Re: DCC Controller Features

I found the QSI site - they are at present not offering decoders to the public.

than the loco

incorrectly set

Some are, yes. There are other types of signals, though.

Read the above paragraph again. There are timetables, which describe scheduled trains. There are train orders which describe interactions with unscheduled trains. If you can read and comprehend your paperwork, you will know where and when you can expect to meet every other train on the railroad. The dispatcher is the only person who knows the current status of all the trains, and he can change the orders to modify meeting points as he sees fit.

Yes, this is somewhat different from a staff system...but it allows for a higher traffic density. To have the same density with a staff or block system, one would need to stop and exchange tokens every few miles.

Right, Then we here are operating model railroads, just as you are. No difference, except possibly the occupancy control system modeled.

Well, in a sense. When I am the engine driver, I am operating a model train on a model railway. OK?

than the loco

incorrectly set

model train.

Indian smoke signals? ;-)

normal operating

That's where blocks and signals come into play.

When I am a dispatcher I'm operating a model railway, whether or not there are any trains.

direction of the main line if it is behind time and the other trains are vulnerable to the misset turnout until it is returned to the main.< Remember the story of Casey Jones!

There is a QSI Yahoo group. Pat Quinn moderates (owns) it and has stated many times that QSI will not offer decoders direct to the public.

You haven't described in detail how you operate your layout other than state TTTO using DCC. The rest is typical Newton fiction.

That's correct. Mark Newton the expert shows us all how much he really knows about model railway wiring. Nothing is close to the mark.

More stupidity from Mark newton the model locomotive wiring expert. What expertise.

The first truthful comment from Mark on how he operates DCC.

Power current for prototype electric trains is carried by the rails expert. Some prototypes used DC. What prototype uses DCC power. None expert.

Just as DCC has no prototype expert. Track circuits on the prototype are not limited to block length circuits. Within yards where turnouts are controlled from a signal box which uses track circuits to locate trains, such short in length circuits exist, just like many model railway layouts using current track detectors, DCC and DC. When you work out how a simple electric circuit works, you will be a step closer to grasping the technology.

Sydney yard.

Seen enough to know what happens.

Name the locations, give the examples.

Then name the NSW locations and examples. There is always a prototype exception, you claim it's common, then it should be easy for you to give examples..

Clearly he is familiar with NZ prototype, and holds a similar view on the subject as myself. It's clear he has more relevant knowledge on the subject to make his model railway operate in a prototypical manner. As you have trouble grasping the basic fundamentals of simple model railway electrics you are unqualified to comment on the best method to control model railways.

But the DCC compromise is closer to reality. The difference is not irrelevant. The two are completely different paradigms. Jb

If a model loco travels along a track under the (semi)direct control of the hand on the controller, what difference does it make whether the current between is analogue or DCC or ...

GLP.

I have seen this on CP Rail. Quite often. I've seen switchers pull up before a switch, break off the train, pull past the switch, back up down the other leg of the switch and then road locos pull up to the train from the same track that the switchers just left. The road units were sitting further up the track.

Plus, what about a loco storage yard. The crew does not have to pull a group of locos up to some pre-determined location to pull 2 or 3 locos off a 8 unit lashup. You're going to move all 8 locos up to a cutoff point so you can pull off the end two? What, and then drive the remaining 6 back to their previous location? ??? Na, you disconnect the end two and drive off with them. DCC makes that easy.

Standing from trackside, and not being nor wanting to be learned in all the rules and regulations of prototype railroading, DCC gives me the most obvious path to recreating what I see of what I railfan. I'm not interested in learning how to do fancy wiring and I don't want to flip a lot of (or any) toggle switches. Picking up a loco/lashup with DCC is easy enough and I only need to do it when I go get the units, not constantly as I work them over the railroad.

Block control is the best method of model train control??? LOL ... ahhh, heh, ... but then I haven't a clue about NZ trains so maybe DC is the best control method for that kind of railroading. I just know it isn't for me.

Jb

To try to cut through some BS, and there's been a lot of it thrown from both sides, DCC has it's advantages. Period. DC has it's advantages. Period. Along with either come disadvantanges, and comparing with the proto isn't going to make any of them go away. Running multiple trains on a DC mainline isn't that hard, with a well designed control panel, nor is any switching operation, IF you know when you build the layout that you will be wanting to do them.

One disadvantage of DCC, the local club is DCC, which means I'm not in it, none of my locos are. They're also all diesel and Modern era, I'm steam and logging, totally incompatible. The other disadvantage of DCC, cost. For what it would cost to put DCC in even one of my locos, I can have the complete power supply, several throttles, connected to their own blocks, and the associated switches I need for "forward, off, reverse" on the blocks.

The decision, DCC or DC is only a personal one, there are no absolutes, one is not inherently "better" than the other. DCC may be more "convenient", but you pay for convenience. DC is cheaper, but you have to keep your head cut in to what you're doing. Sure, running into a reversed block is going to cause a sudden stoppage and me to swear while I put everything back on the track, but I can only blame the one sitting at the control panel, and there's no one else here.

Cool it, Dudes. It's a null argument, with a null result.

Greybeard

No. Fusees have a spike on their base which is designed to penetrate the ballast and enable the thing to stand upright in the gauge. They are intended to be dropped/thrown from a moving train. In the days of cabooses they would have been "delivered" from the back platform by one of the rear-end crew.

CP have probably been using train radio since the 1950s, like many other North American railroads - hardly "present day"...

That's going to require a break in the rail and an on/off switch, but that's hardly difficult to install and the dollar for the on/off switch is a lot cheaper than the two decoders you need to do it with DCC.

Why would you couple all eight locos together in the first place? It is however one area where DC is messy.

Sure DCC is great for those who want to dumb down the hobby, but why knock the rest of us who want to do things properly and why force newcomers to stay at your prefered level.

NZ train control systems cover the entire field, from intensive block working of mixed suburban and goods trains through to train orders plus GPS plus radio dispatching.

The Dunedin - Invercargill line (something like 200 miles) every night has a train each way. They run towards each other and pass at a crew operated passing loop. It's just like a US operation. Ideal for DCC? Well, two DC controllers and a pair of DPDT c/o switches will do the job on the model equally as well as DCC and you've got a spare $48- in your pocket to spend on a few more container wagons or whatever.

Regards, Greg.P.

Well ok, but I've never managed to throw anything that would be guaranteed to stand up in NZR ballast - I guess you have crap ballast?