Advise required

sidetnee · September 10, 2012, 10:23:28 PM

Hi All,

Newly joined member who has got the green light from the better half to do something modelly as a result of the littluns fascination with the layout at Locomotion NRM. I have a decent collection of N models as can be seen in the pictures (plus some more not shown) but they have been in the cabinet at the parents for the best part of a decade and some of them must date back a good 25 years (08,25,50 all not shown).

I am planning a smallish (6'6x2'6) layout, 2 1/2 loops, fiddle yard at back and a MPD in middle with mainline across front - british circa 1996 and this will be my first attempt at a real layout as opposed to just "playing trains" so its all very new to me.

I've been reading up on DC vs DCC and being a more techy type DCC appeals greatly, my concern is that with such an aging fleet, i'm not sure on the suitability of them for a DCC layout.

If people could take a look at the piccies and hopefully determine what is and isn't DCC friendly along with any comments, guidance suggestions etc it would be greatly appreciated as i dont want to do anything rash so early on in the process!

Thanks in advance (and be gentle), if you need any more information ask and i will try and answer...

Best Regards,

/SiD

longbridge · September 10, 2012, 10:29:18 PM

G'Day Sid and welcome to the forum, i'm no expert on DCC but by the look of everything you have in your cabinet I cant see that you will have any trouble converting the lot to DCC.

Plenty of lads on the forum that will be willing to give DCC advise.

Sprintex · September 10, 2012, 10:32:45 PM

Welcome in SiD

Can't help with specific locos but anything can be converted to DCC, just some need more work than others

If you're not confident hacking your trains around inside or soldering decoders in then there are plenty of places that will do it for you, although obviously at increased cost, about £20 plus the cost of the decoder I think is average.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly to help you further

Enjoy your foray into N Gauge

Paul

sidetnee · September 10, 2012, 10:42:16 PM

Thanks guys.

I'm fortunate in that i work with some people that design pcbs for access control systems so i'm hoping that i can get them to do some of the more fiddly soldering for me in their lunch break! My main concern was whether it would be possible - which it sounds like it will be

I guess it is time to head on over to the DCC forums for a controller recommendation and start to build a shopping list.

Is there a forum for help/advise for building baseboards etc?

/SiD

edwin_m · September 10, 2012, 10:51:37 PM

You have several Farish diesels which could be the original Poole models or the later ones built in China, when they changed the mechanism but kept the original bodies. The link below is a DCC fitting guide for the Chinese versions - basically if you take the body off and it looks like what is shown (give or take different lengths and numbers of wheels) then this will work. It involves a total stripdown, a bit of soldering and filing/milling a bit out of the chassis but if yours truly can do one in an hour or so then it can't be that hard!

I believe the earlier Farish chassis can also be DCC'd, but I have no experience of these or the Continental models so I won't venture any details.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/381-graham-farish-split-chassis-dcc-guide/

This shows some other N gauge DCC fitting guides:

http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/decoderinstallation2mm.htm

Sprintex · September 10, 2012, 10:56:06 PM

You will probably get as many controller recommendations as there are controllers, as everybody will recommend the one they bought

The main things to consider will be size of your layout, how many trains will be running at one time, if you forsee the need for niceties like sound or computer control, and ultimately the size of your wallet

There is no specific forum for baseboards but some of the Layout Construction threads start with building the baseboards so have a look there. Other than that just post any questions in N Gauge Discussion or Layout Planning maybe?

Paul

Dock Shunter · September 10, 2012, 11:16:15 PM

Welcome aboard Sid.....

Just to add to what the fella's have already said....you need to make sure that any locos that you want to convert run well on DC before you convert them.
A loco that does not run well on DC will not run any better on DCC....in fact it will probably be worse.

Nice collection by the way...

Any questions just ask....the answer will not be far away.....

trainsdownunder · September 11, 2012, 03:38:41 AM

The DCC controller market has quite a few options from build your own to RTR units. Your choice may also be influenced by whether or not you intend to use a PC for future layout control as some software is limited to certain units at present.
Before taking the plunge, I spent a fair bit of time asking around the operators at various exhibitions for their findings. Is there a local club you could visit/join to get info and possibly try out a DCC unit ?

As the brains of the layout (probably one of the more expensive items as well) the controller needs to be carefully considered.
Everyone has their favourite , much like our locos, and as has been said earlier in this thread, people will go with what they know and are happy with.

thomasash · September 11, 2012, 10:00:13 AM

Being rather new to this myself, I have to say, DCC really is a fantastically easy thing to setup and install, even on older locos, whether you are happy to solder a few cables (with lots of helpful pictures here and elsewhere on the web and videos on Youtube) or whether you want to pay someone £10 - £20 to do it for you. I imagine youd get a good rate on having them all done together.