In 1996 I chose to go with the Lenz DCC system, purchasing their Set 01 from Mackay Models in Scotland. These days, of course, there is a much wider choice available, but knowing what I know now I'd definitely still take the same route, in fact I've since bought a second Set 01 to power another layout that doesn't feature here.
The two silver boxes in the center of the above photo form the core of the system. The LZ100 Command Station is the brains of the outfit whilst the LV101 Power Station is the brawn. It's a bit like a pre amplifier and a power amplifier in a hi-fi - one does all the clever work whilst the other takes care of sending the results out to the speakers (or layout, in this case) with sufficient power. The third silver box is the LI100F Computer Interface which doesn't form part of the Set 01 package. A TR100 Mains Transformer lurks on the left and the messy wiring in the background is best ignored.
The marketing myth of "2 wire" DCC is just that, a myth, but there's no doubt that DCC hugely simplifies layout wiring - the thought of wiring a layout such as this for conventional DC fills me full of dread! I've chosen to run just 6 wires around the layout, 2 forming the main track power supply, 2 for the feedback bus and 2 that supply 16v AC to power the point motors. All other wiring consists of just short lengths connecting things such as point motors to the 6 main wires.
Actually that's a little white lie, another 4 wires circle the loft forming the XPressNet bus - something into which I can plug additional handsets or a computer. But what I'm getting at is the main layout wiring centres around just 6 wires. Gone are the vast looms of cable that I used to use to link each individual control panel with each individual item on the layout. Gone are the vast looms of cable and ranks of switches that used to link each individual control panel with each individual track-section on the layout. Gone are the extra switches, wires and track sections that I used to install to isolate individual locos or trains in sidings and yards. Last but not least, gone are those hideous 'mighty wurlitzer' control panels where some hapless individual throws dozens of switches to route power to the train in the mistaken belief that this in some vague way is similar to a signal box on the prototype. It isn't, so good riddance!
What sort of wire to use seems to confuse some people, possibly because of some of the techno-babble that abounds on the internet. It's no big deal, you just need to get something that's sufficient to carry the required current for your layout and then get wiring. My choice is as follows - bear in mind experience shows this works well on a large layout. Product codes are from Maplin because I find their next day service is consistently reliable, but they're not the only supplier.....
You don't have to use track circuiting with DCC, but as with conventional DC control it's very useful when it comes to signalling or automation. I've used track circuiting since the eighties when I discovered the various Roger Amos books on model railway electronics, but these days under DCC it's more plug'n'play then DIY, thankfully.
This layout is fully track circuited, using Lenz LB101 Occupancy Detectors and LR101 Feedback Modules. Each LR101 supports 4 LB101s which in turn support 2 track circuits, so a typical group of 1 LR101 and 4 LB101s gives you 8 track circuits. The photo above shows the LR101 (grey box towards the bottom) and 2 LB101s (green circuit boards at the top) screwed to the underside of the baseboard. Another 2 LB101s are out of shot to the left where the orange wires lead. A major benefit of DCC is that all of the wiring is localised, the only wires leaving this area of the layout are the red & black power leads and the green & yellow feedback wires exiting to the top right of the picture.
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One drawback with fitting such devices to the underside of a fixed layout is it's very awkward working upside down, more so if you're like me and don't keep the wiring tidy as the left-hand photo illustrates. In an effort to clean up my act (and stop my watch-strap pulling wires loose) I'm now terminating all wiring on vertical drop-boards, fitted at the rear of the layout, an example of which can be seen in the right-hand photo.
Definitely the icing on the cake and in no way an essential part of DCC. If computers don't appeal to you then don't worry - forget about them.
If, on the other hand, this side of things fascinates you then you'll find DCC is tailor made for working alongside a computer. Originally I'd just planned to use a computer to operate the signalling and interlocking, to effectively take the part of a power box and leave me to the serious business of playing trains. This seemed entirely logical to me, as long as you can get hold of an old, low-spec PC it's cheaper and quicker than wrestling with miles of wire and dozens of switches. For more information see the computer control section of this site.