Sunday 27 December 2015

New DCC Power for Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

Surely I'm no great expert when it comes to electrical matters or the mysteries of DCC. I can solder two wires together and I have managed to fit DCC decoders in most of my locos - in one case even succeeding in adding lights to the installation. I think my skills in understanding a DCC system are very similar - let's call them basic. My first step into the world of DCC was a Zimo MX1/MX2 combination. Probably way too advanced for my little gravel railway. I struggled with its less than intuitive layout. Add to this that I, despite being rather competent in both English and German, never quite got the finer points of the instructions. Lately the Zimo station has been refusing to allow me adding and operating new locos so a replacement was due. Despite all the above the Zimo unit took me a long way and as I acquired it rather cheap second hand I won't label it as a failed relationship. I have no plans of going back to run my railway without DCC. When it comes to operating locos on DCC I have found that locos runs smoother and slower - a very important thing on a narrow gauge industrial railway.

Contents of the Roco Multimaus DCC set. Visually the hand held controller isn't exactly to my taste. I'd rather have it black or a decent shiny bakelite finish. 

The Multimaus is a much simpler system than my old Zimo. During the Christmas vacation I have had a test track circle set up and tried out the Multimaus with several locos. It's easy to operate and I'm rather confident there is not much that can go wrong in daily use on Nystrup Gravel. Even though the system is probably less capable than my old Zimo, I can't image that my use will see it used to its full potential. I'm only running a few trains back and forth... One thing I really appreciate is, that the Multimaus is less bulky and and a lot lighter than the Zimo. I'm looking forward to learn the 'Maus' better - despite its ugly red shell.

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