I have been checking out this forum; have followed up on several suggestions. I am a “newbie” returning to this hobby. Just took a deep breath and ordered about $400 of flex-track, cork roadbed, joiners, etc. from Model Train Stuff. And, like we used to say when I worked for SP and released train movements, “Here we go.”
This forum has been helpful so far. Hopefully, you will help me decide: DC or DCC. Before I drive the requisite 115 miles to the nearest shop in Savannah, I would like to be informed when I do go. Any tips or recommendations that you may have are sincerely welcome; and will inform my decision. Thanks,
When I got back after a 20 vacation, I started with DC and loved it. Then I tried DCC and that was better than I ever imagined. I tried DCC ifrared and did not like that. I now have DCC with radio throttles and it is the best toy in the train room. It is what I always wished running trains could be. It was easy to set up and my grandkids can use it the first time they see it. I can run four trains at a time on my little layout.
ADVICE - Get DCC with radio at the start and save some money, time and grief. I went with Digitrax, but I have since seen several other great systems.
Also, adding decoders to my old engines was possible and I have done 4 so far.
DCC is not a must have and it can be expensive. My advice would be to start a traditional DC controlled layout but wire it in a way that the conversion to DCC can be made as easily as possible. Save the DCC learning curve and cost for after you have mastered the DC side. Basic knowledge of a DC controlled layout will help you understand the intracacies required for DCC. Others will probably say the opposite but as a newbie there is a lot to learn.
While there are plenty of things to learn with DCC, it is not necessary to learn them all up front, in fact you really only need to learn a couple of things to get started. I’m still learning on the fly and while it can be intimidating at times it really isn’t all that difficult.
My vote here is DCC from the start.
I use Digitrax, but there are many other options out there that work just as good and possibly better depending on your situation.
Digitrax Zephyr basic starter set, same one I have. $199.99 at Walther’s. I’m sure there are other places that have it for much less. The set comes with everything you need to get started (You need to order decoders as it doesn’t come with them). It will work with any NMRA compliant decoder and the learning curve is very shallow. I was using mine inside of 5 minutes of hooking it up.
You’ll get a lot of opinions, but really what do you want to do?
I wanted wireless control, sound, and simple wiring, so I went with NCE Power Pro - R and I think it’s great.
With wireless I just have 2 wires carrying power around the layout with feeders to the track. I can control the locomotives from anywhere and hand throw the turnouts.
I was in a similiar position myself about 5 years ago. Getting back into the hobby after a 20 year hiatus and not to sure as to which way to go, DC or DCC. I went DCC (Digitrax Super Chief) and have never looked back. Why waste all that time trying to figure out DC when you don’t have to. Sure I was intimidated with DCC and all the terminology but it really is simple. You can make it as hard as you want to but, to set it up, wire it and just run a few trains it is SIMPLE. Of course this is all predicated on the fact that you want to be able to run more than one train at a time, if not don’t waste your $.
I’m still a DC user, although I will likely eventually switch. I have studied DCC, and at present, DCC doesn’t have enough extra value for me to warrant spending money on DCC instead of other hobby items.
I would recommend DC in the following situations (minimum extra value for DCC):
normal single operator operating a single train at a time, especially on smaller layouts
if multiple operators/mulitple trains are involved, trains normally do not share trackage while running (each train is operating on a separate area of track). An example would be my home layout. I have separate track for HOn3 and HO, with no dual gauge. There’s no shared trackage to give problems over which throttle has control. The HOn3 line has 3 switching areas that are physically separated, and each area can only accomodate one operator/train at a time. Again, DC works quite well for up to 2 operators on the HOn3 line and 1 on the HO line because track control is just as good as locomotive control.
you have DC equipment already, or don’t mind building your own. DC equipment is easy to build yourself. Conversely, ready-built DC walk-around throttles and the like are not cheap, costing 3/4 as much as their DCC counterparts.
you are willing to learn basic electricity and model railroad wiring. DCC is more plug and play, almost all equipment is off-the-shelf.
you don’t care about or can’t afford sound-equipped locomotives. Although most sound-equipped locomotives can be run on DC, the control of the locomotive and sound is nowhere near as good as with DCC.
The converse is true, also. Layouts running multiple locomotives/tr
I was in your situation a year ago…returning to the hobby after a 10 year hiatus trying to decide to stick with what I knew (DC) or jump into the world of DCC. I went DCC with a Digitrax Super Chief and have loved it from the start. I have a small layout but like to be able to roam around it without being tied to a control panel to set which loco goes to which track like DC. And having to have a separate transformer for each loco is in the DC past. Want to run 5 trains…no problem with DCC.
Besides - you can’t run two trains full speed head on into each other with DC like you can with DCC. [oops] Great fun.
I’m still a DC user, although I will likely eventually switch. I have studied DCC, and at present, DCC doesn’t have enough extra value for me to warrant spending money on DCC instead of other hobby items.
I would recommend DC in the following situations (minimum extra value for DCC):
normal single operator operating a single train at a time, especially on smaller layouts
if multiple operators/mulitple trains are involved, trains normally do not share trackage while running (each train is operating on a separate area of track). An example would be my home layout. I have separate track for HOn3 and HO, with no dual gauge. There’s no shared trackage to give problems over which throttle has control. The HOn3 line has 3 switching areas that are physically separated, and each area can only accomodate one operator/train at a time. Again, DC works quite well for up to 2 operators on the HOn3 line and 1 on the HO line because track control is just as good as locomotive control.
you have DC equipment already, or don’t mind building your own. DC equipment is easy to build yourself. Conversely, ready-built DC walk-around throttles and the like are not cheap, costing 3/4 as much as their DCC counterparts.
you are willing to learn basic electricity and model railroad wiring. DCC is more plug and play, almost all equipment is off-the-shelf.
you don’t care about or can’t afford sound-equipped locomotives. Although most sound-equipped locomotives can be run on DC, the control of the locomotive and sound is nowhere near as good as with DCC.
