All -- My DC system was so complex that I had to re-learn my layout's control system every time I went downstairs to operate it. I had two radio-controlled rheostats (Aristo's Basic Train Engineer, two separate frequencies), one for each track on the double-track main line. I also used every contact on every switch machine to route power from whichever main into whichever spur I wanted to send the locomotive. In my terminal area, this sort of power-routing passed through as many as six sets of turnout contacts. Even so, I found that, for certain situations, I had to use toggle switches, such as where my branch lines fed into the mains.
When I converted to DCC, the wiring became much simpler. All the power-routing was removed, which eliminated substantial amperage loss as well as many pounds of wire. I wound up with a large cardboard box (about a two-foot cube) full of surplus wire. Everything became much simpler. And there was no longer any need for special wiring for crossings -- I just used DCC-compatible auto-reversers to flip frog polarities. My only wiring concession to DCC was to install a pair of 12-gauge bus wires beneath my entire main line, with feeders every six feet or so. But I have to tell you that this is good practice for plain ordinary DC as well. For those of you not yet convinced that DCC wiring is far less complicated, I refer you to my two-part article on my conversion to DCC in the April and May 2009 issues of "Model Railroad News." While it is true that you can just substitute your DCC command-station outputs for your DC power supply outputs, you are stuck with the current-reducing features that you probably had to build into your DC system -- block toggles, power-routing, etc. The basic lesson here is that DCC wiring requires nothing special. As a minimum, you need do nothing different. As a maximum, your wiring can become much simpler. Dick Karnes
