Yup, this is a DCC love-in. Let me start.
For me, it is the lighting/sound/consisting combination. I love the idea of having prototypical lighting, sounds and the ability to run anything with anything anywhere I want. Also, I love decoders that allow me to upload my own sounds to completely customize my locos. I can do this with Digitrax and LokSound decoders.
What is your experience?
David B
David,
I can just ‘Feel the Love’! For me(being a computer tech type), DCC seemed rather natural. The features you mention are all things that make running my layout better. The ‘downer’ things were:
Losing the programming in the decoders
Programming with that darn DT100 throttle
Lack of documentation
Decoder Pro resolved all of that tedious stuff so I could ‘play’ with my trains again. I can program/test/tune engines from my computer, and save the configuration. I document the lamps/LEDs/resistor values in the ‘roster entry’ for each engine. I have something like 36 engines with decoders(and a friend has over 200). As they say - ‘Shine On’!
Jim Bernier
David,
The electrical area of the hobby is where I’m the weakest. With a rather small layout, DCC made setting it up a piece of cake. I have the Digitrax Zephyr and hooking it up was no problem. I didn’t have to worry about block wiring, wiring switches or anything else that made me hesitant to get involved. I also love the sound aspect of things. I’ve considered switching from HO to N a couple of times to get more action in the same space but the lack of DCC and sound locomotives in N is what talked me out of it.
Hi David: It was Christmas, 1975, I set up my 2 HO trains on a 4x8 in the living room. I copied a track plan from an Atlas book, track and wiring. Well, I got so frustrated trying to run one train, let alone two, I was happy to take it down at New Years.
This is is what it looked like.
Fast forward about 25 yrs. I read about Digitrax DCC in MR. I thought, this is what I’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately, because it was new, Digitrax was having supply problems. I had already found space in the basement and had L-girder benchwork up. After a year or two, Digitrax supply caught up to demand, and I purchased a Radio Super Chief. I thought I was in model rr heaven, when I got the system up and running. So, DCC kept me in the hobby and led to my layout. It meant everything you posted and more. That’s my experience.
I like that fact I am no longer tied to the control panel. Operating night at my dad’s house usually had me at the panel. With DCC, we can have 10 or more guys down, each running a train. Yard operations go a lot smoother as well, no need to watch the block boundaries, etc., just do what needs to be done.
It also simplified running multiple trains at the club. To run 4 trains at a time on the old layout required 5 people, one to just turn switches. Now we can have as many as we feel like. The new layout will be DCC from the start.
On my table at home I can run up to 5 trains at a time, if I had enough room for the people. No blocks to worry about. DCC really helps with smaller layouts.
Yeah, I love sound locos, and consisting, and the nice precise control I get. I love running locos and leaving them anywhere, without having to drop them on special dead-zone tracks before I run another one. I love not worrying about where one block ends and the next begins, particularly on a small layout.
But most of all, I love the way I feel like an 8-year-old kid playing with trains again. DCC has brought all the magic back.
This pretty much says it all, beyond the fact that I’m an electronics/computer junkie and probably would have DCC regardless. But after all those layouts from childhood on up, controlled in the usual DC manner, it’s like a whole new hobby with DCC. I mean, I cna park one train and run another loco right up to the stopped one and couple on to doublehead - try THAT with straight DC blocks! It’s just so much more fun to run the trains anywhere ont he track and not worry about making sure power is turned on to that track section.
Were it not for DCC, i would have another command control system - I actually got as far as beginning parts aquisition to build a CTC-16e at one point. I definitely did not want to be tied to the control panel with DC. I was convinced of the concept LONG ago, reading about Astrac in Dave Sutton’s Complete Book of Model Railroading, but as a kid products like that were way out of my price range.
–Randy
I just love the fact that it is way easier to do up than DC–and I’m not tied to the control panel. I only have 1 loco that has sound and —it’s the one that keeps Spring off the layout—heeheehee[:-,]
Been in HO modeling since 1958. I am an ordained pastor, but I also worked for Santa Fe in Topeka in the 60’s and was off to IBM schools to learn to design and program for the IBM 340-350-360 computers. I pastored small churches and supported myself with the computer stuff. 1970 jumped to Kansas City, another church and took a position with the Federal Reserve Bank in their new automation department, and worked with design and programming for mainframe, then the first PC’s, and ended with retiring early after teaching user departments to use the PC software. All of this made me learn more than I probably would have otherwise, and I was ready for new technology at all times.
I started using the old Dynatrol system (Abbott Lahti) which was a forerunner of DCC, so by the time I switched in 1999 to NCE DCC, I was comfortable with command control, although I do admit as I have gotten older, some things have become more difficult. So command control/dcc has been a part of my railroading hobby all these years, and at my senior age, I don’t struggle with it too much.
I think DCC is the best thing since sliced bread, and have always appreciated how much it has helped my enjoyment, especially on oprations night.
Bob
Fast Forward 10 years from now.
What’s DC?
DCC is how model railroading should be. My previous layout was built as DC because DCC wasn’t invented then and the wiring and block controlling was a nightmare to think out. Not just when building but when operating. All those DPDT’s etc. Add to that switch changing with toggles, signals etc, etc.
DCC is simple and I can now run trains on my new layout (still being built) like real trains. Double, multi header locos to pull or assist trains, run locos up next to each other, select trains on any part of the layout, sound, bell, whistle, momentum, brake squeal, DCC switch selection, routing, etc, etc and all from my handset. NCE Pro which is fantastic.
What I would like is a real good manual that’s almost an encylopaedia that explains DCC everything for the first timer thru to the techie expert. That would be a great book.
Barry [8D]
Roses are red and violets are blue…if someone took away my DCC I wouldn’t know what to do!
