I’m currently in the planning stages of a new layout. I’ve already decided that it will be DCC with radio. The layout will be HOn3 with about six locos and will only have one engineer–well, I might let the boss play if she wants to! It will be gridwork around the walls with the yard areas being the focal point. Is it feasable to hide the DCC hardware or is it common to need access to it on a regular basis? I’m thinking of building a cabinet under one end of the layout and enclosing all the stuff. Shelves would be 24" wide and 10-12" deep–will that be enough room for the hardware? Also, the yard area will be about 45-50’ from the proposed location. Since the yard is the focal point, will that distance be a problem?
Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated, Steve
You should be able to hide everything BUT your radio base station. The antenna needs the proper clearance so that you are not dropping commands between your throttle and your locomotive’s decoders.
You want to be VERY sure that that red emergency STOP button on your throttle works when you need it most.
i’m using a digitrax super empire builder on my home layout and have the command station on a small table under the layout with enough slack in the wires that i can pull it farther out into the room if i have to do some work on the wiring. the radio receiver is mounted in the facia and the antenna is under the roadbed near the engine terminal to make it easy to aquire a locomotive there. if you use a radio equiped unit i don’t think that the location of the receiver is that important as there should be good reception wherever you put it. i can run my trains from outside my house. my club is on the third floor of a brick building and we can control trains from out on the street. with infra red units you have to be very selective where you put it as it is line of sight and you have to point the controller at the receiver.
Thanks for all the comments, but you all ducked one part of my question–how much space do these systems take up? My shelf will be 24" wide (or long) so how deep should I reserve for the equipment–6",8" or—12"?
with the digitrax empire builder the command station is about 5" x 5" and the power supply is about 4" x 5" so a shelf that is about 12" wide nd 7" deep should suffice but as on the digitrax unit there are some switches that must be accessable so it shouldn’t be too far under the layout. also allow for ventilation for heat disipation. a shelf that has cabinet drawer slides that make it easier to slide the shelf to the front would work well. use double stick tape to secure the components to the shelf.
