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Digital Command Control

In 1991, I went down to Wellington to a Marklin layout tour with a couple of friends. The first layout on that tour had Digital Command Control (DCC) installed. I had heard about DCC and read bits and pieces in various hobbymagazines but I wasn't overly interested because the decoders were, to put it mildly, huge! So when I first started out learning about this type of control, I was very sceptical that just two wires (from the controller to the track) were all that was required to gain all the fantastic attributes of operation. "Must be a bit of an over statement . . . ," I thought. However, I was fascinated with the flexibility offered by the system and liked the concept of the freedom of operation over an entire track system without the hassle of operating switches and toggles. When I got back home that night the big research commenced and found out very early - and to my surprise - that Arnold Rapido, Fleischmann and Trix offered DCC systems and locomotives with decoders installed in 'N' gauge.

Great . . . well, before I launched financially into DCC, I looked long and hard at the market. I must have read every piece of documentation going at that time (prior to the Internet) before I finally made up my mind to move into the world of digitalisation instead of the tried, trusted and true conventional 'direct current' (DC) system.

The biggest hurdle was finding a system with a decoder that could be accommodated inside a range of 'N' gauge locomotives - and not limited to just one manufacturers locomotives! Havingidentified this, and deciding to acknowledge digital as a viable proposition, I had to justify that decision to myself - let alone to Pauline.

As I didn't have the throttles, transformers, switches or wire for my proposed layout, it was simply a matter of pricing the goods and adding up all the costs (cost analysis). To get started with a medium sized layout and one or two locomotives converted to DCC, then DCC came out on top without argument. But if I were to be totally honest, and converted all my locomotives, then DC won out over DCC very, very marginally I hasten to add. The wall to climb is the initial cash outlay. The benefits of DCC however, far outweigh the disadvantages. As soon as I connected those first two wires to my track and started operating, I was in controlled bliss.

As I have discovered, DCC certainly gives one a feeling of doing things more prototypically. The luxury of moving two locomotives, 100mm to 200mm apart, on the same track and not having to sort out special isolation areas, switch particular switches, or press certain buttons, etc., is marvellous. If you want to double head trains, then simply move one locomotive up to another and connect the couplers, call up both locomotive codes and move away . . .

After much gnashing of teeth, I finally settled for the Selectrix 2000 system, manufactured by TRIX of Germany.

Before I leave this subject I would like to say that the concept of only two wires into a layout is true in its most basic form. In reality, among other things, it is worth considering having the ability or facility to isolate certain sections of track. For instance, if you are running lighted passenger coaches you may want to turn those lights off when the coaches are not being used, like in a station or holding track for instance. Not turning those lights off still draws on your CPU's amperes. Just a thought . .

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