Hello and starting on DCC modeling

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hello,

I reached the site searching on advice to start a DCC layout.

I have no experience on DCC, when young I had Marklin HO tracks and know how to wire signals and turnouts. Now, me and a friend, want to make a model with DCC.

To begin we want to make a layout that we can move from house to house until what we will do in the future is decided, hopefully a stable bigger one. That means a flat layout that fits on the car.

Once fully here I will post the layout intended, what we will use to begin and of course ask a lot on digital wiring.

The layout will be made with Fleischmann Z21 system over Kato tracks.

See you soon.

2

There is very little to wiring, and if you create a reverse loop, you insulate the loop and buy a PSX-AR autoreverser to automatically handle this.

You will spend more time playing with sounds and tweaking features to your liking.

As with ANY track powered layout, get good joiners, preferably rail clamps, I recommend Split Jaw

3

Are you wanting to model in HO or G? If HO you will get a lot better help with the forums in model railroaded as it is basically n scale and HO scale.

Now there are similarities here to wiring and running trains in DCC Model railroaded is better for HO scale.

4

Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately, you’re not going to find very many forum members using the Fleischmann Z21 DCC system so we probably won’t be able to answer a lot of questions regarding that specific system (note how few responses your post received in 12 days). However, the forum does have quite a few members with lots of experience with DCC in general so the fourm should still be able to help. You will find that more questions will arise as your layout progresses. Keep us posted and we’ll try to help as we can.

5

He’s going to have a hard time building a G scale layout that will fit in the back of a car.

DCC definitely has a learning curve. Given you choices, I’m going to guess you are on the other side of the pond.

[#welcome] to the forum.

6

hornblower blew out: “Unfortunately, you’re not going to find very many forum members using the Fleischmann Z21 DCC system so we probably won’t be able to answer a lot of questions regarding that specific system”

Heh, the OP is proposing to use just what I use: a layout built with Kato Unitrack and run by a Roco z21 dcc control box.

I’d suggest the “z21start” (white box) over the Z21 (black box). Unless you absolutely know you’ll need or want “the extras” the black box offers.

I use a 9.2" Samsung tablet for the control app. I’ve got the tablet’s display locked into “horizontal” orientation, so that I can display two z21 engine controls at once. Works great for me (I know others can be sensitive to control surfaces that work simply “by touch” alone…).

7

Your post got me to thinking. It sounds like this will be a small layout so that you can “move from house to house…a flat layout that fits on the car”.

While my suggestion would add some cost to this project, you ought to consider building two identical layouts, side by side, then transport one layout to the other’s home.

That way, whenever one of you wants to run trains at the other’s house, you would only need to pack up the DCC command station, locos and rolling stock instead of transporting the entire layout.

Something to think about.

Rich

8

the Going Out East article in the current (Nov 2021) issue of MR describes a layout composed of one smaller and two larger modules that are connected with short narrow sections that allows greater portability that i found particularly interesting