Digital model railway control systems
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A variety of model train control systems are available to operate locomotives on a model railways. The most popular is Digital Command Control.
Digital Command Control
Digital Command Control (DCC) systems are used to operate locomotives on a model railroad (railway). Equipped with DCC, locomotives on the same electrical section of track can be independently controlled. While DCC is only one of several alternative systems for digital model train control, it is often misinterpreted to be a generic term for such systems. Several major manufacturers offer DCC systems.
Digital Command System
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Digital Command System (DCS) is an electronic control system for O scale 3-rail and now HO scale model trains and toy trains, developed by MTH Electric Trains as a rival to Lionel's Trainmaster Command Control. It is similar in concept to DCC, the open industry standard used by HO scale and other 2-rail direct current trains.
It permits operation of multiple MTH ProtoSound 2.0 (PS2.0) engines on the same track without complex wiring, and also gives locomotives realistic digitized sounds.
Unlike Lionel, MTH has not licensed its standard to any other company. While MTH's DCS will not operate TMCC locomotives directly and Lionel's TMCC will not unlock all the control features of PS2.0 engines, the two systems will easily operate side by side on the same track. Therefore engines with either system can be operated simultaneously as long as both command control units are installed on the track.
Märklin Digital
Märklin Digital was one of the first digital model railway control system. It consisted of a full system including locomotive decoders (based on a Motorola chip), central control, a computer interface, turnout decoders, digital relays and s88 feedback modules.
Rocrail
Rocrail is an Open Source Project that can control a model train layout from one or more computers. You can run trains directly from your computer, and you can have the computer run trains automatically for you. You can even have some of the trains on your layout running automatically while you control others by hand.
Selectrix
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Selectrix is a digital model train command control system developed by German company Döhler & Haas for model railway manufacturer Trix in early 1980s. Originally the system was proprietary and commercialized exclusively by Trix. In 1999 the two companies mutually agreed to terminate their exclusive licensing agreement and since then, Selectrix has become a widely recognized standard and is supported by several equipment manufacturers in Europe. European Model Train Association, MOROP has covered Selectrix partially in their NEM standards.
Selectrix is technically more advanced than its main competitor, widely accepted Digital Command Control (DCC) system. Selectrix has bus speeds much faster than those in DCC and the size of the locomotive decoders is diminutive in comparison to decoders of other systems. The smallest Selectrix decoder is less than 2 mm thick and therefore ideal for the smallest model railway scales like Z scale and N scale.
Computer chips for the System come exclusively from Döhler & Haas. Several manufacturers offer Selectrix products based on D&H chips. The most important manufacturers are Trix, Rautenhaus and Müt-Digirail. Unlike in DCC-technology, Selectrix components from various manufacturers are compatible at all levels and can be freely combined in real-world Selectrix control solutions.
Trainmaster Command Control
Trainmaster Command Control (TMCC) is Lionel's electronic control system for O scale 3-rail model trains and toy trains. Conceptually it is similar to Digital Command Control (DCC), the industry's open standard used by HO scale and other 2-rail DC trains. It has one advantage over DCC, in that TMCC-equipped locomotives can run simultaneously with non-TMCC locomotives.[1]