Judging by the numerous ‘how to’ articles, new product advertisement in the RRMags - are digital locomotives going to be the only accepted form of running within the next few years.
Why is this (in my humble opinion) technology being forced upon us? Are they expecting us to convert our vast collections (N scale in my case) eventually to DCC operation or be outcasts to the rest of the modeller world ?
When I was younger - I was hip to new technology and always had cutting edge stereo equipment but with other priorities, I no longer am up on ‘blue ray’ , LCD, HD, 5.1 sound - and probably never will - until my 8 year old figures it all out.
Just a thought to throw out there on the first day of the year.
I don’t know. I think DC will always be around in one way, shape, or form. If manufacturers do plan on bringing on DCC only product line, they’ll probably use dual decoders so that both camps will be happy.
Older modelers probably had the same complaints when HO began to become popular and ran on DC instead of AC like the Lionel and American Flyer trains.
I grew up using the Lionel, Marx, and American Flyer AC transformers and was rather put out when I had to buy a whole new power pack so I could run a Bowser HO kit that I had assembled in 1962.
Our local HO scale club had some members who resisted DCC with a passion until they saw what it could do. Even though our club layout is set up so they can continue using DC control, they’re always asking me to install decoders into their locomotives or are purchasing BLI and other brands with sound installed.
1TRAIN1: have no fear about DCC being the only version locomotive that you can buy in the near future. DC will still be available for a looooong time. All of us old times (67 and counting for me) will be long gone before DC has faded into the sunsert like DOS operating system for computers. I use DCC, and DC for the Christmas Train around the tree. DCC is definetly the way to go IMHO, I never looked back.
DCC has been around for rather a long time a decade or more, so it is hardly a new technology being forced on anyone. There is no doubt that DCC has reached a critical mass and is now a very prevelent technology garnering an ever increasing share of the market. However, DC is well entrenched and I would imagine still represents the largest segment of the hobby. MRC still advertises their DC line. BLI, who started out as DCC only now offer DC variants of all their new locos. All the other main loco makers make DC versions of their new releases also. I would not worry for some significant time to come.
Since I’ve only been collecting & running HO for 40+ years, I have probably over a hundred locos that are DC only - a vast majority being Athern BB with $8 to $25 price tags still on the boxes! As an aside, most of these price tags are for LHS’s that no longer exist[:(] I will probably convert some of them to DCC, but when I move to bigger retirement quarters the new layout will maintain dual supply as my present one does. DPDT center off switches for the different power blocks allows me to run both- as long as I’m careful not to run from one supply to another between blocks! My first 2 sound equipped locos, a Lionel Turbine & an Athern Challenger made me invest in DCC, now I’ll not consider buying a loco that’s not DCC, and since I did buy a “silent” DCC loco, all the new aquisitions will be DCC sound!![{(-_-)}] No, we’ll probably not be “forced” into DCC for the forseable future, but once the bug bites, it’s hard to resist![8D]
There are companies that offer locomotives with and with DCC.Atlas has their Master Silver Series that comes Without Decoder & Without Sound…Even BLI went soundless with their Stealth Series.So there is still a choice.
Plus the new DCC decoders all work on DC - so if they start selling locos only with decoders in them, you can still runt hem on a DC layout.
NMRA DCC isn’t exactly new technology - it’s over 10 years old. The underpinnings of it are even older. And unless you are strictly a solo operator, it makes runnign trians a heck of a lot more fun and easy - you just have to run you train, adn watch out for others. No block toggle flipping mania and you guide your train down the line.
If you need a new analog DC power supply, the ‘makins’ are readily available at Radio Shack or about a million brick-and-mortar or online electrical/electronic supply houses. Or you can adapt toy train ‘transformers,’ unless you want to doublehead locos with two open frame motors each. (I sometimes resemble that!)
If you absolutely MUST have a new loco that comes already fitted with a decoder, it will still run on analog DC. If the performance is unimpressive, you can pull the decoder and rewire for standard pickup. (Haven’t had to yet, and don’t expect to.)
I seriously doubt that the toymakers are going to go to DCC unless it becomes less expensive than analog DC. Holdeth not thy breath.
I, too, am an analog DC holdout. My reasons are personal, non-negotiable and not subject to rational argument, so I will not mention any but the obvious. I would rather spend that money (for base stations, decoders and so on) on other products that better serve my simple purposes.
Just my [2c]. Feel free to disagree.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - MZL, analog DC)