Glossary - D
|
DC See Direct Current.  See Digital Command Control. Heavy-gauge copper wire used to distribute the electrical power from the booster around the layout. Each booster has its own set of track bus wires. Accessory decoders may be connected to a track bus. The wire gauge of a track bus must be appropriate to the rating of the associated power station and load. A car or train, usually passenger, moving empty; a passenger traveling on a pass. Empty freight cars are referred to as empties. A type of lettering material for models. The letters and numbers are printed on specially prepared paper and then coated with varnish. The lettering is applied by soaking the decal in water to dissolve the film between the ink and the paper and placing the layer of varnish and ink on the car. A bridge floor which may be either ballasted or open (with the track bolted to the supports). In DCC, small circuit board that receives digital packets of information addressed to it by the command station in accordance with NMRA standards. Mobile decoders are mounted inside locomotives and control the motor, lights, and sounds. Accessory decoders are used to control non-locomotive items such as turnout motors, signals, etc. (verb) to leave the rails; (noun) safety device placed on the track, usually on a siding, to prevent cars from rolling onto the main line - a minor derailment is preferable to a major collision. It may have a cast steel frog that diverts one wheel up and over the rail to stop a car well short of the clearance point. Some derails consist of a single switch point that's normally left open to stop any moving car clear of the main track. Method of controlling multiple trains and accessories using digital communications packets to send commands. Electrical current that flows in only one direction. Used for control of most model railroads before command control. A portion of a railroad considered as an operational and administrative unit. Adjacent trailing and facing-point crossovers allowing trains to pass from one parallel track to the other in either direction. A train pulled by two locomotives, each with an engine crew, as opposed to diesel or electric locomotive units operating in multiple as a single locomotive with one crew. A special condensed track component that combines the functions of two turnouts in a shorter distance. Splitting a train and taking it up a steep grade in two parts, one at a time. Double-pole, double-throw. Switch used on model railroads to allow you to change the polarity of the current for reverse loops or for complex block control. Some DPDT switches have a "center-off" feature. The mechanism which connects the coupler to the frame of the car. In the model world, the coupler mounting box is sometimes called the draft gear. Any coupling, either a solid bar or couplers, between two pieces of rolling stock. A movable bridge that spans a navigable waterway. A painting and weathering technique in which most of the pigment or paint is removed from the brush before the brush is touched to the model. The "dry brush" is then stroked lightly over the model to bring out raised details and textures. Transferable lettering or images on waxy clear film. The lettering material is made of thin plastic with pressure sensitive adhesive, and the letters or images are released from the waxed carrier sheet when rubbed onto a model. A passage underneath layout benchwork requiring ducking or crawling to reach another part of the layout. |
| Print this window | Close this Window |