I agree with all of the above. After years of DC layouts and all the wiring and wondering I find DCC a breath of fresh air. Kind of like the TV remote. Can’t imagine not having it.
Dave
Wow! One thing that I’m so glad to finally see! Modelers with small layouts touting the benefits of DCC.
I remember reading a number of “my layout is too small for DCC” posts over on the Gen. Discussion DCC related threads. Had me a bit baffled since any modeler that wants to closely simulate railroad operations as well as lighting and sound controls would logically take or, at least, explore the DCC route. Layout size is irrelevant. I’ve seen the benefits and am excited about them.
I like the idea of a lone wolf modeler being able to run 2 or more trains without the constraints of cab routing. With properly set up DCC, the modeler runs the trains…the layout doesn’t run the modeler!
25+ years ago, I built “The HO Model Railroad that Grows”. This was a wonderful book. Learned how to do benchwork, scenery and WIRING. And wiring, and wiring, and wiring. Maybe I’m exagerating a bit, wasn’t all that difficult, but for sure time consuming. And then when I finally got the control panel finished and all the wiring done, I never really ran the trains more than one at a time anyway.
About a year and a half ago, I found I was going to have time and space to start a railroad again. So I started reading and finding out what was available now. Hmm, this DCC looks interesting. I ended up buying a PowerCab before I layed a foot of track. Set it up on my workbench with a 2 ft piece of track. A smile came to my face as I started planning to get some benchwork done and track down. I love it. My layout is nowhere near complete and I have run trains far more that I ever did 25 years ago. If I feel like running one, great, Nah, let’s get 601 on the main and run 1413 on the sidings. Sometimes, I just like to run so I can hear the Nathan 5 chime horn whenever I want. [:D]
I agree with Antonio 100%. Layout size is not relavent. DCC makes it more fun for me.
I never liked DC with its operating limitations, and requirement of very close scrutiny of the position of switches controlling blocks. Always looking for an alternative, I thought The Keller Onboard system was the answer, with its independent control of locomotives, and the option of SOUND! I spent lotsa bucks buying into this new system, only to learn that it had severe limitations, being an analog system, having only a few channels, and channels close together could experience interference with each other. The sound component was very tinny and made sounds that Robby the robot might make. Disappointed, I sold most of my train stuff, except for a few favorite brass models. My son and I took up flying R/C model aircraft.
I saw a Digitrax demo at a train show in 1997, and bought my Chief on the spot! Fortunately, I was able to recoup some of my investment in Onboard by selling it back to the dealer I bought it from. I loved DCC from the start, or at least once I could wrap my brain around the Digitrax manual! I invested in a Soundtraxx DSD 150 steam sound decoder almost right away, and had found heaven! My first installation was in a brass Royal Hudson, and after spending mega hours unsuccessfully trying to synchronize the chuff sound with driver rotation using the auto chuff feature, I installed a home- made cam, and, problem solved! It wasn’t too long before I added radio, how much better can it get? Well, it just kept getting better! Add Decoder Pro, Tsunami steam, FP-9 Diesels with DCC and QSI sound already installed. That QSI diesel horn is the best I’ve heard!
Life without DCC…I don’t think so! I’d probably still be crashing those R/C planes
Errol
One thing I love is Back EMF!! On my last layout I had an Athearn F7 A unit (with B dummy) that ran pretty well but always crawled up a grade and rocketed downgrade. With a decoder with BEMF in it, it ran nice and smooth over the entire mainline.
Most of the things I’ve seen listed here aren’t enhancements by DCC but by Command Control. I discovered the controlling the train rather than the track back in 1979. Likewise I’ve had sound since about 1983. DCC has just standardized and popularized it.
So for me DCC has enhanced the hobby by:
Making command control way cheaper than it used to be. Decoders used to be $50 each, sound units $300. So DCC has brought the price WAY down.
Software programming of the decoders. Prior units had hardware programming. I’m not saying that this would not have been the next step for all these other systems if DCC hadn’t become the standard, but it did so I’ll throw it a bone here.
Allowed me & all my friends to run trains at one another’s houses. No more Person A has Raillynx, Person B has CTC-16, Person C has On-board, etc. Actually it wasn’t that bad, by the time DCC showed up most everyone had Railcommand, but my point is now most everyone has DCC. Now I still have a throttle issue. For Person A I need and NCE wireless, for Person B some sort of express net, for Person C a digtirax … etc.
Because #1 there are now more features available on the decoders and in the throttle systems that I used to have to create / build myself.
I think the new 9.3.2 standard (asymmetrical communications) is going to really make my trains do what I want (pumping up the air for the brakes, pretend fuel consumption, automatic tracking for computer control, etc.).
The replys so far have covered most of my reasons but another is that it has minimized the time I spend under the benchwork doing wiring. Sure there still is some but it’t simpler and faster at least for me. Also, I know some DC throttles allow for walkaround even with “pluggable” throttles, but I always hated having to go back to turn off a block before proceeding on. (Two steps foreward, one back?). It enhances walkaround layout design (the only design IMHO) and makes operation on it more realistic.
Cal
One of the few downsides of DCC is that you can now crash your trains a lot easier. Headons are now possible and turning the throttle off only effects the selected loco/lashup. But I’ll live with it. LOL
Cal
The best example I can give is: Modeling a locomotive terminal. I tried to do that ~20 years ago in DC and the wiring was an absolute nightmare! Trying to park the locos in exact spots on the track so they wouldn’t run when I wanted to move a different loco or consist was a PITA, especially if the loco I was shifting accidentally crossed the boundary to a dormant track section and cause the engines parked on there to start moving.
With DCC those problems disappear, since - to quote a familiar cliche`- I’m controlling the trains and NOT the track!