[Makemineadouble]

Brian
I would sugguest going the DCC route without question. I would be very anti mixing the two systems. The great advantage is with DCC you can drive your train or loco anywhere that has track pwer, no more section switches. Two bus wires under the layout (which why it's easier to go DCC from the off),and track feeds every metre or so or when ever you have a turnout. The book I would recommend is "DCC made easy"
on special at Amazon for 7.73 sterling. It's easy to read and understand. I'm not going to recommend a system or we could get into these mud slinging matches about my system is better than your's etc.

Provided your track is well laid there should'nt be a problem and you can continue to control your turnouts "if you wish" using push to make or contacts without using DCC it's certianly cheaper going that way.

Operating under DCC will improve your fun and satisfaction it's not complex.
Finally a friend of mine who uses two digit addressing has the appropiate numbers stuck to each cab. I prefer four digit addressing and here we normally use the last four digits of the cab side number. Beware many of the so called starter sets are limited in output amps, functions, and the address that they can handle. Talk to users and try different sets out.

 

[Makemineadouble]

I think I would add to that, if money isn't a constraint, then buy your DCC system on features. When buying a system be feature critical. Only a top end system will give you all the toys you want. However if you only want to run a couple of loco's, not experiment with your programming, not run double headers and bankers, then I'm wasting my time typing this

.

There are really only two contenders Digitrax and Lenz. Either buy a lenz 100, or a Digitrax super premium chef set don't comprimse. Go to the dealers and try out both systems.
I chose Digitrax because of availability and support, at the time I was living in South Africa. It's generally not my policy to promote individual systems. I've looked at all the major systems I'm glad I made the choice I have. Digitrax has never had to do any software upgrade major or minor, the system is stable, has all the features and all the power and expansion capabilities I will ever need. Lenz users will probably be just as keen to support the system they chose.

If you feel you want to comprise then look at NCE and MRC. In the budget end of the market Digitrax is far superior to Lenz with the Zephur, this is a fully featured DCC system it has all the features of a top end system but with limited amps. The Lenz compak is limited in features and amps. I'm not mentioning EZ-DCC, even with the new addon's. Perhaps they will add a frying pan next week for all those cheap nasty decoders. If you want to wait for Hornby yawn yawn you might be waiting for a while
yawn yawn. times too short to wait for next year.......

 

[Makemineadouble]

I also get good vibes about the Hornby effort, I really think it's going to do what most people want and that's drive trains, work a reverse loop, and establish DCC as an equal in term of market share. Yes we will continue to see the diehards in the Toddler consumming hours wiring sections and control panels. But for most people the way forward will be DCC.

 

[Makemineadouble]

Mac Model Railroading

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