johntealon30
Member
I have been considering going down the DCC route on my OO Garden railway but am unsure if it is worth the expense for the layout I have.
Any opinions would be welcome.
To give you some Idea, my layout is an extended dogbone (60' end to end 120' round trip) At one end there is a 5 track fiddle yard an both ends have 8' passing loops. At the moment the entire layout is pemenantly fed and the insu frog points are hard wired so they no longer select power to thechosen track ( they do better in the weather taht way) both legs of each passing loop has a switch to isolate giving a potential of four dead areas to store locos/trains.
The track gets cleaned with a rubber before every running session and I have no problems with pickups trains generally run well.
Power is currently supplied in two ways. for continuous running a bachmann transformer and cotroller (the type that comes in train sets) this gives anough power to run two locos on the same track. If I want dict control I have an unusual set up, By flicking a toggle swith I feed the bachmann controller at 100% into an Radio Control speed contoller of the type used to power model boat motors, the output from the speed controller is then fed to the rails. I can then use a Radio control transmitter to vary the voltage to the rails from 0-12. This means I can control the track voltage from anyware in the garden.
This video shows a typical running session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNC5XtP4UC8
I have several reason to consider changing to DCC.
1.I have been told but am not sure if it is true. Because the rail to wheel transfer voltage is 16v it gives better pickup and is less susceptable to the odd bit of dirt.
2.I could have locos stationary without having to have isolated sections.
3 Slow speed control is finer and again I have been told loc will run a slow speeds for longer and more controlled than DC
4. I often run two trains at a time (tail chasing 60' apart) If the locos natrally have different speeds there is a chance of one catching up. With DCC I could control the speeds independantly.
5. I like the inertia effect at start up.
6. I currently have 6 locos and cant imagine having more than that on the layout at any time (Stock needs moving in and out manually for a running session)
Questions
1. If a loco is set at a speed does it maintain that speed if it encounters a gradiant ?
2. Is there a wireless DCC controller to give me the freedom of my R/C control, if not s there a way to be with the action on a 60' long layout.
3.Would one of the cheaper DCC units be suitable as I have a small number of locos.
Anything I have missed ?
Thank for any comments you may be able to share.
John
Any opinions would be welcome.
To give you some Idea, my layout is an extended dogbone (60' end to end 120' round trip) At one end there is a 5 track fiddle yard an both ends have 8' passing loops. At the moment the entire layout is pemenantly fed and the insu frog points are hard wired so they no longer select power to thechosen track ( they do better in the weather taht way) both legs of each passing loop has a switch to isolate giving a potential of four dead areas to store locos/trains.
The track gets cleaned with a rubber before every running session and I have no problems with pickups trains generally run well.
Power is currently supplied in two ways. for continuous running a bachmann transformer and cotroller (the type that comes in train sets) this gives anough power to run two locos on the same track. If I want dict control I have an unusual set up, By flicking a toggle swith I feed the bachmann controller at 100% into an Radio Control speed contoller of the type used to power model boat motors, the output from the speed controller is then fed to the rails. I can then use a Radio control transmitter to vary the voltage to the rails from 0-12. This means I can control the track voltage from anyware in the garden.
This video shows a typical running session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNC5XtP4UC8
I have several reason to consider changing to DCC.
1.I have been told but am not sure if it is true. Because the rail to wheel transfer voltage is 16v it gives better pickup and is less susceptable to the odd bit of dirt.
2.I could have locos stationary without having to have isolated sections.
3 Slow speed control is finer and again I have been told loc will run a slow speeds for longer and more controlled than DC
4. I often run two trains at a time (tail chasing 60' apart) If the locos natrally have different speeds there is a chance of one catching up. With DCC I could control the speeds independantly.
5. I like the inertia effect at start up.
6. I currently have 6 locos and cant imagine having more than that on the layout at any time (Stock needs moving in and out manually for a running session)
Questions
1. If a loco is set at a speed does it maintain that speed if it encounters a gradiant ?
2. Is there a wireless DCC controller to give me the freedom of my R/C control, if not s there a way to be with the action on a 60' long layout.
3.Would one of the cheaper DCC units be suitable as I have a small number of locos.
Anything I have missed ?
Thank for any comments you may be able to share.
John