Hornby Release their Digital system to the Press

Control Over 250 Locomotives on the Same Track with Hornby's New Digital Command System

Hornby Continues to Innovate and Bring Further Realism to Thousands

Hornby continues to embrace the digital age by bringing even more realism to thousands of model railway enthusiasts. The launch of Hornby's new Digital Command Control (DCC) system allows up to a staggering 254 locomotives to be 'called up' and controlled individually without having to worry about fixing up lots of messy wiring! The digital system, available at retail stores from October, incorporates two different control units to suit particular needs of the model rail enthusiasts - 'Select' and 'Elite' priced at £70 and £140 respectively.

The two digital units from Hornby are more technically advanced and offer far more features than any other comparatively priced product. A small micro chip processor fitted into each locomotive communicates with the digital unit and responds to any instruction issued to it, such as to move forward, reverse, speed up, slow down or to turn lights on or off. The digital units also allow the user to remotely control the track's railway points so that trains can be moved onto different sections of track at the touch of a button. The digital units allow model railway enthusiasts to get as close to running a real railway as possible!

Simon Kohler, Hornby: "This really is the next evolution in model railways and makes this wonderful hobby even more realistic. The new Hornby digital system is easy to install and means not having to use lots of messy wires and all the complication that this entails."

Both the Select and Elite Control units have been designed to make controlling locomotives a truly enjoyable and easy experience. Both units feature a simple keyboard which is used to programme or call up the locomotives and a LCD display to visually show which locomotive or accessories are being operated. Each unit has a rotary control which controls the acceleration and deceleration of the locomotive.

The key differences between the two units are the number of locomotives and track points that can be controlled. The Select controller can handle up to sixty locomotives and allow any ten of them to be 'on command' at any one time. The Elite controller can manage or call up to 254 locomotives on a track at any one time and allows any ten of them to be run simultaneously. The Elite unit also contains a USB socket which can be connected to a personal computer and using the internet receive any future software download features for the Elite system.

The Hornby Select digital system will also be available to buy in train sets which are complete with coaches, wagons and track. The locomotives in these sets contain the small micro processor chip already fitted. For those train enthusiasts that wish to convert their existing track and locomotives then they can simply install the micro chip into their current locomotives to begin all the fun!

Simon Kohler continues: "The hobby market looks to Hornby to provide the benchmark and I know that yet again we will not disappoint the many thousands of train model enthusiasts. This system is perfect for introducing a whole new generation of fans as well as further improving the experience of current Hornby train enthusiasts."

Nothing new here. Hornby have perhaps tested 10 locos on the track with their 3amp limit. I've had 6 locos up at once and after that it gets a little hectic, but this message is aimed at people with larger layouts with multiple opperators. In the case of some clubs, it may not be enough, but as we have agreed in the past, that is not their main market - Doug