Every Track Powered for DCC???

[Herc Driver]

Converting my entire diesel roster would be cost prohibitive, so running decoder-equipt and non-decoder engines is a must. I understand you can only run one non-decoder engine at a time, and for most of my operational ideas, that will be fine. (Although, if two non-decoder diesels are very evenly matched in speed, couldn't you run them together? They both would receive the same amount of electricity to move as one unit. Is the only limit to running non-decoder engines with decoder-equipt ones the amount of amps the system is rated at?) But you're right Charlie, right now the whole DCC concept is a mystery to me. I've read several articles and DCC books, understand the basic concept, but I've never installed a decoder or programmed an engine. I have more unanswered questions that answered ones. The DC layout I've created runs well, and with no polarity issues. So right now, I'm hoping I can hook up the Digitrax and with the two decodered equipt engines I have, get up and running quickly.

I have read about setting up blocks or power districts, and will probably do that for safety's sake. The concept seems easy enough...isolatinig several sections of track and routing power to each section. My biggest problem is accomplishing that task. The layout is a narrow shelf layout, 16 feet long, split into two roughly 8 foot lengths. I could take it down to floor lever to work on it, but that's a pretty large hassle. Still, if it has to be done, then it has to be done. Routing the wiring for the straight DC system I have now was a challange, so adding power districts would be a substantial effort. The layout rests on the top of five, built-in shelving units. I can't drill into them to aid in routing wires, so I would need to cut into the foam of the layout to place the wires for power districts. The way I see this playing out is...get the DCC system running, then take down the layout to the garage to work on adding the power districts, ballasting the track and adding scenery, then bring it back into the house to reassemble. Of course all this movement can lead to electrical problems, so testing the continuity of the connections from time to time will be a must. Since the layout's length runs from wall to wall and rests against the back wall, I have only one side I can work from. So even as I'm writing this, I can see that I'll have no other choice than to get the two diesels decoder equipt programmed and running everywhere on the track, then take it apart and moved to work on setting up power districts and soldered to lock in the tracks' placement. All the track is currently pinned in place and the buildings are not affixed to the layout yet. So I can take everything off and store it until the work is completed without any track moving around. Plus, taking it down will allow me to solder the back sections that run parallel to the wall where I couldn't get a solder gun near.

Well, thanks for reading this far...I guess I'm writing this down more to get my thoughts in order than anything else. But if anyone sees a flaw in my logic or better idea - let me know. And if anyone has any other great ideas, please pass them on. For me, going digital will be a big leap and see just how good my track laying skills were on this layout. I'm not naive enough to think that it's going to run perfectly right away...and I anticipate having to improve my track joining. I've already soldered some of the sections and I'm guessing I'll be soldering more to allow proper and even electrical continuity throughout the layout. But I'm really excited to finally have an operating layout that I've hoped for.