Randall,
Did you mean that you have an O-scale Locomotive with TMCC, that You can run only with AC? Is it a Two Rail O-Scale? I have never heard of a TMCC Locomotive being run on DC, I don’t know if it would work or not, I would be a little hesitant to gamble the electronics in an expensive engine without a call to Lionel first.
Doug
It is true that DCS is a proprietary digital command system. It is NOT true that the NMRA turned it down in favor of DCC. DCC existed long before DCS was developed. That fact, DCC’s existence, is the very reason that DCS was developed, initially for the O Gauge marketplace and later adapted to the G and HO marketplaces. M.T.H. believed that a better digital command system could be developed, one that would be easier to use, more intuitive and contain a lot more features. Certainly the feature list may or may not appeal to all users but their existence is there for users to employ or not.
It is NOT true that M.T.H. sued or threatened to sue DCC manufacturers. No such suits were ever filed or threatened. It IS true that M.T.H. provided DCC manufacturers with copies of our patents to solicit any prior art that may in fact INVALIDATE those patents. Patents help drive any future technology development conducted by our competitors who may utilize similiar functions. These firms can avoid violations with existing intellectual property owned by M.T.H. by simply designing around our patents.
Regardless of HO users’ desire to employ DCS on their HO layout either in lieu of or alongside of DCC, it should again be pointed out that M.T.H. HO locomotives contain 28 DCC features that can be accessed by any DCC controller. If a controller doesn’t have all 28 F functions, then control over M.T.H. HO locomotives will be limited by the number of F features that particular DCC controller possesses.
Any user interested in learning more about M.T.H. HO locomotives would be well served by attending this July’s NMRA National Train Show in Southern California. M.T.H. executives will be onhand to answer any questions you might have. In addition, a seminar will be held at the show demonstrating
Andy is correct. The NMRA formed a group called the “DCC Working Group” to decide which system would eventually become the NMRA Standard. They looked at and tested all of the systems that were available at the that time. This took place in 1990 a full 10 years before MTH announced their DCS system.
Had DCS been invented by 1990 would it have been deemed the best system? We will never know but the NMRA would only allow a system to become a Standard if the owner relinquished all rights to the command protocol (the language in which the system talks to the engine). MTH or any other company would have had to give up all copyrights to their system. I don’t think MTH would have done this but you never know it was a different time back then. I’m sure other companies would have also balked at such an offer. It was Bern Lenz who gave up his rights to DCC to allow it to become a Standard.
For short time I was interested in 2 rail TMCC. For the record TMCC be it 2 rail or 3 rail cannot be run under DC. No way-no how. However, there were a couple of 2 rail TMCC locomotives built by Atlas that had 5 switches on the bottom. If you turned off all 5 switches the locomotive could then be run under DC current. In effect you are turning off the TMCC system completely and the locomotive becomes simple DC engine that has no sounds or command control. I have one of these locomotives.
Phil Gatto
Phil
you make some good points, but remember that Bern Lenz’s willingness to “share” his command protocol’s with the market has greatly benefited this hobby as a result. He did not see it as “giving up” anything. Furthermore Lenz itself, reportedly, is still reaping the rewards as a result. Like other notable Europeon innovaters (such as Marklin), Mr. Lenz was a long term thinker that thought “outside of the box”. He saw the potential big picture. For those of us enjoying the benefits of DCC, we certainly owe him a hearty Thank You.
I use the 28 functions of my excellent MTH HO K´4, using a NCE PowerCab with their updated main chip.