Dc or Dcc that is the question

It has to be whatever suits your needs.
I am extremely happy running DC with the no longer available train engineer controlling both locos and points. I was at an O gauge indoor/outdoor DCC railway last Sunday. Whilst I can see that DCC offers plenty of potential the owner seemed to have to press a lot of buttons to run different trains.
I will be moving some way towards on board batteries and r/c. This is a solution that works well and gives plenty of running time per charge with Bachmann locos. You can just have a box car to hold batteries and receiver with a connection to the loco. This reduces the investment required.
 
My main reason for going to DCC (LGB MTS) from DC (ART Crest Train Engineer) was for loco sounds.

I like the sounds of locos idling!

However, lots of other benefits to operation became apparent later, such as PC control, points operation, route setting....
 
... and the simple benefit of having a constant voltage in the track allows for more reliable running than variable voltage DC.
 
I've tried DC, DCC and have now converted to battery RC. Like you, I found track cleaning a bugbear and so experimented with RC and have now been won-over. I think it's worth trying out with one loco to see if it's for you. With DCC you have to invest in a lot of kit up front. With RC you can get started fairly cheaply. I've gone down the Deltang route as it seemed the most cost effective (eg transmitter for £21 (as a kit), combined receiver/ESC another £30, add some batteries and a charger and you're away. A lot less outlay than DCC (eg MTS Starter pack £350, decoder £50) - and no track cleaning.

However, DCC offers a lot more capability - eg points controllers, sound decoders, computer control etc etc if that side interests you. In the end it all depends on what you want from your railway.

Rik
 
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