Look for the tutorials and info at Tony’s:
www.tonystrains.com
All DCC decoders, to be called that, must meet the standards and are therefore compatable with all base systems. However, the “base system,” which includes the main electronics parts, power boosters and throttles, are brand-specific. You can’t, for example, use a Digitrax throttle on a Lenz system, or vice versa. So, when selecting a system, make sure you are happy with the throttle control, because that will be your interface to the system. (Personally, I like the big buttons on my Lenz 100, but that’s me and my fat fingers.)
The newer sound decoders are starting to out-strip the capabilities of the older throttles. They have “sound functions” which are above the capability of some throttles. Some throttles will control only a few functions, like maybe 4, with ease. Other will go up to 12 or 13, but some of the sound decoders already exceed that.
Old engines? I pulled mine out a 40-year slumber. I tried decoders in 3 or 4 of them, but only found one that was worth keeping. Of course, these things didn’t run at all well on DC, either, so if you have quality engines that were well-maintained and running on DC, there’s no reason not to give them decoders. What I found, though, is that today’s engines are so far superior in running ability and detail that it’s hardly worth the effort unless you are sentimentally attached to your old engines. (Don’t be ashamed. I still love mine. I turned a couple of them into dummy engines so I could still run them.)
The final nail in the coffin for old engines, though, may be sound. After I bought my first sound-equipped engine, I was hooked. I immediately bought a sound decoder to upgrade the standard decoder I had installed in another engine only a few months before. And most of my old en
