If you think your layout wiring is complicated ...

[boxbrownie]

Those layouts are wired/made by enthusiasts who really want and love to do the Automatic/control side of the hobby, they are no way indicative of the majority of hobbyists who like to just run trains, be it DCC or DC.

 

Slamming DCC on the evidence shown there is fruitless.

[Andymsa]

6 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Those layouts are wired/made by enthusiasts who really want and love to do the Automatic/control side of the hobby, they are no way indicative of the majority of hobbyists who like to just run trains, be it DCC or DC.

 

Slamming DCC on the evidence shown there is fruitless.

for me automation is a necessity to get the most from having a big layout operated by one person.

[boxbrownie]

3 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

for me automation is a necessity to get the most from having a big layout operated by one person.

That’s good for you......

[WIMorrison]

17 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

for me automation is a necessity to get the most from having a big layout operated by one person.

Same for me - a lone operator can control, one perhaps two trains - the computer can handle as many as the layout will allow - it is like being at a private exhibition every time I switch it on as the trains all run, never crash into each other, don’t overrun point and best of all I have actually talk to visitors without having to keep watching the layout and having a stilted conversation.

Edited December 8, 2020 by WIMorrison
Auto spelling corrected - again!!!

[Michael Hodgson]

11 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

Same for me - a lone operator can control, one perhaps two trains - the computer can handle as many as the layout will allow - it is like being at a private exhibition every time I switch it on as the trains all run, never crash into each other, don’t overrun point and best of all I have actually talk to visitors without having to keep watching the layout and having a stilted conversation.

 

Indeed, but there is a still a limit - it's determined by how many will stay on the rails, not divide, develop mechanical faults etc.

[Andymsa]

5 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Indeed, but there is a still a limit - it's determined by how many will stay on the rails, not divide, develop mechanical faults etc.

would not the same apply to multiple operators?

[WIMorrison]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Indeed, but there is a still a limit - it's determined by how many will stay on the rails, not divide, develop mechanical faults etc.

That is easily resolved by laying good track work that aligns correctly and doesn’t have huge gaps as isolating breaks.

 

I cannot recall ever having had a train decouple and the last time I had a derailment was when I was laying an extension and hadn’t aligned a turnout correctly and the derailment was in the test and acceptance phase

 

I always tell people that you should not try to automate a layout until you have 100% reliable track work. I think you will find that maxim repeated by many people experienced in automation.

Edited December 8, 2020 by WIMorrison

[RobinofLoxley]

4 hours ago, Andymsa said:

I may be a bit thick here but don’t you fix your track down permanently before you do your wiring?

 

absolutely your correct in your last statement.

I am test laying at the moment and the track is fixed by a combo of pretty coloured pins and the friction created by the droppers going through the holes in the baseboard. Underneath I have Waygo connectors so I can release any individual section of track while I check everything throughly. Yesterday I pulled one piece out as I wasnt happy with the motion of my test loco on it; remade the soldered dropper  joints and its fine now. Painstaking work. So I won't be nailing anything down until I have a section that has been tested on every loco I have to make sure they can navigate it. I make individual boards in the garage and have prewired the buses. When I have enough sections done I will post up some photos for comment. BTW Im testing in DC will convert later, wiring is DCC style so one train on the whole layout at a time only.