DCC Series – Introduction

For a long time (I’m talking years), I have been putting off the task of converting all my locomotives to DCC. I did a half attempt previously of converting two PIKO locomotives to DCC, but the projects were sidelined due to not having a railway at the time. Now with a new house, a garden, and a hobby room, it’s time pick up the project again (and the hobby in general).

Now I will probably still find a thousand other excuses to postpone the conversions, as frankly it’s a daunting task. As an IT guy I’m probably quite handy with the computer and programming aspects of it, yet the electrical and/or mechanical parts are outside my comfort zone. For a bit of context: I have close to zero soldering experience, I now the basics of analog electronics, but that’s about it. And above all I’m not yet comfortable attacking a 2000 euro loco with a dremel and/or drill.

What I already know:

  • I have a backlog of 15 locomotives to convert, of which most are analog (7 x PIKO, 2 x Train Line), and some are LGB with mfx decoders (6 x).
  • The locomotives are a mixture of steam (7 x), diesel (6 x) and electric (2 x)
  • I will install ESU LokSound 5 XL decoders only, unless I need to resort to a LokSound 5 L in case of space limitations.
  • I will install pulsed smoke units in the diesel and steam locos.
  • I want servo couplers at least on locomotives where it’s relevant (diesel switchers), potentially on every loco. I will evaluate the “S-EntKuPLiX” from MDS Mueller first as I think the ones from Massoth are too bulky in appearance.
  • I want prototypical lighting patterns for every railway (HSB narrow gauge, modern RhB narrow gauge, DB standard gauge era III).
  • In case there are light bulbs installed (although I don’t think my LGB locos are that old), I will replace them by LEDs.
  • I don’t care about gimmick sounds, I just want proper steam chuffs, a diesel rumble or electric whizzing. I’ll care about a horn or bell, but I don’t need 30 other sound effects.
  • I will standardize wire sizes and wire colors according to standards/best practices.

Just this list alone is a staggering amount of work to achieve, and I don’t want the added complexity of applying immediately to a particular loco as there is additional complexity in that case (space restrictions, cable management, drilling, glueing, …). Therefore, I have purchased a separate (PIKO) motor block that will allow me to tackle all the complexity step by step. And a IKEA SKADIS pegboard will help me with that.

One thing for sure: I will struggle. Anyway, I’ll share the good and bad parts of this adventure in separate posts. In the next post, we start with the set up of my SKADIS test bench. Stay tuned…