DCC Construction

  THE COMPLETE NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL MODEL RAILWAY LAYOUT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICE

Model Railway Manufacturers | Model Railway Layouts | Train Sets | Train Layouts | Model Railway Builders | Model Railway Designers | Model Railway Makers | Model Railway Baseboards | DCC Model Railway Digital Specialists | Finescale Model Railways | Hornby Train Set Makers | Hornby TrakMat Makers | DCC Digital Command Control | Model Railway Track Plans | Model Railway Track Designs | CAD Model Railway Design | Peco Track Plans | Diorama Makers | Model Makers | Corporate Model Makers | Exhibition Models | Exhibition Dioramas | Show Case Models | Corporate Model Railway Manufacturers

 

DCC LAYOUT CONSTRUCTION

Our experience over the years allows us to offer one of the most comprehensive DCC layout construction services available. We have been working with DCC since the pre-production days of ZTC and have seen our proportion of DCC layouts constructed grow from around 10% in the early years to around 90% in the last five years. The digital revolution is now upon us with most ready to run manufacturers e.g. Hornby, Bachmann, Heljan, Fleischmann, Marklin, Athearn etc. offering locomotives with at least a DCC socket for easy decoder installation; or offering locomotives with decoders and even sound decoders pre-installed or full DCC systems. We remember the days when most model railway retailers and layout constructors had their head in the sand and did not want a part of DCC. Now look how their attitudes have changed. They cannot afford to miss out on the DCC revolution, can you?

Over the years we have worked with most of the DCC systems available. We do not restrict our services to one manufacturer our experience with DCC layout construction, system installation and decoder installation and programming has allowed us to gain experience that includes ECos, ZTC, Gaugemaster, MRC, Lenz (including systems supplied by Lenz to other manufacturers), Digitrax, Hornby, Bachmann, Marklin, Fleischmann, EasyDCC, North Coast Engineering etc. 

Consider the following:

If you are about to start on a new model railway project DCC must be at the top of your list of considerations. Why control the track as a conventional DC system does when you can control the locomotives? If you are starting with little or no rolling stock then DCC is a must. Select your locomotives carefully, ensure they have at least a DCC socket (usually termed DCC Ready) to allow the easy installation of a DCC decoder. When it comes to your layout, consider using Professional Layout Services for its construction. We can offer assistance with all aspects of your DCC model railway. We are happy to construct your baseboards if you prefer to do the rest - to your plan or our design (see DCC Layout Design and Layout Design). Visit our Baseboards and Specialist Joinery pages for more information on our baseboard construction service. We are also happy to lay your track for DCC use. Here we can increase the reliability of your layout when using Peco electrofrog turnouts by converting them to livefrog to avoid short circuits and remove problems with locomotives stopping on turnouts. For more information see our Track Laying section. Our DCC wiring service is probably the most popular service we have. We will install any DCC system supplied by ourselves or already owned by the client as described in our DCC System Installation section. We also offer DCC control of the track i.e. locomotives, with conventional control of turnouts. Please visit our Layout Electrics section.

This DCC layout shows the versatility of DCC Digital. The layout is controlled using Lenz system with Lenz accessory decoders switching Peco point motors. Digitrax auto-reverse modules are used on the Peco Electrofrog long crossings and scissor crossings removing the need for mechanical switching. With DCC it is important to ensure a heavy gauge ring main runs around the layout with dropper wires at regular intervals connecting to the track.
Under analogue control it would be necessary to use a four pole switch or a relay circuit to change the polarity of the Peco finescale N gauge scissor crossing. A DCC auto-reverse module will automatically reverse the polarity on a scissor crossing, long crossing, reverse loop or turntables where required.
This image shows the versatility of our preferred DCC controller the ECoS Command Station. This twin controller is probably the easiest DCC controller to use and features a touch screen allowing your track diagram to be compiled with control of turnouts via this screen (motors and accessory decoders required). No need for expensive analogue control panels with LED indicators. No need to walk around your layout to look at turnout status. The yellow units on the track diagram represent the the turnout track status on the layout according to the last switch operation completed by the command station. It is therefore possible to check basic status from the ECoS Command Station.

 

Some examples of DCC layouts and baseboards constructed by Professional Layout Services.

Layout 1
Customer request for baseboards only for Fleischmann DCC layout.
Layout 2
Lenz DCC controlled OO gauge setrack layout as a modern recreation of a childhood layout.

Layout 3
ZTC DCC O Gauge layout based upon South Devon.

 

 

 

Home ] Up ]

Copyright © 2007- 2012 Professional Layout Services (Nottingham, UK)