N Scale DCC / Which System To Purchase?

there is no "best" system in my opinion.    They are all good.    They all have some differences that appeal to one person vs another.

that said, the best system for you is what might be common among your local fellow modelers if any.   If  you know some guys locally that have DCC find out what they have.    Assuming they are friendly, if you get the same base system, you will have a support group to ask what  you have questions.    My experience is that when getting started you have questions whose answers are not obvious from the instruction manuals.

As you know, DCC is an open system, so any brand decoder will work with any system - the caveat is "compliant" decoder.    there are a few off brands, that do not always follow the DCC standards.    I think NCE and digitrax and some of the others offer plug and play decoders.    Most seem to offer them for Atlas.     Remember, after you install one, it will be delivered with the default address "3".    You have to program it so some other address, which most people use the number on the side of the loco.

Lenz, NCE, Digitrax, MRC, and CVP (EasyDCC) all market base station systems.    Lenz does not offer radio throttles, but CVP offers them for Lenz.    EasyDCC used to have problems with radios when using more than 7 throttles.    That may be cleared up or unimportant to you.    MRC seems to offer lower powered basic systems that may have too low a power rating for your plans.     NCE and Digitrax all offer multiple throttles and radio options and different power ratings.

As for rating, it is based on how many locos you might be running at once.    I have no idea what the amperage draw for a typical N Scale loco is.     I'm pretty sure it is .5 amps (1/2) or less since many newer O scale locos are in that range.    So if a system is rated at 5 amps, that would easily run 10 locos at one time without any additional boosters.     Digitrax has an 8 Amp max and NCE has a 10 Amp version.    Not sure about the others.

therefore you can determine what command station and boosters you need based on how many amps  you expect to draw - ie how many locos you will run at one time.     the rest of the decision is based on how you like the system throttles.     

I personally have a digitrax system.    Mine is an older version with simplex radio and is still working fine.    I have on master throttle that came with the system.   I have then added a bunch of the smaller engineer throttles that I use for running trains.     They have a large knob for speed, and a forward-reverse switch with center off.    I like both features.   

Hi Mark,

As a long time N-scaler, I went with NCE after the N-scale club I joined had just started using the NCE DCC system.  They had done some research on the systems then available, and elected to go with NCE over Digitrax and a few others.

The main thing they decided was that the NCE system seemed to be more intuitive for beginners to learn with, and experienced users to operate with.  Probably a good choice, because I knew absolutely nothing about DCC at the time, but it didn't take me long to learn the basics with the NCE system.  Later on, I studied up a little on the Digitrax system, and could see why our club went with the NCE system - I still think it's easier to learn and understand than the Digitrax system (at least it was at that time).

Regardless, Digitrax is still a good system too, and I believe they have come out with maybe a little easier to understand equipment in the past several years themselves.

You needn't worry about decoders.  Thanks to the NMRA and their recommended practices, anybody's decoders can work with anybody's system.  Digitrax decoders work just as well with NCE's system as NCE's decoders do with a Digitrax system.  TCS (Train Control Systems) is another brand of decoder that I used a lot of, because they offered some decoders to easily fit in older locos.  A lot of N-scale decoders these days are drop-in type, making them super-easy to install yourself.  Then some initial quick programming them with your system has them ready to go in no time.

I have a 6' x 23' N-scale layout, and don't have a booster.  I would think you could get by without one on a 12' x 24' layout, but don't know for sure.  Depends on how many trains you plan on running at once, and/or how far the furthest point is away from the command station.  I would see how a system does by itself at first, you can always add a booster later if the need arises.

Good luck in your endeavors.  Hope this helps a little. 

prrjim and Mixed Freight. My apologies for the late response. Thank you very much for replying and your input. I will research the NCE system in depth and read up a bit more on the Digitrax. I've worked with N Scale for about 40 years. I built a door layout then a 8' x 16' layout then moved and tore the 8' x 16' down and packed away my trains. And now 20 years later got interested in N Scale again. I always used block control without DCC. And really do not want to go back to it. Just want to drop feeders and program and roll!! Thanks again for your input.

Mark