I know Christmas is fast approaching when my son starts leafing through his Hornby train catalogue, pointing excitedly at locomotives and a train sets. Unsubtle it might be, but it works. Two years ago it was a Smokey Joe set that caught his eye. Santa delivered. Last year a Bachmann Virgin Voyager glimpsed on the pages of his model railway magazine. Again, it was obediently left under the Christmas Tree. This year? Well, credit crunch allowing, it looks like Santa may have to grapple his way over our roof with the latest in model railway technology – DCC trains (Digital Command Control)
I know, from the muttered expressions of awe coming from my son that his overwhelming preference is for one of the Hornby DCC trains, specifically the Hornby GWR Western Pullman set. Alas, budgetary constraints might confine it to the considerably less expensive Hornby Digital Mixed Goods Train Set.
Initially, however, it was not concerns over which set to buy, rather whether I was ready to welcome this new breed of trains into our family home. Much as I enjoy modern technological advances being incorporated by manufacturers of OO trains, my concerns over DCC trains boiled down to two issues: the cost (they are not cheap) and secondly, the hassle of having to master the entirely new system of wiring for DCC (it is inevitable that I will have to deal with all ‘operational’ difficulties).
Being an unabashed technophobe, I had often seen DCC locomotives and sets staring down from the shelves in our local model railway shop but they seemed to come from a completely different planet of model railways. I had nervously steered my son away from them, muttering something about ‘adults only’ and ‘multi-track layouts’. I was, for the time being at least, happy to demonstrate to my son what little knowledge of electrical circuitry I had retained from my science lessons and he, in turn, learnt that the simple task of connecting the electrical connector to the track could break a grown man. Well, almost.
So what exactly is DCC? What does it offer the model railway enthusiast – both the novice and the experienced? What products are out there? Well, I’ve made it my mission to find out as much as I can about DCC trains by talking to my local specialist model shops. I’ll be sharing my findings next week.
Posted under OO Trains, dcc trains
This post was written by Express_Dave on October 10, 2008
Interested to hear what you find out. for example, can existing locos be upgraded to DCC? Cheaper option!
Just came in to say hello. been narrow gaugin’ for 10 years