Best Model Train Power Packs

A DC pack is the cheaper and simpler starting point for a single train on a simple oval or point-to-point layout, and every one of the packs on this page works that way out of the box with no programming. DCC becomes worth the extra cost the moment you want two or more locomotives, especially sound-equipped ones, to run independently on shared track without toggling block switches by hand. See DC versus DCC and DC power pack versus a DCC starter set for the fuller comparison; this page assumes you have already decided DC is the right starting point.

The packs below range from a basic Kato controller built for Unitrack to a fuller-featured MRC Tech pack with smoother slow-speed control.

The traditional DC answer is not a bigger single pack, it is dividing the layout into electrically isolated sections called blocks, each wired to a toggle switch that routes power from one of two identical packs. Running two trains means giving each pack its own block and switching control between blocks as trains move through them. A second, matching MRC 1370 All Scale Railpower 1370 Power Pack pack alongside your first is the standard way to do this, and it costs less than most DCC starter systems, at the cost of manually flipping toggles as trains change blocks.

A basic rheostat-style pack simply reduces voltage in a straight line, and at very low settings that voltage can drop below what a motor needs to overcome its own internal friction, which shows up as a train that lurches forward in small jumps instead of creeping smoothly. Pulse-width and other more refined control circuits, common in higher-end packs like the Tech series, deliver brief pulses of fuller voltage many times a second rather than a single steady reduced voltage, which keeps enough torque available at the motor to move smoothly even at a very low average speed. This is the practical reason a fuller-featured pack costs more, and it matters most during switching moves, where creeping a car into a spot at true walking speed is the whole point of the maneuver.

Track cleanliness and wheel contact also affect low-speed performance independently of the pack itself. A locomotive that stutters at low speed on clean, well-maintained track is more likely a pack or motor limitation; the same stutter on track that has not been cleaned recently is often a contact problem the pack cannot fix no matter how refined its control circuit is.