I am interested in opinions concerning the “best” DCC system for a small HO layout.
My Port Able and Eastern Railroad will have a mainline length of about 100 ft. It will host about 10 locomotives of various manufacturers and have no significant hidden trackage. I’m not really into sound and just want to run the locos and maybe operate the headlights and such. At most, 4 to 5 engines will be running at the same time.
Also, it would be nice if visiting model railroaders would be able to run their locos on my layout.
I have an MRC Controlmaster 20 to use as a power supply if needed.
Thanks in advance (and hope I haven’t started a flame war)
I have a 5 x 8 layout and use a Digitrax Zephyr. There are others equally good, but since my club uses Digitrax I can use my throttle in both places. I have had 5 trains running with it, but it can handle much more.
You should probably consider a good starter or intermediate DCC system. The Digitrax Zephyr and the NCE Power Cab would fit the starter bill. Both are expandable, very nice systems, and have their pluses and minuses. You’ll find ardent supporters of both here on the forum.
George, if you have friends that only have DC locomotives: Of the two, the Zephyr is the only one that can do that. The Power Cab, unfortunately, can only run DCC locomotives. The Digitrax Super Chief and NCE Power Pro would be the next tier up from there.
George, if you want to find out more about the Power Cab, I wrote an initial review of it back in February, when if first came out. It has initial impressions and thoughts, as well as pictures, questions, responses, issues and some answers to those issues. There’s also have a review of using a NCE CAB-04p throttle with the Power Cab:
I’m sure there will be about 2000 responses to this because everyone will be convinced theirs is the best. Anyhow, I don’t have a DCC system yet, I am still in the planning stages. Having said that, my preference is to go with a Digitrax Chief system, it is very flexible and expandable which is what I like about it. The Digitrax Zephyr system is similar, but smaller, it has a throttle built into the command station. You can add throttles using their loconet. Or, I believe you can hook up a DC throttle to it and use it to drive one engine. Obviously, the capabilities of this throttle are pretty limited, but it might be nice to use your old power-pack instead of buying a new one. You can expand this system by adding another booster.
I use the Bachmann EZ Command myself to run 3 to 4 trains at once. It’s a limited system that doesn’t have much in the way of expansion parts. It has limited functions. I can turn the headlights on and off and it also can operate up to 8 sound functions if your loco has sound, and it is cheap. I got mine for $60 from my LHS.
I am a digitrax fan. I have the Super chief with radio. The Zepher is fine, but you will want the super chief sooner or later so if the budget allows, start with it.
I started with tethered, and wanted to walk freely. I tried Infra red and did not like it. I then upgraded to radio, and it cost a few bucks more than if I had started with it.
I like Digitrax because:
I can run a DC and a DCC loco at the same time, together
They have a nice one loco throttle that the grandkids can opperate without messing things up
They have a two loco throttle that allows me to run two trains at once off of one throttle( two knobs).
Most of the people around here have Digitrax, and my LHS stocks it and can help me learn it.
It looks nice on the layout.
The way they connect different components suits my lack of understanding. Even I can hook it up.
I guess one thing I would look to is expandability. Digitrax (Zephyr), NCE and MRC all have systems that are easily expandable so the system you won’t outgrow the system you start with. The Zephyr is nice in that it has a knob and direction switch on the box itself similar to a DC powerpack for people who are used to that, but you can add walkaround controllers or radio control down the road.
Each system has it’s own quirks, what you feel comfortable with may be different from what someone else likes. I would check out those companies internet sites, and check out Loy’s Toys too. Loy’s has some good explanations of DCC issues, and reviews the good and bad points of the DCC systems/decoders etc.
I add; After you have DCC a while, your running habits will change A LOT. If you buy a system to match what you do now, you will soon be frustrated. The ability to have three or four friends, each walking around the layout with their own train, is really nice. You will soon want hand held throttles, that are not tethered. Start out with that in mind and you will save a few bucks.
Warning. The Digitrax Empire Builder is cheap and the reason is, it will not read CVs That may not mean anything now, but it will.
I personally have the MRC Prodigy Express on my layout, which is only a 4x8. It’s not a bad system and fits my needs at the moment. Looking back though I sometimes wish I opted for a Digitrax system for the ability to run DC locos, the MRC system doesn’t, and since most members of my club run Digitrax at home it would be handy to be able to bring an extra throttle to their operating sessions.
