A question for the DCC gurus out there

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello everybody I’ve not gone to DCC yet but I’ve pretty much decided that I will in the next couple of years or so. Heres the dilema in one of my more fevered moments I’m thinking about putting live overhead up for the trolley car part of the layout.What if any are the implications of this in DCC. I don’t remember seeing too many products listed from the DCC companies dealing with this issue. Thanks in advance for any and all replies. Rob

2

A. None

3

DCC isn’t a WAY to get electricy to the electric motor, is a form OF electricity. So it doesn’t matter what it goes through to get to the motor be it two rails or one rail and an overhead.

Bob

4

Short, sweet, and to the point.

5

Take a stroll over to the Yahoo groups and read some of the “Trolly” or “Interurban” groups write ups. Many of the members run DCC overhead. Join up and ask the question there and get responses from some of the pioneers of that aspect of the hobby.

-OT

6

Thanks all i’ll be stollin over. Rob

7

I’m not sure what the question is? If the trolley part of the layout is physically separate - why would you need to use DCC for this section. If the trolley part of the layout shares rails with the main layout - but is powered overhead - why would you need to use DCC for this section.

It seems to me in either scenario - you would use DC and call it a day.

8

Ok, most DCC’s companies say to shy away from overhead powered lines. Reason being, is that unlike the static rails where the wheels are always touching the track, overhead can occasionally cause some instances where the pole is not touching the wire (think bad spring on the pole, loose wire in a spot, ect). this will mean that if a signal is being sent at the time the pole is not actively touching the wire, your train may not get the command it was told. Mind you, if you wire correctly and make sure the pole will always be touching the overhead wire, you can effectively Use DCC with an overhead cantanary system.

9

the greatest issue is the number of cars you can get on one track.

with some diode trickery without DCC you can get 4 cars on the same block.

but that takes wiring the layout and cars.

DCC goes beyond and you can have virtual unlimited number of cars on the same block. streetcar operation is about multicar operation at the same time.

there are no other issues except reliable power pickup which is no different without DCC…8-D

go install the DCC.