The search for a method of controlling locomotives individually began as soon as soon as the model electric locomotive arrived but the origins of DCC can be traced back to the 1940s with a two channel system by Lionel Trains using frequency control. There was not great progress until the late 1970s when a number of sytems began to be developed of which Hornby's Zero 1 was an example along with others such as the Dynatrol system in the US and the Marklin/Motorola format in Europe. All of these systems are forms of Digital Control but had the drawback that they were competeing manufacturers systems incompatable with each other.