So given the choice now, I’d go Digitrax, as a side note, they are pretty much the only brand of decoders I’ve been using and have had nothing but great results.
due to all the good suggestions on this forum i bought the nce power cab.really like it and will upgrade it eventually.i’ll only have about six loco’s on the layout at a time,with just three or four running at the same time.i also have the controlmaster 20 and i will be selling it eventually along with most of my other dc packs.operating dc is a thing of the past for me.i don’t have a sound engine yet but am looking forward to getting several.hopefully the nce system will have enough power to run a sound loco.terry…
Well you can always use the DC packs for accessories likes lighting - I like to run trains at night using just the lights from buildings, streetlights etc. with maybe just a little “glow” lighting from above. Plus when I switched to DCC I just put in a toggle switch so I could switch to DC or DCC as needed. I prefer to test run and break-in my engines in DC before adding the decoder just to be sure I don’t void the warranty by making changes to it.
Thanks for all the great input guys! This is just the kind of input [(-D] (uh, that’s a digital joke) I was looking for.
One more question though. I’ve noticed that MRC’s and NCE controllers look very similar. Are the two units “related” somehow? (Like is NCE building DCC systems for MRC)
Simple answer, no. They are similar looking but are different.
The MRC PAs and PEs have a “knob” to control speed. The NCE Power Cab and Power Pro throttles have an encoder wheels, as well as buttons for gross and fine speed adjustments. The Power Cab is a throttle, power supply, and booster all rolled up into one. I’m not sure if the MRC Prodigy units are that way or not.
I have the PA and I believe that the “knob” is connected to an encoder. It clicks from step-to-step as opposed to a pot with continuous rotation. The PA also has two keys for speed (up and down) ; each key press is one speed step. The PA also has a “yard” mode were the direction and speed is controlled by the knob (I do not like using the yard mode though).
I have a Lenz system, which I’m very happy with. So, I would vote for…Digitrax?!? Yes, because Digitrax is more common. The rules say that all the decoders in the engines must follow the same protocols, so it doesn’t matter what kind of system your friends have. Their engines will run on your system. But, and this may be a big but, (no big butt jokes please) the throttles are not interchangeable. You can not plug a Digitrax throttle into a Lenz, or an NCE into Digitrax, or pretty much any combination. (Atlas and Lenz are the same, and maybe a couple of others, but none of the big players.)
I would, however, agree that what you want now is the system you will still be happy with in a few years. One of my reasons for buying Lenz is that it’s a 5-amp system right out of the box. You don’t want sound? Well, have you tried a state-of-the-art sound engine? My layout is set in 1967, and I fell in love with an 0-6-0 steamer which is now waiting for me to pick up at my LHS. Yes, sound is really that seductive. At my age, even blondes don’t compare. (Well, maybe Nanette, but she had sound, too.)
So, get a good system, and put in the small extra effort to wire up a control bus where you can plug in at multiple points. I’ve found this valuable, even on my 5x12 foot table. Some folks love wireless, so give that a thought, too.
I have a Prodigy Advance unit & have been very happy with it. I have added a second throttle so my grandson can run and blow the whistle etc at the same time I can. I have only a 4x8 with a double loop plus some sidings, and have run 4 locos at the same time to demonstrate to friends - all with sound an pulling six lighted passenger cars behind one of the locos, all this with only the original pawer - no booster (yet). It is an economical set-up, and very easy to set-up and learn, as well as very good tech help via e-mail from MRC.
One consideration with MRC DCC systems is they do not have a computer interface.
Who needs a computer interface, you may ask?
Well, if you’ve never programmed decoders using the free DecoderPro software, you haven’t seen how powerful and simple decoder programming can become. No more remembering CV numbers or reading through decoder manuals. Just point and click on your PC with a mouse and voila! Your loco decoder is programmed.
When speed matching, you can open multiple loco decoder windows at once. Wow, now is that handy or what?
Once you’re all done programming the decoder, you can save its settings to your hard drive.
Then next time you get a new decoder and you want to use all the same settings that worked so well in the last decoder, in just a couple clicks, you load up the other decoder settings from your hard drive and shazzam! Your new loco decoder is now programmed, just like that.
Did your QSI loco decoder get its settings scrambled from a short? No problem, a couple mouse clicks and all the decoder settings are restored from your hard drive.
You get all this helpful (and free) functionality with a computer interface – but too bad, so sad: MRC DCC systems don’t have any way to add a computer interface. [xx(]
Joe makes some great points here. Our club layout uses a System 1 DCC system which does have a PC interface. I’ve used it serveral times to diagnose problems with decoders and reprogram as needed, it’s a handy feature, one that as he mentioned, my MRC PE lacks.
Click to enlarge pictures