System one dcc

[Viperjim1]

Anyone have any knowledge of the System ones dcc system that was manufactured by wengrow I believe but in partnership with nce dcc outfit? And still using it? Thanks

[peteski]

The way I understand this Wangrow became NCE and their System I was basis for what is the NCE's current DCC system.

[railnerd]

The way I understand this Wangrow became NCE and their System I was basis for what is the NCE's current DCC system.

Don Wangrow (R.I.P) wanted to create the "ultimate" DCC system.

He bankrolled the whole operation and contracted out much of the engineering for the System One system.

Karl Kobel did the mechanical design, and wrote the EZ Ramp software.
Ramtraxx developed a compatible system for sale in Canada (they integrated the command station and 5A booster into a single box).
Jim Scorse wrote the firmware for the command station and decoders— and retained the rights to his code for future use.  He unsuccessfully tried to sell decoder kits, overestimating the size of the DIY DCC market.

Neither Don Wangrow or Ramtraxx had worked out how to make much money selling premium-priced DCC systems, and Don started battling cancer.

At some point later, Jim Scorse spent some money on tooling and created his own metal enclosures and throttle cases— at that point he "retired" from his stable job, took out a 401K loan, and started NCE.  He won a couple of contracts to also produce OEM decoders for the RTR DCC market. Things really took off for NCE once he started selling his entry level PowerCab system.

-Dave

[peteski]

Interesting story Dave - thanks!  That made me go in the Interwebs and find some info about System One.  It looks pretty much like the NCE throttle (with small differences of course).

[lyled1117]

Interesting story Dave - thanks!  That made me go in the Interwebs and find some info about System One.  It looks pretty much like the NCE throttle (with small differences of course).

It is the same plastic, a little different screening. For a while there was cooperation between the two companies where they shared 'technology'. There was a rough patch where they disassociated, but they did return to cooperating. Just not as much as the beginning.

For a bit of useless information ....  Don Wangrow approached several companies to aid in designing and manufacturing a DCC system, including the one I was working for at the time. He ended up going elsewhere, but we had developed a prototype system. I believe it was through our company that Don and Jim of NCE were introduced to each other. We had found Jim while investigating software. The system we had done a prototype for could have been another Sys1/NCE based system on the market but it never came to fruition for reasons I won't bother to explain. I have the prototype, it was functional until I inadvertently killed a Z80 KIO chip just a small number of years ago. I also have the original wirewrap and kludge test boards buried in storage somewhere. Like I said, useless information. 

Lyle

[peteski]

I have the prototype, it was functional until I inadvertently killed a Z80 KIO chip just a small number of years ago. I also have the original wirewrap and kludge test boards buried in storage somewhere. Like I said, useless information. 

Lyle

Not useless at all Lyle - I find this type of details and historical info quite interesting.

I own (and like) NCE PowerCab (which is microcontroller-based) but I never realized that their command station runs on a Z80. Or maybe they have redesigned it since.

In my early days as an electronic technician I used to troubleshoot a Z80-based control panel, plus my first home computer (Sinclair ZX81) was also Z80-based (running at a whopping 4MHz!).  I have learned to program in Z80 machine language and have wrote several programs and even created some hardware-designs.  The good old days...