Hornby DCC Select Walkabout Product Code: R8235

[GordonBigBoy]

Complete beginner here living overseas and reliant on my annual trip back to UK to collect all things 00. Waiting in UK for my collection in September is a Mixed Freight DCC Set

Product Code: R1126. I am envisaging quite a large layout eventually. I

 

have looked at the Select Walkabout and it looks identical to the 'Select' controller - is this the case?

 

Is there any advantage in me buying The Cornishman Digital Train Set

Product Code: R1160 (soon to be sub £200) which has a DCC select included?

 

Will this give me more power for my layout (an extra power supply?) and can the additional 'select' in the Cornishman set be utilised as a 'Select Walkabout'? Thanks for any advice.

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Gordon BB,

To start to answer your questions, you can only connect 1 DCC controller to any one layout at the one time. You can't use a 2nd controller to boost the power of the one you already have connected.

To learn more about the Select (and

 

the Elite), you might download their manuals from this site at https://www.hornby.com/downloads/digital-instruction-manuals/

A Select Walkabout is just a normal Select but connected either to another Select or an Elite only, not to mains power and the track

 

- see more detail at page 20 of the Select manual.

To boost the power from a Select so that you can run more than 3 locos at once, you need to replace its 1 amp power supply with the 4 amp type P9300. However, I'd seriously consider upgrading to an Elite

 

rather than do that (the Elite comes eith a 4 amp supply) - then you can use the Select as a Walkabout that someone else can operate, or it gives you the ability to have control over 3 locos at the one time (1 from the Select and 2 from the Elite).

So having

 

bought the Mixed Freight and now having a Select, I wouldn't buy the Cornishman just to get another Select, only if you want the train and the extra track.

I think that covers all you have asked but probably raises more questions which someone will be able

 

to answer here.

[poliss]

It's not so much the size of the layout that determines the power you need, but the number of locos you run. If you have more than three locos you will need the 4amp power supply. If you run more than ten locos you will need the power and signal booster

 

which is connected to an electrically isolated section of the layout. You would isolate the section with insulated rail joiners.

Mark Gurries, of the NMRA, defines a large layout as being the size of a 2 car garage, (300 SqFt).

[GordonBigBoy]

Many thanks for the advice. I have now learnt that the walkabout is identical to a 'select' - the difference in price is merely the power supply for the controller (you don't need a power supply for the walkabout which will draw power from the select it

 

is connected too). You can have up to 8 'walkabouts' connected up to the main 'select' controller, each controlling an individual loco (I suspect this would be a daisy chain connection). I envisage in the medium term (next 7 years) I will have no more than

 

9 locos on the live track at any one time, therefore the 'select' should be fine for my needs until ready for an upgrade in due course - in which time I will have learnt more about all types of controller/systems on offer in 2019. So I have decided

 

to buy the Cornishman if I can get the set sub £200 as the amount of track within and a 'walkabout' included makes it a real bargain IMHO. I will therefore add the 4 amp power supply for the 'select' as advised by fishman (thanks). The size of layout will

 

eventually not exceed a single garage so that hopefully means no need for a booster (at least in the medium term) - thanks for that tip Poliss. What happens after 2019 I suspect will be driven by the eight year old.... can't wait...lol!

[Graskie]

I'd seriously consider getting an "Elite" and working "Select walkabouts" from that. You might regret not having done so later on. The "Elite" has so many other advantages in its specification.

[GordonBigBoy]

Thanks Graskie, (and everyone else), I suspect by the time I get back to UK for the shopping spree in September I will have been converted to the Elite..... especially after I show you my v1 plan for my layout....... my problem is I am always trying to

 

save on the pennies!