on my layout…i want to control more than one train but i don’t want to end up having a million transformers… i am using two transformers to control two trains…is there an easier way to do this…thanx to all who help.
DC you pretty much have to have 1 transformer per train.
DCC systems you can run 5-10 engines/trains per power supply.
Dave H.
I was going to ask a similar question. But can the trains share the same track with two transformers or is it one transformer and one train per set of tracks?
u can have two trains running on one set of tracks…they just will go the same way.
how much does a DCC transformer run usually?
http://www.nscaledivision.com/atlas_dcc.htm
This is the best priced, easiest to use, and esily expandible system I have found.
Digitrax makes a system that is much more complex but with complexity comes price.
With DC/transformers the only way to operate two trains independently on the “same” track is to create “blocks” or electrically separate stretches of track by putting an insulated railjoiner in one or both tracks. Then you have a switch, toggle for two transformers, a rotary switch for more, for each block. You throw the block switch to the transformer you want to control that stretch of track and you operate. Downside is that if you have really short blocks, you spend all day throwing block switches.
That’s why DCC is so attractive. You essentially wire the whole layout as one big block and then all the trains operate indepentely from each other on the same tracks. Way cooler, but more expensive. The track wiring is easier, but the system is a little more complicated.
Dave H.
Everyone forgets about the Zephyr and goes right to the Super Chief. The Zephyr costs the same as the Atlas Master, supports more functions, and does 4-digit, not 2-digit, addressing. The Super Chief does a lot more, but it IS more complex and a LOT more expensive.
Plus the ‘jump ports’ allow you ro reuse the old DC power pack as an extra throttle, up to 2 of them. So out of the box, as an upgrade to a two-pack cab control layout, you have 3 throttles. Hard to beat that.
–Randy
For two trains you must divide your track work into electricaly indipendent blocks. Each block must be powered by a different trnasformer (one for each train). You can run more than 1 train with the same transformer, but you’ll have to run then on independent track circuits, and both will go in the same direction and at the same speed, unless you hardwire one of the locos and change its engine polarity, that way one will go one way and the other will run in oposite direction, but at the same time. This might work in merry-go-round style layouts, where you just turn on the transformers and let the trains run in a closed loop.
The new Bachmann system street price under $60.00. Basic but hard to argue with the price as an entry into DCC.
Digitrax Zephyr under $150 if you shop around.
You can keep spending all the way into the thousands.
Look as some of the threads called “which DCC should I choose?” or varient of this question, they come up a lot and can give you an insight into what your DCC needs might be.