why then dcc

[spla13]

stan why does bachmann make a dcc sound shay if it is so hard to make it work? what would someone use to get all the sound if they just started from scratch. ok this guy went to the hobby store got a dcc shay and some track. what elce does this guy need? (please give me a way to reach you e-mail or phone so i can resolve this mater and decide witch shay to buy with dcc or forget about it .) i have been model railroading for about 37 years and i am ready to give sound a go. thank you. bob.

[Nathan]

Do you want to have a Sound loco and run it on DC or do you feel that DCC is what you want so you can run several trains at one time in the same area with out a control panel to switch between power packs?  Yo may also want to look at Radio Control.

If DCC and Sound is what you want there are a number of good Large Scale DCC systems on the market.  I will not get into a war on 'This One of That System' is best.  I will give one way to go.  There are a number of good places to look at systems on the WEB, one of them is:

http://tonysdcc.com/

They have a lot of good 'Introduction to DCC' information on that site, as do many other sites.  They have a good DCC forum and will answer questions on the phone.

What do you need to start?

A DCC Sound locomotive like the Bachmann 55 ton Shay, suggested retail $1200, you can buy it for less.  Some cars to be hauled in the train.

Track, your choice of Stainless or Brass, How much do you want to build to start?  Allow about $1000.  Our club is changing to the Aristo-Craft Stainless from brass track.  It has been much less work to keep up.

A DCC system.  I use the NCE PH-10 and a P1018 transformer suggested retail about $750.  You can buy it for less.

Wire and other items about $50.

No, I do not work for any of the companies listed above, I am retired, and have only been a model railroader for about 54 years.  My dad, who got his first train when he was 3 years old is 85 now and still 'plays with trains', is also in Large Scale and has both Sound and non-Sound locomotives, has an indoor DCC layout with Bachmann track and an NCE DCC system.

[Jim Banner]

DCC allows you control multiple locomotives on the same track at the same time.  Using DCC to control sound gives you direct control of at least some of those sounds, such as turning the bell on and off, blowing the whistle when you want to blow it and blowing it the way you want to blow it, etc.

But you do not need DCC in order to have sound.  Soundtraxx Sierra, for example, makes a sound system that works with dc if your railroad runs only one locomotive at a time and can easily be reconfigured for DCC control if you ever decide to run multiple trains at the same time.

With dc control, such a sound system depends on changes in throttle settings to start and stop or trigger the particular sounds.  For example, start and stop  whistles are controlled by throttle on/off (i.e. speed above zero or speed=zero) and by direction to give one, two or three toots.  The bell can be turned on by the train starting to move and off again when it reaches a set speed.  Or it can be turned on for a set number of rings by a track side magnet.   A crossing whistle sequence (long-long-short-long) can be triggered by a momentary decrease in throttle setting or by a track side magnet on the other side of the rails from the bell magnet.  Some sounds occur at random intervals with no intervention from the engineer.

Bottom line, if you are presently using dc and are happy with it, there is no necessity to go to DCC just to add sound.

To answer your specific question about what else a guy would need in addition to a DCC Shay and some track, he would need a DCC control system such as an E-Z Command plus a DCC booster.  This would give him the minimum required to power and operate the locomotive and sound system.  If he wanted to also be able to program his locomotive to make changes in how the locomotive and sound system operate, he would need an upgraded DCC system such as the Dynamis plus a DCC booster.