Digital Clinics

DCC

For those who are looking to make the jump to DCC, you will be presented a series of clinics by modelers as well as major manufactures or suppliers of DCC Systems including Digitrax, Lenz, and NCE.

“Converting Early Motive Power from DC to DCC” - presented by Guy Thrams - will cover building a portable 1 x 7 foot programming track as a test track; getting your stored DC motive power up and running when installing DCC; the pit falls when converting early “DCC ready” diesel locomotives; and installing DCC decoders in early brass steam locomotives.

"DCC Decoder Programming: The Basics" - presented by Brian Barnt - covers the basics of decoder programming using slides, and has demonstrations of most of the CVs covered. It does NOT use a computer for the demonstrations.

“DCC Made Easy” - presented by Bob Chapman - will cover beginning and advanced decoder installation and system programming. DCC is not the fearful project that many assume. Simple and easy concepts will be discussed. Bob’s company is DD&B Systems.

“De-Mystifying DCC” - presented by Alex Kolesnikov & Rob Gruber - will cover all aspects off DCC. The Audience is encouraged to help with the starting point, whether it be the very basics like what is DCC, what system is best for me, to the most advanced areas including signaling to complete computerization of the system. The audience is also encouraged to give input as to the technical depth in each area covered. Questions are welcome and encouraged. Alex, the DCC Specialist, and Rob, the sales manager, for DCC Trains will also be available after the clinic at their display table.

“DCC” presented by Jim Scorse - Courtesy of NCE.

Photography

“Photographing Model Railroad Layouts” - presented by Donald Wilke - was originally designed for those camera buffs making the transition from film to digital photography. This Power Point type presentation, with handouts, tries to demystify some of the photographic jargon by showing how it applies to taking pictures of a typical basement layout. For example, Don explains what camera aperture is, what happens to your picture when you change the camera’s aperture, and why you really want to think about changing the camera’s aperture. Photographs of many model railroads are used throughout the presentation to show what happens when things like the camera’s aperture are changed. Additional hints and tips about positioning the camera when photographing a model railroad are given as well as problems to look out for when taking photographs. Originally designed for photographers with more expensive cameras, Don was told “Photographing Model Railroad Layouts” has been helpful to the casual photographers with point and shoot cameras.