I’m just getting started in DCC but why would anyone stay with DC once you experience what can be done with DCC. I have a Digitrax Super Chief set and my first two locos were Atlas Master Series - no sound. Today I received a Proto RS27 w/sound from Walther’s. Undecorated on sale for about half price. Well, let me tell you. Put the couplers on slapped it on the track and thought I had died and gone to heaven. Just amazing. I haven’t even scratched the surface as far as what you can do with DCC but I would encourage everyone who is really into model railroading to go DCC. I know the initial cost is scary but I think it is worth it.
Congratulations! As one who is fixing to jump into DCC with both feet, it is terrific to hear your positive comments. I have narrowed my selection to a Digitrax Super Chief as well, and am currently doing decoder research for the 45 or so locos that I may convert.
I actually waited 6 months longer to get started so I could save the $$$ for my NCE Power Cab dcc system. Am I ever glad that I did. I was able to start off with a 4-4-0 and 2-8-0 both with dcc and sound already in them. Spoiled? Maybe. But like you, I would never turn back now!
Congrats, it is good to hear from folks enjoying their new systems. Just last night I had a quiet 15 min or so, just sitting by my yard slowly switching a pair of sound equipped locos in the yard. The DT400 throttle that comes with your Chief is wonderful for this as you can have both locos under independent control simultaneously. I have had my system for about 4 years now (A Zephyr with some extra throttles including the DT400), but still get a kick out of running 2 locos on the same bit of track in opposite directions. I have found DCC to be immense fun. Everything from soldering decoders and playing around with programming using Decoder Pro has been very enjoyable.
No kidding…I had been out of the hobby for a number of years and decided to take in a local train show. After I seen what the new engines could do I jumped back in with both feet. I also have a Digitrax Super chief and love it.
Now if I can just get my layout revised I will be even happier.
It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and what you already have.
I am one of the stone-age relics who PREFERS analog DC, partially for cost reasons and partially because of an innate distrust for little black boxes that (are supposed to) do things (but may not.)
As for my reasons, which are personal and non-negotiable, the whole matter was aired in a thread that ran its course two years ago. Even the confirmed DCC addicts mostly agreed that my points were valid - for me.
I am not about to try to convert anyone to analog DC and the MZL system. I will just continue to use it - because I want to control the railroad, not just one train. If this be heresy, so be it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with 1960s control technology)
Very refreshing for me to read your thread. When I lived in my previous home in the early 90s, I had space for a good sized layout featuring a double-track 1960s style mainline. However, I then decided not to go for it as I didn’t look forward to hooking up DC Cab blocks. To me, that was a scenario in which the railroad would be running me. I had heard of DCC but assumed it was some gimmicky fad that would eventually fade. I’m glad that I was so wrong!
My first run-in with DCC was at a train show by a TCS rep. He had a decoder equipped BLI GG1 and a decoder equipped Athearn SD40-2 on a circle of track. Both had lighting features & the BLI had sound, of course… Long story short, the independent control features blew me away, especially after I crashed the GG1 into the SD40-2! [B)][:o)]
It was a breath of fresh air that I would no longer needed the mass of wiring and operating restrictions presented by cab control. I could actually run the railroad!
I’m currently building an along-the-wall layout that will be powered by NCE. As for initial cost? I’m on a super tight budget but have the view that I don’t mind spending the extra money to get the full benefits and satisfaction of this hobby. I’m not wasting it on getting drunk or going to topless bars. I spent a lot of time around prototype railroads in my youth. DCC provides the opportunity for me to relive that experience prototypically, with all the lights, bells, whistles included, and independent control of every locomotive without the wiring spaghetti clusters.
My wife’s cousin was also worried about cost…until he finally realized that he spent hundreds of dollars in the past 5 years purchasing Kato, Athearn Genesis, and P2K locomotives. He finally purchased a system last year…then a month later resumed purchasing freight cars and locomotives as before. So what’s the issue wi
I agree, and find it more than a little annoying when people try to “convince” me I’m wrong.
Look, I know what DCC is and what it can do for my and understand how the technology works (probably better than many of those using it), and I choose not to use it on my layout.
That is absolutely fine that you are a DC fan and use it exclusively. But__, what advice would you give someone who is starting out in this hobby with a clean slate?__ Would you show him DCC or would you present to him the anti-DCC doctrine?
The OP is new to the hobby and he has experienced DCC for the first time and is excited about it. He isnt telling anyone to go and use DCC, he is just wondering why people continue to go the DC route. Personally, I have to ask the same question.
I understand that there are established layouts out there that were wired for Cab control with DC. I have been there. But, for the person that wants everything that this hobby has to offer, I cannot understand how DCC isnt suggested to that person. It is affordable (can be had for less than the cost of a Tech 4), easy to install and available in almost every LTS.
