All the several offerors of ready made turnouts seem to claim to be DCC friendly. As of 2002 most in fact appear not to be, requiring considerable time and effort of the buyer to make them so. Those by Railway Engineering (when so ordered at modest extra cost) meet the description OK in my limited experience. But the proprietor builds to order only, does not regularly acknowledge orders given until delivery which may take several months, and so despite taking appropriate pride in his product is not always easy to do business with. (He is responsive to direct query and his web site well worth exploring for its insights.) Even though or perhaps because the product offers excellent precision at Mercedes prices he can operate that way.

I am surprised the major and more usually cited makers have not been more forthcoming respecting DCC readiness. It would appear there is still ample room for competitive providers and we may hope they appear in due course.

-- Robert M. Tappan (rmtappan@oneweswt.net), June 30, 2002