I've seen the tortose machines, and yes, the idea is quite appealing. I'm still waffling between track types... knowing full well that the Peco track is very much the way to go. The flip side of this has everything to do with a personal shoe-string budget. Even Atlas powered turnouts run me around $20 CDN. I would like to be able to get some track down to begin with an at least experiment with running some trains... Fortunately since Atlas sectional track is dirt cheap, I can at least have a basic oval on a table top for an inexpensive sum.
Ideally, tortose machines with Peco Streamline turnouts and flextrack. Certainly something to work towards... but in the meantime, a few pieces of Atlas sectional track should at least teach me how to walk, rather than run
Here's another question, DCC can also handle turnouts with stationary decoders and the like. Has anyone gone so far as to equip their layout with these? As far as I can tell, they're simply decoders that attach to the switch end of the wiring for a conventional remote turnout machine... Methinks it assumes you already have the switching equipment... (turnout track, switching machine, hooked up to the whole thing...