What does MTH, DDC, DCS mean?

Garden Railroading
1

Some of the people (me) who read these threads are new to this hobby and don’t know what all the letters like MTH, DDC, DCS … stand for.

It would be very helpful if someone was to make a list of these letters you all use so often and give a brief definition of what these letters actually mean.

MTH stands for ? How is it used, or what does it do?

DCC stands for ? How is it used, or what does it do?

DCS stands for ? How is it used, or what does it do?

RSC stands for ? How is it used, or what does it do?

I’d really like some imput on the questions below in blue please!

If you set up a train to run on battery power can it still run on track power as well? I would like to know what is involved to run off battery, what components and modifications are needed to switch from track power to battery power.

What is required to operate a loco by remote control on a road powered by a Bridgewerks 15 amp transformer?

I’m ready to by a bridgewerks 15 amp transformer, does that give me everything I need to run my new train? What type of remote control could be added? What componets would it take to set up 1 loco with remote?

I’d love to get a list of some components to look up and price. Anybody running a bridgewerks 15 amp? Remote contol? I have a sound car because that was all I could afford seeing I’m just getting started. As I add locos and I’ll want better sound systems I’m sure and I’d like to be able to run locos with either battery or track power, is it possible do do both, run off track power or battery power if a loco has been set up for a battery?

Sorry for so many questions but there are so many things to consider and everything costs ALOT so I don’t want to make a mistake and buy something tha

2

Hello Paul.

MTH stands for Mikes Train House. Manufacturer of 1:32 scale locos and rolling stock.

DCC is Digital Command Control and is a standard adopted World wide for individually controlling multiple trains at the same time on powered track .

DCS is a proprietary command control system made by MTH.

I assume by RSC you actually meant RCS. Remote Control Systems (RCS) is a brand name of (mainly) battery R/C equipment made by me to be installed after market to free locos from the restraints of track power.

It is possible to wire locos to run on both track power and battery R/C. It can get complicated and most folks who do it end up only using the battery power anyway.

I believe Bridgewerks make their own remote system for controlling the voltage through the tracks. There are other brands that can do the same thing at less cost. They do not require an expensive transformer/power supply.

As the requirements for installing battery R/C can vary from loco to loco, even with different locos of one brand, I would suggest you trawl through the battery R/C forums here and at other websites to get the information you need about specific installations. Other participants will be glad to assist with specific enquiries.
Another way of getting your feet wet with battery R/C is to use a trail car that can be plugged from loco to loco.
Some locos have battery/track switches built in.
Any negative comments about particular things are most likely to given off line.

3

D C S stands for Digital Command System. As Tony pointed out. it is a command system made by MTH.

MTH not only makes 1:32 (Gauge 1) they also make a full line of ‘O’ Gauge and are also starting to make ‘HO’

here is a link on DCS

http://www.protosound2.com

4

I converted my B’mann Annie to dual battery/ track power. What a pain in the third point of contact that job was! And I like to fiddle with things! If I had to do it again, I’d just buy another loco and convert to all battery and forget about the track power option.

I run the 10 amp Aristo/Crest wireless train controller and I love it. Very similar to the Bridgeworks, but I don’t think the Aristo has the long term flexabilty for expansion that you would get with the Bridgeworks.
[oX)]

5

What does MTH, DDC, DCS mean?

Those letters are argument starters. Might as well as MTS, PWM, DCC into the stew also.[:o)][:)][:D][:p][:o)]

6

Thank you for explaining this and this exemplifies my argument with you Americans; you think because it is what you know about it is what everyone knows about and you know very little about the rest of the english speaking wotrld; which is quite considerable.

My good manners I mean Ausralian type good manners prompts me to put an explanation afert a word in brackets if I think my bretheren from opther countries may use a different word for a certain item. I would suggest that you peope try to see past your own front gate and adopt some Australian good manners.

I have also been guilty of recently using the term MTS, thinking that everyone knew what it means; well I may have been wrong. It is to do with an LGB product called Multi Train System and this allows several loco’s to be controlled individually on a single set of tracks and much more.

This country is a land of immigrants like USA and what yopu are doing is no different to how you feel when a number of immigrants from a certain country are all around you talking in their native tongue, you have no idea what they are say ing and you feel ostrcised in your own country.

So gentlemen what about some good manners, please?

Rgds ian

7

Hmmmmmmmm I guess we can consider that if you promise not to pick on North Americans in general and that you read before you type.

Where I come from the sequence goes like this: read … think … reply!

Of course when you start at the end of the thread you may have a problem, so it really helps if you read most of the thread first. [;)][;)]

8

It’s a lot of technical jargon and electronic gobble***ok that requires a lot of thinking to understand! Since I don’t invest in stocks that make products I don’t understand; likewise, I tend to shy away from implements that i have difficulty in understanding how they work!

Too many of these gimcracks and geegaws and you’re like a store that has to close the doors cause the electronic cash register crapped out and the kid operating it can’t figure out how to make change without the machine telling him/her how much to give back!

Yes, I’m a dinosaur about a lot of things, but it keeps my life from being too complicated as well!

9

Carried to an extreme, if you don’t use stuff that you don’t understand how it works, how many people know how TV works, or how fuel injection works, or how a newspaper gets printed, or how a tape recorder works?

Art

10

The key there is the word extreme. Bear in mind that there is a wide gap between rudimentary understanding and mastery! I use a computer, however, my understanding is rudimentary at best! It’s when I’m clueless that I really shy away!

11

I agree with Art that you don’t have to understand something in order to use it. Someone once said “you don’t have to be able to design a gas engine in order to drive a car”, good point.

I spent the last half of my career struggling to understand, down to the most basic step, all the processes occuring within my computer when I did something as simple as pressing the letter Z on the keyboard and have it appear in the right spot on the monitor. It wasn’t until I finally concluded that I’d probably never “fully” understand everything about computers that I was able to embrace this “thing” for what it is, a wonderful and very complicated TOOL created for me to use. I don’t know a thing about music but I still love Mozart and jazz, go figure.

In industry the best systems are the ones that allow a process to continue to function manually when the “high tech” stuff fails. Like a crank on the machine for the operator to turn when the computer directed, PWM inverter driven, AC motor drive system craps out. So I guess we should all have a plain old transformer handy to hook onto the track and a switch in the loco to disconnect from the battery/RC or DCC system to plain old track power. Now we wouldn’t have to understand anything about those mysterious acronyms in order to be able to get back up and running again if they fail us.

Walt

12

I’m with you, Walt. Back in the late 50’s, I serviced computers andI knew what every circuit in the large computer did and why it was required (IBM 704). The next generation was larger, and I was less intimately aquainted. Then they started getting smaller with ‘potted’ components and microcircuits; even less detail knowledge but more ‘concepts’.

I have no idea what’s inside this PC except I know there are layers upon layers around the primeval MS-DOS (MicroSoftDiskOperatingSystem) that is masquerading as Windows XP. I do know there’s a mother-board and dip switches and thingamjigs that I don’t even know the name of.

And wonderously, it works - - - sometimes. When it acts up , I don’t have a clue why but it’s probably because it never had a father-board!

Art