Hornby to take model trains digital
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Feb 6th 2006 8:00AM
posted Feb 6th 2006 8:00AM
We haven’t looked at model train tech since we were, like, tweeners hangin’ out cool fraggin’ up the 7-11. But UK-based Hornby is about to bring the pain to apple-pie-and-freedom-fries Lionel as they take the ol’ HO and turn her out digital. The new train sets feature a Digital Command Center which will allow punters individual control of up to 255 different trains and up to 250 accessories including lights, switches, turntables and hopefully drunken boxcar ridin’ beatniks reading poetry. The control units will sell individually for about $100 with three complete train sets rolling out this Xmas ranging in price from $230 to about $400 -- giving you all yet another chance to show us your “O” face.
[Via Pocket-lint]
Yeah, DCC is pretty sweet - it not only allows you to control a bunch of trains at once, but it lets you do so a lot more realistically than the standard "apply current to make train run" way that trains used to work. DCC lets you do realistic starts and stops, simulating inertia, etc. It also lets you control sound effects and other extras.
But yeah, it's not new at all. Most train locomotives sold these days are at least DCC-ready (and a lot have DCC built in), and there are a bunch of different DCC systems out there.
Still, I'm happy to see model trains get covered pretty much anywhere outside of the tiny model train hobby press. This ain't just a hobby for 70 year old men!
Yeah, DCC is pretty sweet - it not only allows you to control a bunch of trains at once, but it lets you do so a lot more realistically than the standard "apply current to make train run" way that trains used to work. DCC lets you do realistic starts and stops, simulating inertia, etc. It also lets you control sound effects and other extras.
But yeah, it's not new at all. Most train locomotives sold these days are at least DCC-ready (and a lot have DCC built in), and there are a bunch of different DCC systems out there.
Still, I'm happy to see model trains get covered pretty much anywhere outside of the tiny model train hobby press. This ain't just a hobby for 70 year old men!
Umm...we've had this for a long time now. We have sound in our locomotives, white LED's for lighting, fully automated signaling systems...and command control that can even allow us to control multiple trains with a Palm Pilot if we want. Radio control, too.
This "news" is equivalent to someone bringing out a joystick with a D-Pad on it. Or a computer company offering a computer with something called a mouse.
Guys, guys, guys.
Lionel makes O gauge trains. They own American Flyer, which makes their HO gauge trains. The thing about Lionel is that for a good locomotive be prepared to spend no less than 750 dollars. Despite this, I'm devoted to my dad's layout. Behold, the original electrical hobby!
Lionel does own American Flyer, but American Flyer makes S-gauge trains NOT HO. Lionel no longer makes HO, and hasn't done so for many, many years.
As far as i have seen Lionel does not make HO but i will look deeper into it. I have a model train website which is a review site. So i know abit about model trains. I will check it out.
"tweeners hangin’ out cool fraggin’ up the 7-11"
"bring the pain to apple-pie-and-freedom-fries Lionel"
"take the ol’ HO and turn her out digital."
Engadget should run a competition that anybody who actually understands the phrases above should be given an award for "continued readership in the face of complete nonsense."
DCC (digital command control) for model trains has been around - even standardized - since last millennium.
Lionel doesn't make HO trains, and DCC (Digital Command Control) has been around for a while (years). Still amusing to see model train coverage here.
#2 = "American" (company) Lionel
#3 = HO is the model train scale guage. Model trains run analog voltage, so this probably hints at running digital signal through HO guage tracks.
I have no clue about #1. :P
Actually, this has been around for about 10-15 years. A large number of model railroad manufacturers build and use Digital Command Control. It is pretty cool, with lots of products and options for control.
Here is a link to the National Model Railroad Association web list of DCC manufacturers.
http://www.cwrr.com/nmra/Manb-Elec.html
Actually the MIT model railroad club was one of the earlier elements of the early computer clubs.
Actually, Lionel does/did produce HO scale trains. They fairly recently produced some big steam locomotives. But their main line is still the "O" scale toy trains.
I thought digital model trains had been around for ages now. I remember adding digital decoders to all my H0 M?lin (www.maerklin.de - in German) trains more than ten years ago.
But maybe the market US is different... what do I know...
In the interests of rivet counting (a thing model railway types are prone to do): Hornby do not make HO (half "O", approximately 3.5mm to 1 foot) scale models, they actually use "OO" (a bastard combination of models at 4mm to 1ft on HO track). OO is mostly used for models of British trains.
I can confirm that digital control systems have been around for some time.
Lionel hasn't made HO for many years, and it was only for a few years. As the others have said, DCC in HO has been around for a long time. Lionel has had a digital system in O-gauge called TMCC for many years that uses a wireless controller:
http://www.lionel.com/GettingStarted/LionelTechnology/TmccWorld/index.cfm
A Lionel competitor, MTH, has one called DCS: http://www.mthtrains.com/us/tech.asp
It's unclear what's new here. Hornby developed the forerunner to DCC in the late 1970s ("Zero One"), so command control systems are nothing new to them. DCC came about ten years later, but has also been around for a long time. My interest in toy trains ended in the early 1980s (never did get a Zero One controller) so I don't know what Hornby has done since; I couldn't find much about this on their website.