 1

so I would have some place to run them and save some money for the scenery.

Guy

[Phoebe Vet]

People tend to get giddy about all the things that DCC CAN do and make it sound more complicated than it actually is.  About the only skill you need that you don't need in DC is the ability to program the loco address.  Everything else is optional.

Welcome to participation in the forum.  I see that you have been lurking (reading but not posting) for years.