DCS on Legacy Layout

Rick,

Before you cut anything, just hook up DCS and give it a try. You may find that DCS is more forgiving of track topology than you would think!

Thanks Barry! With the MTH signal, where is the line drawn? Is it imperative to have 10's across the board or will 7 or 8 provide adequate operation?

I don't have a system yet, just trying to get a feel for where I need to be.

I never had an issue although I have a fairly simple layout plan. I've been runny DCS and Legacy together just fine. 

Rick,

While the "Holy Grail of DCS" is perfect 10 signal strength, there's more to DCS than that. Further, having a DCS signal strength that's consistently 8 or higher typically results in an excellent DCS experience.

Rick O,

   Definitely just connect up the DCS and give it a try before you do anything else at all, lots of layouts work just fine simply by adding it.  If you get 8's and even some 7's thu out the layout the layout leave your wiring alone, and add a few magic lights.

PCRR/Dave

I use passive mode on my DCS in my Legacy system and while I have a signal drop once in a while it is usually due to dirty track. I have 4 blocks and are toggled for A or D side of my ZW-L and have done nothing else. I have one area that the signal is marginal but past that all is good so I just run and enjoy.

I have two 50' total track length loops with two drops, one on each side.  DCS gets between 6 and 10, and I don't have any issues running anything I've tried.  I've violated a number of DCS wiring rules, but it still runs.

Guns,

   Before Barry educated me to proper DCS set up, I violated just about every rule, with an original fuse-less TIU that had Greek Letters on the bottom of it, and my signal was between 6-8, with the addition of Marty F's magic lights the original TIU ran with 8's & 9's thru out.  IMO however the best way to enjoy building a layout, is to follow Barry's  DCS rules, run DCS 1st and then add Legacy to it later.  In Rick O case however that was impossible he started with a Legacy layout, I do believe.  Working in the opposite direction you have to cheat a little more.

PCRR/Dave