Mike53A

The one thing I've learned is that there is an awful lot of stuff out there I've never heard of before, but having had a bit of a read last night have decided to go with the Switch-8, although thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Suzie, you've got me interested in the DIY option even if only as a learning exercise. Once again thanks to all, I'll go and order my bits now and hopefully make a start next weekend. All the best Mike

Hi there, thanks for all the advice, I like the sound of the NCE switch, gives me the option to expand easily. I've seen the NCE mentioned in other threads, so I think I'll have a read up on them. I'll also look into the ds64 as another option. The DIY option is a no go, put a soldering iron in my hands and you're asking for trouble. All the best, Mike

Hi there, I have decided to try fitting some tortoise point motors but am little bewildered by the decoder options (so far been using the prototypical finger). Do any of you who use the Tortoise have any recomendations?, are individual decoders the best option or something a bit more sophisticated? I have a small area of my layout with 3 easily accessible points I intend using as a test area before deciding what to do with the rest of the layout. All motors will be retro fitted although i did make some slots in the baseboards under the point tiebars with point motors always at the back of my mind. The dcc controller I use is the Prodigy advance2. The only reservation I had over the Tortoise is that a couple of my points are close to baseboard cross members so I did consider the Cobalt which I believe take up less space. Thanks Mike