A few members talked about this as well and like this idea. I dont know what it would cost but we have about 150 members, 50% are very active and I would say that over 60% of the active members are already DCC. I figure around $1500 in cheap motor decoders. depending on the price brake we could get for a large purchase. I know that the club as a whole is mostly DCC but people are just afraid of hurting someones feelings? I say we just need to grow up and accept that this is the direction of the hobby regardless if its liked or not. Personaly I would like to see a date set in the next year that sets a dead line for when we would go full DCC. this would not only let the DC membership slowly convert and learn DCC but would also give some time for anyone that is fully paid up to make the choice if they will stay or leave the club. But im kinda a new member ( little over 2 years) and dont want to force the issue unless untill we see a little more proof that it will work.
Let me relate a little history. The numbers are not as large, but I believe the proportions are the same. At our DC heyday, we had about 40 members, the 2 things happened, we lost our building lease, went modular, and went DCC at the same time. Withing a year, membership dropped to less than 25.
Suicide? Actually no.
Even with the loss of the "permanent" layout, the outlay for the DCC, and the fact that modular layouts were still outside the main stream at that time,(1998) we started to rebound. Not only did we hold modular construction and scenery clinics , to get our new portable layout up to speed, but we also held decoder installation and programming clinics. Within a 3 year period, I installed over 100 decoders myself, not only for myself, but for several club members.
Remember the old adage, 20% of the people do 80% of the work? In most instances, it's true. Looking at you numbers,
I dont know what it would cost but we have about 150 members, 50% are very active and I would say that over 60% of the active members are already DCC.
I would say you have more members already familiar with DCC than we had in members!
Of those members with DCC, I would think that there are at least 1 or 2 of them that wield a great deal of influence in the club. IMHO, they are the folks you should align yourself with, and talk up a conversion to DCC plan with them. If you are concerned with losing members, you might want to take a hard look at what you are losing. We lost almost half our membership in the 1st year of the "new deal", but we rebounded. We found we didnt lose any of our "serious" modelers. We did lose most of our "railfans and rachet-jaws". You know the type. They watch the trains run and chat about whats wrong with this model, or spew diatribes about this railroad vs. that.
The DC guys that remained now have a few engines each that have decoders set so that they can run at home also. So in the long run, everyone who remained, won.
Now the club has grown to close to 50 members, supporting a 60x100 modular layout that is fully DCC.
If we survived it, you guys can too!
