DCC

From Jmri

DCC - In a nutshell

From the DCCWiki.org website.

In short, DCC is an acronym for Digital Command Control. It's a method of taking information from a throttle (think: train controller), having it processed by a command station, and sending it out as a digital packet to the entire track layout. The locomotives that are on the tracks listen to all the digital packets, looking for their address. Once a locomotive sees a command addressed to it, it performs whatever function it's told to do - such as stop, speed up, slow down, turn lights/on and off, or turn on/off various engine sound effects.

DCC is a model railroading industry standard and is regulated by the NMRA with the cooperation of the manufacturers. The standard is defined at the rails. This means that locomotives equipped with decoders from different DCC manufacturers may be used with any brand DCC setup. Though low end basic command stations may not support all advanced decoder functions, they will still be able to control direction, speed, and basic lighting functions.

NMRA standards dictate that a decoder must work with the command station/throttle of any manufacturer. However, there is no standard to allow for interoperability of commands stations/throttles of different manufacturers. eg. NCE throttles cannot be used on a Digitrax system

For more details, help, hints, tips, setup, installation, etc, on DCC, please visit the DCCWiki.org wiki.