DCC is for the user who wants it all…just like a fully loaded car. The best part is, you just hook up 2 wires to the track and you have independent control of multiple decoder-equipped locomotives on the same piece of track. You are only limited by the capacity of your DCC system. There is a learning curve that would be equivalent to learning how to use a TV remote.
DC is limited to what it can do and involves much more wiring to run multiple locomotives independantly. If you want to control an additional loco, then you have to rewire the entire layout.
There is, of course, no ‘right’ answer. This is roughly analogus to trying to decide whether to buy a Prius or a Corvette. Prius=economy. Corvette=performance. Although in some instances a Corvette can get close to the economy of a Prius, a Prius can never remotely approach the performance of a Corvette. Likewise, a DCC system can do everything a DC system can do, but the converse is not possible.
It usually comes down to two things:Cost and Complexity (learning curve)
Cost: Like most everything else in life you get what you pay for. If you’re afraid that getting into DCC means buying a lot of “bells and whistles” (pardon the pun) you’ll never use, I’d bet that as you learn the potential of DCC, you’ll end up using many more than you think. Why? Because they are there.
Complexity: Not nearly as mysterious and complex as it seems. Take it a step at a time. Oh, and don’t be misled by the notion that a DCC layout must be built differently than a DC layout. Connect wires to track-----> run trains. In fact a DCC layout can, but does not have to, be bulit simpler than a DC one.
I can speak for no one but me, but in this and other things, it always seems that as I mature in an activity or skill, I end up wishing I’d spent more at the outset and not end up spending more total dollars to upgrade.
If this will be your first serious layout in a number of years, and it will be a small layout for one-man operation, I don’t think that you need DCC. You will have enough to learn with good track laying, scenery, and wiring, never mind having to learn about DCC as well. Once you get this first layout done and decide that you want to continue in the hobby and build a larger layout that two or three people can operate, then you can get into DCC.
Look at all of the features in DCC and decide if you really NEED them at this stage in your Model Railroading hobby.
If you do decide to go with DCC, try and determine what you want it to do. Is your layout being built for two, three, or more people to operate on? If so, don’t even bother getting a beginners or entry level system. You will just have to spend more money to expand it later on, and it might not be able to be expanded. Get what you intend to use now and learn it.
A better way of phrasing this would be “Be careful which entry level beginner set you get”
I bothered with a Digitrax Zephyr and routinely have 3, 4 or 5 operators simultaneously and it handles it just fine. All I had to do was to add the throttles.
Back to the original posters question.
What ever floats your boat! I started back in the hobby with a couple of basic DC throttle packs. They worked fine and let me run trains quickly. I quickly determined that DCC offered features and performance that I wanted and switched. Never regretted it for one moment. Just simple things like letting a main line train run while I tinker around in the yard with a switcher, with the occasional need to run out onto the main without thinking about block controls did it for me.
I started out with a simple Roco DCC system. Now I’ve upgraded to NCE. But I would never ever be able to go DC. Seems like such a hassle when DCC is so extremly easy unless you want to make it more complex.
In this day and age, the only time I would recommend DC is if the layout will only ever have one locomotive at a time on it. If one expects to have two locomotives or more, or two or more operators (even causal operators such as children) then DCC is the way to go. I discovered command control (running the trains not the track) in 1979. Despite all the cost and complexity of it back then (I had to build the command station from components) I have never regretted it. Also compared to then, it is now dirt cheap and much more simple than multi-train DC wiring and operation.
In other words there is no decision of DC or DCC. It is a matter of which DCC system to choose. You cannot go wrong with any of the major vendors - CVP, Digitrax, Lenz, NCE, or Zimo. So then it is a matter of which model to get. Find some real ones and actually play with them before you choose. I also recommend wireless right off the bat.
It is not considered politically correct at times to say good things about MRC, but my recently acquired MRC Prodigy Advanced Wireless can keep pace with, and in some cases edge past, other comparably or even higher priced and featured systems. Good news for you is that you’ve got a lot of excellent options.
I’d suggest again, that the argument in support of entry level systems that are easily upgradeable is code for “Be prepared to spend more total dollars to upgrade from A to B than if you went to B at the start.”
When I first got back into model railroading I visited an open house at a local train club that sadly is no longer around and one of the senior members was chatting with me and was glad that I was back in the hobby etc.and offered me an invitation to join their club, I asked him if he had any advice for a guy getting back in the hobby. He told me flat out go with this new technology called DCC. He took the time to explain all the great benefits of DCC which most of the other posters have layed out for you so no point in being redundant but the one thing he did tell me which held true was that if I didn’t go with DCC right off the bat that I would eventually change over to it as I progressed into the hobby. I have two regrets, A: not joining that club who had a great bunch of guys and a nice layout and B: not listening to that old guy.
If you don’t go with DCC now I will be willing to bet that more then likely you eventually will make the switch and then be stuck with what many of us have, a bunch of DC loco’s to convert or sell to be replaced with DCC or DCC ready loco’s. I opted for DC as it appeared to be a lot cheaper at first but it actually was more exp[ensive in the long run.