Thinking 2 rail

2 wires is pretty painless. You running PS2 or 3??

I've got both types of engines. PS2 and PS3 some railking, some premier 3-2.

I was originally planning a small 3 rail layout but am thinking about experimenting with 2 rail.

with railking you have to run 3 rail.with premier either as you can convert wheels. i run to large loops 1 3r 1 2r.

I think there are some guys that regularly post in the 2 rail section that use DCS.  You might post something there.

 

I hooked up DCS to a section of 2 rail track and tried out a 3-2 Premier engine on it.  Like Chuck said 2 wires.  I never got serious wiring the switches, etc.  Obviously you have to deal with the turnout frogs.  Reverse loops are a problem with PS 2.  Mine was a PS 2 engine that I will upgrade to PS 3.  Some of the questions I had at the time were not answered in Barry's book but that was before MTH started doing HO and S.  He may have added more info on 2 rail by now.  I don't know.

 

I'm probably going to DCC but I'm in no rush and want to learn about the PS3 kits and how 2 rail/DCC friendly they will be.  

I thought this was the 2-rail forum -- that's what it's called in the forum list.

If it's a simple loop with no wyes or reverse loops, the wiring is very simple -- Hot on one running rail; common on the other. The PS2 2-rail capable locomotives will need to have the engineer's side (right) on the hot rail to properly read the signal unless you change the DCS polarity switch; PS3 engines don't care.

 

If you want to build with reversing loops, the best way is to go "old school" on your layout wiring using relay-driven polarity reversing -- essentially wiring the layout as it it was a conventional DC 2-rail layout. A good site with hardware and illustrations is http://www.azatrax.com.

 

I usually set up my newly-acquired scale-wheeled MTH engines on 2-rail track. They work the same as they do in 3-rail, exception being the polarity switch on PS2. Here's one from the first pair of scale-wheeled MTH diesels I received a few years ago.

 

Here's the same pair (now weathered) last weekend with their newly-acquired stablemate operating with the pickup rollers in place and the 2/3-rail switch in 3-rail mode.

What about power? Do I need a dc supply or will my z1000 work?

To run DCS, you can use your Z1000 as a power source. The DC reference I made was with respect to handling polarity. The track and DCS don't care if AC is the source.

Let's say I convert an Atlas 2 rail loco to DCS.....can it be run on straight DC like  a DCC equipped loco, or must it always be run with the DCS function?  I have some experience with DCS in 3 rail O, and some with DCC in HO.   Except for motor current draw, 2 rail O should behave quite the same as "big HO".  The Atlas loco in question is supplied as DCC ready, with mother board and constant, directional lights...nothing else.

Let's say I convert an Atlas 2 rail loco to DCS.....can it be run on straight DC like  a DCC equipped loco, or must it always be run with the DCS function?

The only  conversion kits available at present are for PS2, which will not run DCC. If you wait for PS3 kits to be available, hopefully later this year, you will be able to convert to DCS (PS3) and operate under either DCS or DCC.

 

Rereading your question, PS2 equipped engines can run under DCS using either DC or AC power.

 

Running conventionally, however, only DCS engines equipped with 3 volt electronics, as is in the PS2 upgrade kits, can run conventionally on DC. Older PS2 engines, with 5 volt electronics, may only operate conventionally under AC.