I am building an MDC 3-truck Shay (with all NWSL upgrades) using the Sagami can motor. I want to add DCC to the unit for motor control and some lighting options.  I know I will have to electrically isolate the can motor from the engine frame.  What can motor isolation techniques have some builders used?  What experiences have MDC Shay builders run into when adding DCC to the model?  What decoders have builders used for DCC?

After some initial disappointment trying to use poster board for backdrop material - it warped badly even after being sealed with solvent-based paint, I tried styrene. It is wonderful for the coved corners, but couldn't support itself well along a straight section that is twelve feet long. So that section has now been replaced with one-eighth inch luan ply. Success!  The seams are now sealed with lightweight spackle and tomorrow will be painted to hide them once and for all.

I was using XTrkCad on my Mac for this, but the newer versions won't run due to library incompatibility. Now I see there is a new version released last November. There's no OS X installer, however, leaving me to possibly build on my own.

I'm going to try XTrkCad again, if I can get it built and running. But I'm interested to see what alternatives people have used.

Two I found are Railmodeller, which is $34.99 via iTunes.

http://www.railmodeller.com/