Building an N layout after many years ago running an HO layout that I never finished. I'm starting really small due to lack of space and wanting to finish/learn and have a nice piece for my home office..... Layout will be about 2' x 4' Planing on two ovals with some area in the center for switching out cars.... probably will run only 2-3 locos at a time... no team stuff... I need a basic entry level DCC complete system, hopefully can get something relatively cheap on ebay and I know nothing about them. Do they also control/power the turnouts and swithches or will I need a seperate power pack and switching system. Also.....I currently only have one loco that I bought along with a loop of kato unitrack to start generating ideas for a layout and it is not DCC.... I'm running it with an MRC powerpack 1500. Several questions..... Can I retrofit this loco (a life-like GP-38) into DCC????? Is that difficult? which engines come with the DCC decoder built in??? Also will a DCC decoder equipped engine run in a standard powerpack block system?? And again....what entry level DCC should I be going with?? Thanks for all your help in advance.... any advice to a newb would be greatly appreicated.
eman2274, Welcome to Trainboard! We have a layout discussion forum where you might post your track plans and invite discussions. There are good 2x4 plans out there. There is also a DCC forum, which can help you in that department. Personally, I run Digitrax Zephyr and am happy with it. It is pretty much a simple DCC setup. I don't use switch machines in N, but many here do. I use Peco turnouts, and manually change them with my finger or a toothpick. I use the KISS principle in modeling. If you want to use machines, someone here can help. The Lifelike GP38 is probably not an easy candidate for DCC. Again, someone might disagree, but I think you might hold off for some better units. New Atlas units come DCC "ready" or factory installed. GP30s are coming in a couple of months. Yes, you can run a DCC engine on DC provided it has been correctly programmed. No big deal to change it. Keep on asking questions. There are some very helpful folks here!
Welcome to Trainboard. If you are going to use two ovals of tracks, I would suggest using the Kato Unitrack setup that has two ovals with a double crossover. You can look on their website at the Unitrack and see the progression starting with a K1 set, then adding a K2 set and a double crossover and so on. Since the Kato switches are powered, you can just hook them up to the AC on your transformer. I personally would not non-DCC locos on a DCC track and vice-versa, but others may tell you that you can. As far as DCC goes; if you want to start off inexpensively, you could get a Bachmann EZ DCC system for about $60. Some people might say that they would stay away from this, but with your situation of having a small layout and only 2-3 locos, I think it would work fine. If you want to spend $160, I would definitely go with the Digtrax Zephyr system as you could use your existing powerpack as a second throttle. I would highly recommend an Atlas loco with DCC installed. You can get one on ebay for $50-65. I would stick with 4 axle locos for you small layout, although the 6-axle would have no problems getting around it. I don't know if you have run your LL GP-38, but they are not the best running locos and I personally would not spend the money to put a decoder in it. [ March 17, 2006, 02:21 PM: Message edited by: Dave ]
DCC for your layout MRC Prodigy Express - $95 or NCE PowerCab - $140 You could try a Bachmann DCC for about $65, but it might be too limited? the other 2 above for a few $ more can be expanded and have far more features for the future.
Eman2274: This is a DCC topic and I'm going to move it to the DCC forum in two hours. Stay cool and run steam..... [ March 17, 2006, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]
I am closing this topic and moving it to the DCC forum where it belongs. Stay cool and run steam.......
