HI all, I have been a fan of model railroads since I was a young lad back in the early 80’s and had a Hornby set but it wasn’t looked after and I don’t know what happened to it? I am thinking of getting into this hobby and I have kids of my own now and would appreciate any advice and what I should start with? I was Looking at the Hornby range and liked the look of the flying scotsman which I can get for $249au on special. I then saw the Digital rnage which is around $400Au. What are the advantages of digital and is it suitable for a beginner?
Hello, and welcome. There are two ways to operate toy trains: Direct Current (DC) or Digital Command Control (DCC). DCC is newer. DCC requires the installation of a small microchip and other goodies to control the engine. The devices are called decoders. Depending on the features, decoders can be had for something like AUD$18 plus shipping for a basic one that controls lights and direction of movement all the way up to sound decoders and a small speaker or two running up into the AUD$180 range. Just for rough purposes…shopping around can get you better prices, but shipping may always be a factor.
DC requires some ingenuity in getting trains to run so that they appear realistic in their motions relative to each other if there is going to be several of them on your system. If you place two engines on the same section of powered track, no matter which way they face, they will move in concert as you apply power with your controller. This is not always desirable. DCC allows you to tell each engine to move or stop independent of the track power orientation that DC necessarily imparts. The reason is that DCC uses a signal imposed on a “square wave” Alternating Current (AC) that is fixed in voltage…no variance should be measurable from moment to moment. The base station’s output stays at a certan voltage unlike in DC where you have to dial up the voltage to get the lights to brighten and the engine to begin to move.
DCC allows you to play with the trains and not have to worry about arranging the correct orientation of DC current as the engine moves about on the layout. Add another engine and things get complicated, or they can get complicated. With DCC, your second engine won’t do anything until and unless you acquire it on your hand-held paddle (throttle) and instruct the decoder to make the engine move.
wow thanks Crandell! I wasn’t really clear but yes I will be the main player but I do want to include the kids (and the wife) as they are all interested so it will be a great hobby to do as a family. DCC definetely sounds like the way to go. What brand/s do you recommend? Like I said I have been looking at Hornby but know that Maikin is available here in Australia. I know I can shop on the net but would like opinions on quality, value for money, ease of use and maintenance etc
Now I am getting out of my depth. You are referring, as far as I know, to two different systems between Hornby and Marklin…but you will have to determine that yourself. Marklin, last I knew, uses special track and AC current. There are tiny metalized dots running down the centres of the ties. Hornby would probably not require that and would only need two rail power…so DC or DCC. The issue is control using DCC, and I don’t know what to recommend for the Marklin products…you’ll have to find sites and forums dealing with Marklin or ask the manufacturer…sorry. Surely someone makes a DCC system for Marklin.
Hornby may or may not provide engines with DCC capability already supplied…as in , with decoders installed. I don’t know since I have never inquired…I don’t operate British style steamers and such. Hopefully someone here will know, or you can find a website that deals largely with Hornby. You can try your questions, as a start, here:
Being down under. There are a lot of users of NCE in your neck of the world. Look around your area for any clubs or large home layouts that use DCC or even DC. Loads of help from club members help you out of jams and mistakes that can make you frustrated enough to quit the model rail road and take up knitting or something.
thanks everyone for you help. Firstly what is NCE?
I am steering towards Hornby at this stage as I want to do a British layout. I am looking at the DCC GWR Pullman set- do you think this would be a good basis to start off with?
You are far more likely to get honest and knowledgeable responses from posters on the forum I linked for you…there are almost no such users here. The huge majority of us here are into N and HO scale, some On30 and S, with N. American railroads and history. That necessarily restricts the range of useful advice for you severely.
NCE is an electronics firm (North Coast Engineering) that, as Digitrax, Easy DCC, Model Rectifier Corp., Lenz, Zimo, and Rocco do, makes decoders and DCC operating systems for model railroad enthusiasts. It is a good company and you’ll find many knowledgeable users of their systems here.