For years, the majority of electric trains were operated using AC/DC power. The major problem was you just couldn’t run more than one train on the same track unless your layout was massive and you built in control blocks with several people controlling those semi permanent eyelash adhesive. You had no control over the engine except for the control of the transformer or rectifier.
Orucc Recently a new system has been introduced that revolutionized the control of trains on a layout. We are going to look at the HO system and semi permanent eyelash adhesive control versus the DC system.
First a layout does not have to be huge to be able to control a locomotive or several locomotives at the same time. DCC introduced the decoder which is a mini chip and circuit board that is programmable. They can be very small that will fit into any “semi permanent eyelash adhesive” gauge locomotive or reasonably sized to fit any larger locomotive.
The decoder introduced a means to program a locomotive and be able to operate that locomotive independently from any other locomotive on the track. For example, you are able to lash together a set of four F3 diesel engines and run them as a unit. You can also program a set of steam engines to operate together or independently.
The DCC system allows the operator to run locomotives at a very low and realistic speed. The power distribution through the decoder is refined by the circuitry and PC. You will find the locomotives respond better and speed is attained in a controlled fashion. You may also control the lights in the locomotive by turning them off and on and if there is a Mars light you can have it on or off.
There are also sound semi permanent eyelash adhesive with a decoder as part of the sound circuitry. However that is a different subject to be discussed in a later article.
The hand held controller/program unit allows you to either run several engines together as a unit. Also, if we have two steam engines running slightly different than each other the controller allows for that since it has two separate controllers built in. You set the speed of one and then match that speed with the other controller so they are going at the same speed.
The most engines we have tried to run on my friends layout, at any one time were seven engines simultaneously. One set was a lash up of four locomotives, another was a semi permanent eyelash adhesive of two locomotives and one single locomotives. This was a mix of two sets of diesels and one articulated steam engine.
By monitoring the engines and setting each combination or single engine to be traveling at the same speed allows for continuous running with out an incident.
You just can’t do this with any success with the DC system of operation. There are too many variables to deal with the DC operation versus the DCC operation.
Joy Ball has been involved in the restoration and maintenance of a variety of Brass Model Locomotives. Through her years of expertise, Mrs. Ball has perfected the art of train restoration often spending countless hours preserving vintage Brass Locomotives to running condition of even the newest Brass Model Replicas. It should be noted that the above article was written by Joy’s husband Michael Ball.