eed help for christmas thanks

[nitro23]

well im lost                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ""If you wanted to run each train individually on the same track, then you'd have to install DCC decoders into each engine. But if you want to run multiple engines on the same track all going in the same direction, at the same speed, etc, then you don't need too""

[jward]

i think what he's trying to say is that, with dcc, you can run thomas clockwise, percy anticlockwise, while henry waits on a siding.

with dc, if you put all 3 on the track, they will all run the same direction.

that's true as far as it goes. but if you divide the track into sections (blocks) each controlled by electrical switches, you can do the same thing as dcc without the decoders, as long as the 3 locomotives are all in seperate blocks.  this is how we did things from probably about ww2 until dcc became popular. that is why i said to thomas what i did. i've run trains under block control for over 40 years, and still wire my dcc railroad for block control. as a matter of fact, in the atlas books they recommend you wire the layouts for block control whether you use dc or dcc. it lowers the drain on your power supply when you can park a locomotive on a track and turn off the power to that track.

[Jim Banner]

Decoders or no decoders?  Easy decision. 

Do you want to use the locomotives one at a time while the other locomotives sit idle in the roundhouse or on a siding?  Then forget decoders, stick to dc, and use toggle switches to turn those roundhouse tracks and sidings on and off.  When gapped (no electrical connection through the rails) these storage tracks are dead and the locomotives will not run when the toggles switches are all off.  To run a locomotive, simply turn on the toggle switch for its storage track, making it live, and run the locomotive.  On a small layout, running one locomotive at a time is a good choice.  It is also a good choice for children too young to multi-task. 

Or do you want to be able to run two or more locomotives at the same time, each controlled separately, on the same track?  Then you need decoders and a DCC system to do so.  Running two locomotives at once can be hard enough for an adult and may be impossible for a younger child.  Running decoder equipped locomotives one at a time has no advantages unless it/they have sound decoders.  Even if all your locomotives have decoders, it is still a good idea to have all roundhouse tracks gapped and controlled with toggle switches, otherwise you run the risk of a locomotive running unnoticed inside the roundhouse until it wears out the wheels or the tracks.

There are two other ways of running a couple of trains at once without DCC, neither of which I recommend for your layout but which I mention for completeness.  One of them is "block control," which having been mention, need never be mentioned again.  The other is to set up two independent loops of track, both with their own power packs for independent control.  This works well for a display layout that just sits there running by itself.  But the minute you add engineers, particularly junior engineers, you will be overwhelmed with questions - why can't this train move over to that track - followed by requests/demands - lets take this train off this track and put it on that track.

My suggestion is this: why not skip the decoders and DCC system for now and stick with running one locomotive at a time on dc, at least until you and your son strongly feel the need for DCC.  This will come when your son it old enough to run the trains unsupervised, freeing you up to run a second train at the same time.  Alternately, it would allow your son and a friend to run trains together, each running his own train.

DCC can be added as easily after the layout is build as it can before, as long as you wire for DCC from the start.  This basically means running heavy bus wires under the layout and lighter drop wires from the tracks down to the bus wires.  There is lots of information on other fora on this website on the use of buses.

Jim

[nitro23]

Well i did it i got it done by christmas. well i got a good start anyway. thomas and percy are going good. will try putting some pic on here as soon as i get our tunnel/mountain painted and done. My son loves it. And i believe im having more fun with it. Thanks to everybody for the help