Im ready to take the plunge into DCC and I have several million questions, but I’ll only ask a few. I currently have about 350 square feet for my layout It is all O gague with sorry to say 031 curved track and I have 12 pair of 022 switches. Most of my rolling stock is from the 40’s and 50’s with only one new Williams engine and lot’s of mechanical accessories I know I would have a bigger selection of engines if I would move up to 54" or 72" curved track, but I really don’t want to tear it all down and start over at my age.
Therefore, this begs the question, do I go Lionel or MTH or something else and if I’m staying with my current track set up which engine should I get first? I saw a Lionel Bershire for about $300. It has TMC and railsounds. I think the kids and myself would get a kick out of DynaChuff.
Any suggestions that you can give would be greatly appreciated
DCC is primarily used in every scale but O and even in O it is usually reserved for two rail. There are primarily two competing command control systems used in three rail O, TMCC and DCS. TMCC was developed by Lionel and is licensed and available on everything but MTH (which developed the other system) and Williams which uses straight conventional control. While the systems don’t fight with each other, neither can FULLY control the other one in their repsective command modes at this point in time. People who have both TMCC and PS-2 loco’s tend to have both systems.
No wonder I didn’t understand anything in the book DCC made easy. I guess I should have labeled my subject TMCC. That’s why I should have gone to this forum first.
Seeing that you are from Baltimore, YOU would be extemely wise if you could get to a LHS, and see both systems in operation. Chuck hit it on the head, both systems are great. I have both, and tend to run more DCS, however they both amaze me. I’m just begining to learn the Legacy. Good Luck , but remember to visit the shops!!