DCC Controlled Turnouts

[kenmacintosh]

I notice that The Favorite Spot on EBay is listing for immediate purchase the Bachmann DCC controlled turnouts  #4, #5 and the #6 crossovers. Does that mean that these little hummers are now available to us and, if so, was there an official announcement that I missed?

[Guilford Guy]

Possibly, but remember you have to recall all those addresses...

[the Bach-man]

Dear Ken,
yes, they are available.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Atlantic Central]

kenmacintosh,

Now I don't know if you have operated a layout with DCC controlled turnouts, and I don't know what DCC system you may have - but let me tell you a little story.

About 30 years ago, long before DCC, I thought it would be so perfect to be able to control the train and the turnouts from one handheld controller. I even developed some circuits, began testing, etc.

That project got sidetracked, DCC came along, I designed a track plan for a friend, he installed Digitrax with all his turnouts on stationary decoders, I operate his layout every month when our Round Robin group meets there.

I don't care for it one bit, it would be so much nicer to have small control panels at the turnout locations. The fact that you have to push 4 buttons on that controller in place of just pushing one on a control panel is harder, not easier. While I have become acustomed to it, the Digitrax throttle has too many buttons and is too hard to see/read. Other brands are better in this reguard, but I not sure that sationary decoders make the most sense for turnouts.

Right now that layout has labels on the roadbed to tell you the turnout numbers - when the scenery crew gets around the layout farther, little plaques with track diagrams and numbers will be needed (sounds like a control panel without the controls).

Sheldon

[kenmacintosh]

Hi Sheldon; it's always good to hear from you.

Thanks for your comments on DCC controlled turnouts on your layout. I would agree with you that using DCC controlled turnouts on a fixed layout my not yield any significant advantage. However, I'm one of the crazy few folks who insist on running Bachmann EZtrack on the floor and in that context, simplified wiring is a priority. DCC has been a real boon to carpet runners and the Bachmann DCC system has been quite adequate for that application except for the lack of stationary decoders. Now that that deficiency has been cured I'll be in Seventh Heaven and I won't have to crawl across the floor on my hands and knees to throw that turnout behind the sofa. I'm in my 70's, and doing that has become a bit more burdensome of late; so I don't mind pushing few buttons instead.

Again, thaks for your insight; it's always welcome. Ken.

[Atlantic Central]

Ken,

Thanks for sharing how you will be using them. I do feel that the benifits of DCC (and stationary decoder accessories) are actually greater for small layouts than for large ones.

I have often said that if I was building a branchline type railroad (as oposed to the large Class I that I am building), I would be much more likely to use DCC.

With number of turnouts limited by your situation I can see the advantages. As layouts get larger those advantages are out weighed by other factors.

Sheldon