One of the most important decisions a railway modeller makes is the selection of the controller for the model railway layout.There are many instances od 'good' controllers being accepted and used 'forever and ever'.Even when there has been a dalliance into the digital DCC field,the old faithfull controller is held on standby.Two such controllers come to mind,the locally made Locomotion series (especially the 'Mansfield' hand controller) and the British-made H&M Clipper series.The resistance pads on these last for decades,and then some,almost always with fine control.

In a sense this Morley Vector series controller bears some similarities with the Clipper,but as the TV knife advert says 'there is more,much more'. 

Like the twin Clipper,the Vector Zero Two is British made,fully self contained with a sloping faceplate,a 12V accessory supply and offers two controllers.In addition the Vector offers electronic control,two hand-held controllers and a capacitor discharge unit about which the accompanying paperwork states "A single CDU will drive all of your point motors".

Accompanying the package are five pages of information,which,although not well set out,cover all the needs for connecting the controllers to the track and wiring the CDU.In fact there are three suggested wiring diagrams for the CDU,as well as the direction to the correct size wire to use from the CDU to the point motors.The five-year warranty is another topic covered. 

The controller is an ABS enclosure with an etched,polished aluminium face plate.The box has a footprint of 215 x 130mm,is 80mm high at the rear,sloping to 45mm at the front.Four rubber feet lift the box off the benchwork,allowing clearance for the internal fan ventilation which cools the internal transformers and electronic components.A 1.8m long power cord with standard Australian three-pin plug is fitted.The output is via screw connectors attached to the rear of the box,above which are the manufacture details as well as the identifying connections clearly defined.The controller has the CE approval and carries the lightning protection symbol.The overall manufacturer rating is three amps,each track output being 12V (noninal) at 1A,the same as the accessory connection.

The attractively designed faceplate is readily understood,with the controllers being laid out each side of the centre line.In the centre is an orange LED indicating that the CDU is ready for use.All the components on the faceplate are identified with clear black lettering.The main component for each track output is a rotating knob,which employs the well accepted practise for forward when the knob is turned to the right and reverse when turned to the left.Top dead centre is 'off'.An accompanying LED glows green for forward and red for reverse.Provision for the hand held controllers are via a five-pin DIN socket and a switch for selection of normal or hand-held control.

The hand held controllers are 75 x 55 x 23mm plastic boxes with a single,centre off,rotating knob.The cord length is a bit over two metres.The control is just as smooth via the hand held controllers.The directional LEDs glow on the face plate when the hand pieces are in use. 

With modern day locomotives the control is smooth with speed being gained and lost evenly.Older equipment,such as old Tenshodo and Althearn mechanisms,performed well,although they did not respond instantly in the lower control ranges which commence at 0.05V.They needed a higher starting voltage,which is reached about 25% of range. 

With modern locos,multiple unit working was not a problem.Triple-headed Trainorama 44/930/47 were a dream and the real test of a Trainorama 44,an Austrains 442,Powerline 81 and a K&M 48 class mechanism was achieved at the top end of the speed range.With this load the ammeter was registering 0.75A at 9V.The open circuit track voltage was 17. 

A real test for the controller is the QSI sound-fitted locomotive,such as the Eureka Models AD60.Like other DC controllers,the range over which the controller will run the loco is reduced,the locomotive needing around 8V to start.But this is not the fault of the controller,it is a common feature with the sound-fitted locomotives,which are designed for DCC operation,but still marketed as usable on DC.The sound system charges up before any power is made available for traction-just like the recharging of  a capacitor discharge unit.When running,the current draw for the AD60 was 0.25A at 12V.

One of the problems facing ambitious layout builders is route selection of twin solenoid point motors,wher simultaneous operation of several point motors is needed.While there are systems that will provide for route selection.there are few CDUs that can move more than three or four point motors at once.So it was a delight testing this system ,where it handled five Peco solenoids at the same time with really solid changeover.

THIS IS A VERY GOOD CONTROLLER;one that will cater for most aspects of an H0/00/N scale layout and any others that demand a current flow of 0.5A to 1A.