Greetings! While planning my new layout, I wonder about train control in the hidden staging yard. My old layout had a short block at the end of the staging track that I could turn off. I could send the train on its way there and it would stop itself in this block, leaving me free for other tasks. Will this work with dcc? What happens when this block is turned back on? Does the train resume at its preveous speed or will it sit there till a throttle sends a new command?
Thanks!
Mike[?]
The beauty of DCC is that you don’t need blocks, even though they are sometimes desirable for parking things such as non-decoder-equipped engines or passenger cars with interior lighting. DCC compatible current sensors can be used to detect when your train is nearing the end of a hidden track, but this will require resistor wheelsets on all of your rolling stock. A cheaper alternative would be a small low-light-level video camera in the hidden staging area, thorugh which you can see what’s happening on a TV set.
Yes that will work with DCC. If you release the engine, nothing will happen when you turn the power back on. You will have to select it to take control. I am planning on the same idea. I will use detection for the block preceding the controlled block. Because I model the transition era I do not intend to have resistor wheelsets on all my rolling stock just the cabooses.
Hope this helps…Ken