Bachmann Trains & Accessories

Model Railroad Dcc Systems
G Scale DCC Starter Sets?

Well, I’m finally getting into the large scale model railroading hobby out in the garden, with a conventional DC Prairie 2-6-2. However, I’ve read about the advantages of DCC (Digital Command Control) for the smaller scales, namely constant full power on the rails (great for outdoor railroading), and the fact that you can run more than one loco at once, even in opposite directions. My Question is:

I’m going to disagree with everybody and tell you not to go DCC but go RC instead. Aristo- craft makes a really nice r/c unit that you can control you locomotive at a fair distance and you can use it on any locomotive. My set up has a 10amp transformer with the remote unit attached. I leave it set up in the house and take the transmitter out side when I run the layout. The distance to I can control the trains is well over 100 feet. I think you’ll find that with G scale less is more and you’ll find yourself running less and shorter trains. Most of mine are never over 5 cars. My layout is set up to run two trains but I seldom if ever do that. The R/C system is close to being idiot proof.

http://www.aristocraft.com/catalog/index.html

Cost of the system was just over $100, you may be able to do better but get the one with the longer range. Sometimes when I run my N scale I hook this system up to up, it works great.
Here’s a picture from a recent snow day run

Good luck and enjoy G scale, there’s nothing like running trains outdoors, it just like real railroading.

Model Railroad Dcc Systems

Without power, your train will be nothing but a pretty toy. Without power, your train will not move unless you push it — or pick it up and throw it against the wall when it won’t move for you!! When creating a model railroad, you have to plan for some way to control the train. We will discuss two ways here.

The original way of controlling your train was to connect wires to the tracks for power and then use a throttle to control the speed of the train. If you wanted to be able to control a switch on the tracks, you added more wires and a toggle switch. Now you have to build a control panel to put all of the switch toggles in — and you have to know which toggle controls which switch on the tracks. This is still a simple way of controlling your train, but it does take a lot of wiring work and once you start getting into more complex layouts, like adding a reverse loop, things can get pretty tricky.

The new way of controlling your train is to purchase a digital command control (DCC) system. This digital command control cuts down considerably on the amount of wires you have to use. This system, coupled with a DCC decoder chip that you have to install in your engine, allows you to send and your engine to receive more advanced signals, like speed up, cut power and coast, and slow down. The higher end decoder chips also provide authentic sounds so that your engine becomes more real!

While you can still create a layout with the common control panel and toggle switches, the DCC system provides so much more, such as the ability to run multiple trains on the same track. There are accessories available to include an “automatic reverse loop”, bypassing all of the headaches that come with trying to create your own.

It’s been said that with a control panel you are control track, not running a train. The DCC system makes you a real train engineer instead of a switch flipper!

Tom Spar is a model railroading enthusiast. To learn more about model train [http://modelrailroadanswers.com/types-of-control-systems/] control systems, visit http://www.ModelRailroadAnswers.com [http://modelrailroadanswers.com], a resource for model railroading hobbyists.

Port Elgin & North Shore N Scale Model Railroad #3