FAQ 1. What is the difference between Analogue and Digital?

Digital is very different to the old analogue style model railway. In the older analogue style turning the knob on the controller increases or decreases the volts that are sent to the track. Increasing the power makes the loco run faster; decreasing the power slows the loco. So in actual fact in analogue systems your controller controls the TRACK - not the loco - the loco merely responds to the voltage in the track. If you have any locos with lights you will know that the light brightens or dims as you speed up or slow down the loco - by sending more or less power to the track. In DIGITAL (DCC = Digital Command Control) the controller sends a constant 15 volts to the track at all times - but the loco has a digital computer chip installed in it. The controller sends a signal to the chip - which controls the loco. The advantages of DIGITAL over analogue are enormous!  Because it is the loco, not the track being controlled - you can run up to 10 locos on the same track - all at different speeds and / or in different directions. You can switch lights on or off - and they shine at a constant brightness. The control over the loco is also superb. When you run analogue locos at a very slow speed they continually stall. However, because a constant 15 volts is being supplied, digital locos can creep at super slow speeds and will not stall. You can also set the levels of acceleration and deceleration. In analogue systems - you turn the controller full bore - the train instantly goes full bore. With digital you can set the acceleration and deceleration steps from 1 to 99. This means, for example, at 50 the loco will take 50 time periods from the time it starts till the time it reaches the speed to which the controller has been set - gradually building up the acceleration and speed. Likewise with deceleration.  This means you have VERY realistic operation of a loco as it starts gradually - then gradually comes to a stop.
The track used in Digital is the same track as analogue - it just requires a different transformer and controller. Installing the digital chips into locos is usually not too difficult. The average loco takes 5 to 10 minutes to convert.
You can run digital locos on standard analogue systems - but without the benefits of digital control.  Likewise you can run analogue locos on a digital layout - again without the benefits of digital.

DCC is definitely the future of Model Railways!