from circular to layout

[VOLTS]

greetings,

my bachmann superchief set have an original circular track with loco with dc motor only. i'm planning to build a layout with turnouts, and parallel tracks etc. will i need a digital control system DCC for this layout? a seller here in the philippines in ebay is selling a digital control system which can control speed, light, sound etc for $108. he is also selling a standard speed control the same set included with the train set when i bought it but unfortunately damaged by the flood. included with the standard speed control is a set of oval tracks, wall mount transformer and cord. can the turnout tracks be controlled manually or do i need the digital control DCC one even the loco has no digital or electronic component? your comments and suggestion please.

and lastly, can i use silicone gel as plastic lubricant? this silicone gel is commonly used here on tamiya 4 wheel drive with plastic gears.

thankyou
steve

[Joe323]

It depends are you planning to run just one locomotive or multiple locomotives?  If all you are running is one loco DC is o.k. BUT think about the future where you may have multiple locomotives and you' might want to control sound lighting etc.  If you can afford it DCC is the way to go.

On the other hand If the locomotive you have now is not DCC ready (and from reading your previous posts is does not seem to be) then start with the standard DC power pack because running a non DCC equipted loco on a DCC layout can cause the loco to overheat if it runs for long periods of time  You can buy DCC or DCC equipment later on as time any money allow.

As for the turnouts you have 3 choices

1) You can manually control them as many model railroaders do.  This assumes that you can easily reach them.  (I do this in my intermodal and service yard)

2) You can buy ordinary turnouts that would be powered by the AC terminals on your power pack.  I do this for some of my turnouts.

3) You can buy the DCC turnouts I think that this eliminates the need to separately wire the turnouts as they will run off track power and will be controlled by the comand center (Again I think as I have no experience).

Not sure about lube.

Joe

[pdlethbridge]

What kind of DCC system is it?  If it's a used unit, you'll be glad you did not buy it. There are a lot of good new DCC systems for sale a lot cheaper. The favorite spot on Ebay has a great record of selling at low costs and fair shipping. Here's the link. note this one is an auction for a brand new item but their buy now price with the shipping cost would be cheaper than the used item
http://cgi.ebay.com/BACHMANN-DIGITAL-COMMAND-TRAIN-CONTROLLER-00501-Control-/370386065919?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item563cbad9ff
Shipping to the Philippines is $26.00 on this item

[ABC]

Shipping to the Philippines is $26.00 on this item

The only problem is that the USPS is not reliable/safe to the Philippines. At any rate, in this situation I would not suggest buying a DCC system. A DCC system is not needed to power standard turnouts, but they can be powered by a standard power pack, which will do everything you need. I am going to reinforce that it would be best to stick with DC because if you need help or other DCC equipment it will be pretty hard to come by safely and cheaply.

[RAM]

Go with your DC system.  You can always change to DCC.  Only buy dcc ready locomotives.