Converting DC to DCC

April 22, 2009

Milton is converting DC engines to DCC and wants advice from anyone who has gone through the process:

“I am in the process of converting all of my DC engines to DCC and I am begining to plan a layout of an early steam era SP freight yard. It has 81 turnouts and a round table that I want to run as a prototypical layout.

I have chosen Digitrak as the DCC controller, but to date, I have found out there is only a mobile decoder for engines and nothing that I have found out to identify rolling stock cars as too layout location or car idenity. Stationary decoders might work but need to have a power source or contact to the track to communicate and power. RFI chips might work but will require censors in the layout specific enough to identify specific track locations.

Finally, there needs to be a last car identity as a consist is built such that every car that becomes a last car identity as they pass through turnouts. Without this identity turnouts will not indicate passage of a consist and a turnout that needs to be switched back to normally closed or normally open.”

Give Milton your feedback. Use the green comments and feedback link below.