Very simple - just the out and returns; brown & orange - outside loop staging roads, blue & yellow inner loop staging roads. The white wires are temporary power feeds.

The Nightmare Continues

The more choice we have, the more difficulty we have in making a choice. I am beginning to feel like I am trapped in a series of Hollywood horror movie sequels: The Nightmare (choosing a DCC system), The Nightmare Returns (having to think about bus accessories), Revenge of the Nightmare (how one has to wire the trackwork differently depending on the chosen DCC system).

Even though DCC is supposed to be based on simple wiring using only one pair of wires to control everything from locos to points, to turntables to swing-bridges - it's tosh. You need loads of wires, at least if you are looking to benefit from all that DCC has to offer. However, this does not detract from the increased functionality possible from switching to DCC.

So, just how I wire the track will depend on which DCC system I choose to adopt. Actually, it is even more complicated than that because I also have to decide whether I want manual control, semi-automatic control using proprietary DCC accessories [such as for braking districts] and semi-automatic control and/or fully automatic control using a computer. Each one of these would require a different form of wiring. Add to this the variations in wiring as a result of the chosen detection system (integral to the track feeds or independent such as using photo-sensors) and also the method of reporting back to the command centre (via the track bus or isolated from the track bus) - and you can imagine that my tiny head is about to explode.

	The next stage on from the above photograph: a point motor added together with wiring for the point control (including the fail-safe cut off and frog polarity). The purple / black wires in the bottom right hand corner will be wired in to the accessory decoder.

I am not going to detail out all of the options that I considered (see Allan Gartner's wonderful Wiring DCC website for an overview), I'll simply write about my own choice on this website and the reasoning behind my decisions. So where does this leave me? In theory, I should not start laying any track until I have planned the electrics and I know where the isolation gaps are required. All well and good but this is my hobby and I want to get some track laid and trains moving. I also think that sometimes, one can ponder too much, put too much effort into planning and never get round to actually building (and especially completing) anything. We all know the type who talk a good layout, sometimes ridiculing the efforts of others but who never get round to building anything themselves. Personally, because I have to take the opposite approach in my professional life, with my hobby - I like to jump in and learn from the mistakes that inevitably make along the way. As long as I enjoy it!

I hope this website chronicles my mistakes in such a way so as others can learn from where I (frequently) go wrong.

I have decided that I will probably use Railroad & Co. software so that I can control the layout manually, semi-automatically and fully-automatically. This will save me a lot of money in terms of hardware if I were to control the layout semi-automatically using standard DCC equipment for braking districts and the like (see diagram below). It will also give me the opportunity to go for full automatic control.

	Simplified diagram showing automatic / semi-automatic control using standard DCC train detection hardware and virtual detection using control software.

I decided to opt for train detection integral to the track bus but combining this with "virtual" sensors set up through Railroad & Co. This will reduce the overall cost and greatly simplify wiring. Basically, the way this works can be illustrated through describing the wiring for a braking district. I will be using braking districts on each road in the fiddleyard. Rather than having to block two sections, one for commencing the decelleration and the other to stop the train at a given point, there is only one block which commences the decelleration process - the train is actually stopped by the software after a given time rather than when it reaches a given point. So as different locomotives don't go stopping at different points, one has to properly program the speed characteristics of the locomotive (which is one of the standard advantages of using DCC decoders anyway and necessary for consisting). I'll let you know how it works. If it doesn't work very well, I will be going for some form of photocell detector feeding back to the commend centre via accessory decoders (either Digitrax and / or CML).

I will be purchasing my DCC system within a month of writing this account. Anticipating a Digitrax system (or possibly ECoS), I am wiring up based on a common return with isolation breaks in only one rail. However, when laying the track I have installed additional breaks in the rail to accommodate alternative wiring arrangements. If I go ahead with Digitrax, I will simply wire around the redundant rail breaks.

Each road in the staging / fiddle yard will have one block section for detection, stopping points being determined through virtual sensors and timed. There are limitations on this in terms of bidirectional running unless the block / detection section is equidistant from both ends of the staging road - this largely being impossible because of the modular nature of my layout..

The additional wiring possibility that I have considered is the standard staging safety system for DCC where it is impossible to drive a train out of a siding when the points are set against it. This is achieved by using switches either attached or integral to the point motors. My turnout frogs are live electro-frogs so I need one such switch to switch the polarity of the frog. A second switch is therefore required to feed power only to the road for which the points have been set. Because the system is modular, I have decided rather than having the one power feed for the whole staging road, the switched power feed will only govern an isolated section immediately in front of the turnout. A switched section at each end of each road is therefore required for bi-directional running. I may well decide to make all of the staging roads mono-directional to simplify things!