I was ‘sold’ on the idea long before DCC, from reading about how you could run trains with the GE ASTRAC system. Long before ever havinghands on with such a system, it seemd like a far superior way to actually operate a train. It was a long, long time before I had the opportunity to put hands on a syste, by then DCC. Naturally I managed to run the two locos running on an 18" radius loop of track into one another, still, after an actuall hands on I knew there was no way I was EVER going to build a standard DC layout again.
Sure, newbies should hear about all the technology that exists. Maybe they’ll want to use it.
But you create a rift where there needn’t be one by suggesting that because I don’t use DCC I have an agenda to stop it from being used or sold or whatever…my “anti-DCC doctrine,” as you called it.
I’m not anti-DCC. I’m against being told it is the one and only right way to control a layout (and why don’t I get with it and use DCC), yes. But I’m not against you, or anyone else, using it.
MR, I think your skin is a bit thin…and before I continue, I would like to apologize to the OP for this tangent.
There are many Anit- Doctrines in this industry. Everyone has one…here are a few that I can think of (and by no means do I believe in all of them).
Anti-DCC…yes, as an ex-salesman, I encountered this many times. On a few occasions, I actually have reversed their attitude towards DCC with a demo and a bit of patience.
Anti-Rivit-Counters. Self explanitory.
Anti-Weathering. One of the past owners of my LHS believed that everything should sparkle on a railroad.
Anti-Acrylic Paints. Some people swear by Oil Based paints…I am one of them. I have never had good results with Acrylics.
Anti-CD 100ers. Some feel that CD 100 is just too big.
Anti-X2Fs. Many of us have this belief, even though the X2F performs better than Kadees in some cases.
Anit-18 inch Radaii. I am one of these, unless the 18" radii has to do with industrial trackage.
…and so on.
DCC is the technology of the day, and I for one think it has advanced the hobby in a way that DC can never do. It brings independant control to the masses. For me, I put DC in the same catagory as X2F couplers, 18 in radius, clean models and code 100 rail…[}:)]
As the OP of this subject I never thought I would open up such a can of worms. As a long time DC modeler, and one who took a long time to decide to go DCC with my new layout, I just wanted to express how impressed and excited I was about DCC. Back in my DC days I had all the bells and whistles (horns too) you could get with DC and enjoyed it very much. I was quite leary (sp) of what kind of difference DCC would make. In fact, if I hadn’t sold off my entire train collection 5 years ago and very likely would have stayed with DC. Now, however, seeing and hearing what DCC can do I would never go back to DC. My opinion only and not meant to influence anyone else.
Yipes! That’s exactly what I didn’t want to deal with. Thanks for posting that photo.
Maine,
You’re expressing yourself in a very positive, uplifting manner. With the hard times we’re in, it’s nice to hear good news.
Don’t worry! We’re all modelers here and some of us (o.k, most of us) have our strong biases when it comes to various aspects of this hobby.
IMHO, it’s no different then when a group of football fans are at a “get together” sharing info, and then issues come up that will flare up some minor disagreements here and there (coaches styles, instant replay camera angles, etc.,). But in the end, everyone is still friends. [:D][:)][swg]
Actually, I don’t know that going to DCC cost me any more money. Like many of us I’m a “locohaulic” who has bought more engines than they really need. After going DCC I decided to concentrate on getting decoders in my existing engines, and only buying an engine if it was one that really fit with my railroad’s purpose and time frame. After all, you can buy 3-4 good decoders for the cost of one good HO diesel…if you don’t buy the diesel with the money meant for the decoders!!
I’ve been sitting here on the sidelines reading your posts, taking a special interest in them. I was an avid “I will never go to DCC” guy for years. Recently, when I decided to rebuild my HO layout, I came to the realization that it would likely be my last. I decided that I would go at it with an open mind, and consider all the options I had available before I jumped in and built a clone of what I already had.
I looked at scale (came very close to going On3), methods of laying track and roadbed, and of course going to DCC. This was easily the hardest decision, and I read all I could and asked a whole lot of questions to at least be able to make an educated decision. Well, I decided that I would jump into it whole hog. However, I am well aware that its going to cost me about $2k, that I will need a lot more education on the subject, and my patience will probably be tested to one degree or another. So, with all that in mind, I could easily argue both sides of the DC/DCC decision, and do a darned good job of it!
That being said, one of the major draws of model railroading is that one can “do it” anyway they darn well please. Said another way, “It is my layout, and I will run it as I see fit”. Obviously we all have opinions about what is right, wrong, or ok, but the opinions should only apply to our own railroad.
The thing that brings us all together here is that we all love trains, and love model railroading - and while it can sure be hard sometimes, we need to be tolerant of each others preferences.
Many of us have fragile egos that find comfort in believing that our actions based on decisions we make are not only the best ones but are correct because we made them. Examples are infinate, Microsoft v. Apple, Chevy v. Ford, meat v. veggies, ad. nauseum. Discussions like this are persuasive in rare instances, most often a venting based on some perceived harm or injury. The only time they make much sense is when the participants offer reasonable examples to support their argument.
Therefore, please explain what in the world an ‘Anti-Rivit-Counter Doctrine’ is and more to the point why it is self explainatory.
