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I run DC and will stick with it. One reason, my layout is presently 5 X 9, expanded from 4 X 8. I do need to add another cab. Since my layout is based on KISS, that should be sufficient. Now that my wife has moved her scrapbooking desk to another room,??? Due to the present economy, actually, MY present economy, DCC is out of my price range. Having worked with PLC's for many years, maybe DCC sounds a little too much like going back to work. (I assume DCC is very similar to PLC.)
I do feel DC or DCC is a matter of personal choice based on one's own situation, be it economy, layout size, or other factors. Use what you like and let's all get along.
Now I just got to get a disc harrow rebuilt, get a stuck clutch working on my tractor, finish planting my crops, THEN maybe I can actually work on my layout. SRR forever. She may be fallen, but she ain't forgotten.
I got back into the hobby after I retired last year.Since I model Southern Pacific in the 20's & 30's, all of my locomotives are steam and half of them are older brass. My layout is 14 X 16 and I run DC because I rather put my money into other areas rather than paying to have my equipment upgraded to DCC.
I guess I'm the only holdout in my Group of Friends. I was told the other day that they were going to run DCC on their layouts. One is N, one is HO & 1 is O. The guy that has G scale runs both. I was running 2 long trains on each mainline yesterday w/just me at both throttles. I was also working the yard w/another throttle. Usually 1 train will catch up to the other on ea. main, but not this time. (I have a disconnect block in case that happens close to the yard throttle). They were pretty well matched in speeds. Soon, I'll be able to run all of this & the Turntable seperate from the yards & the mainline. Getting more simple everyday w/DC. LOL
I too still use DC. I have 2 hand held systems, One is a GBL walkaround with memory, so I can unplug and walk to another plug in and the train will continue to run. I have no idea what brand the other throttle is. It has momentum settings and a number of other functions. I bet it is almost 20 years old, but still works like a champ. My railroad room is about 28 by 17 feet.
I had looked into DCC, but after adding up the cost of the powers supplies, throttles, and then decoders, I was turned off as I have well over 30 locomotives. It would be nice, but I have been using DC for over 30 years and haven't had any problems. The cost of the DCC would have to come out of a limited budget cutting back on the progress of my railroad.
hi, i have dc and will NEVER change to dcc. the cost alone stops me and if the dcc breaks down i have to hire some one to fix it. there are too many things in my life i have hire some one to fix stuff. i will not do that to my hobby too. are now gone local Model Railroad Club went to dcc and it caused more problems that it solved. and they spent alot of money on dcc. i have a 22'x32' layout, i use 1 control master 20 & 5 troller power packs. i stopped using atlas slectors and switched to toggle switches. i am not a big fan of sound systems, most do not sound right anyway.
I am with you one hundred percent. I very seldom have others operating with me, and when I do, my block wiring is extremely simple, and best of all, it works, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The expense of changing over to DCC would blow my hobby budget completely, an prohibit me from continuing to ad on for quite a period of time.
But nevertheless, single-operator, one-train-at-a-time, layouts are the overwhelming majority in my part of the country based on my experience and this has been true as long as I've been in the hobby (5 decades).
What part of the country of is that? In my 45 years in the hobby I've never met any one who has purchased their 2nd locomotive and not immediately wanted to run it simultaniously with their original. This even includes all the kids from my grade school and junior high days. Likewise I've never met anyone who got a Christmas Train Set who didn't immediately start thinking about expanding and getting that 2nd locomotive. Mostly their solution is to add a second loop of track, but many came to me to help them resolve the situation, when dual and independent loops began to be limiting.
What part of the country of is that? In my 45 years in the hobby I've never met any one who has purchased their 2nd locomotive and not immediately wanted to run it simultaniously with their original. This even includes all the kids from my grade school and junior high days. Likewise I've never met anyone who got a Christmas Train Set who didn't immediately start thinking about expanding and getting that 2nd locomotive. Mostly their solution is to add a second loop of track, but many came to me to help them resolve the situation, when dual and independent loops began to be limiting.
I've been in the hobby as long as yourself and have observed that the overwhelming urge early-on in one's hobby experience to run multiple trains on multiple loops tends to be largely a part of the dabbler phase and one that usually passes if the hobbyist becomes at all serious about his modeling and railroading. Few home layouts are anywhere near large enough to believable represent railroads with double, triple, or four track mains with multiple trains in operation simultaneously.
The main exception to this I've encountered would be those folks with really large home layouts who are also into serious group operations, which itself is only a niche aspect of the hobby out here outside of clubs. The great majority of hobbyist I've known over the years are traditional lone wolves and commonly model and run their layouts as small branch, shortlines, or switching districts, with one train under control at a time.
What part of the country of is that? In my 45 years in the hobby I've never met any one who has purchased their 2nd locomotive and not immediately wanted to run it simultaniously with their original. This even includes all the kids from my grade school and junior high days. Likewise I've never met anyone who got a Christmas Train Set who didn't immediately start thinking about expanding and getting that 2nd locomotive. Mostly their solution is to add a second loop of track, but many came to me to help them resolve the situation, when dual and independent loops began to be limiting.
Well, I've been in model railroading off-and-on for about 62 years. I have probably 50-some HO scale locomotives, most DC and six (counting consists as a single locomotive) DCC. I have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, and with a layout filling a 14' x 14' room, and liking to run passenger trains quite a bit, with a single main line in folded dogbone, about all I can handle is one train at a time! Of course, if I occasionally have a friend or two who can really operate, then I might be able to run more than one train simulataneously. (I do have the layout broken up in to blocks for DC or simply to allow me to park various trains on sidings or in the engine yard, etc.) My main reason for having DCC is to get sound, so I can "hear that lonesome whistle blow", reminding me of the times as a young boy when I rode a Zephyr to see my grandparents in downstate Illinois, from Chicago, especially lying in a Pullman berth when I was supposed to be asleep, and could peep out the window and watch the grade crossing lights flash by.
My main reason for having DCC is to get sound, so I can "hear that lonesome whistle blow", reminding me of the times as a young boy when I rode a Zephyr to see my grandparents in downstate Illinois, from Chicago, especially lying in a Pullman berth when I was supposed to be asleep, and could peep out the window and watch the grade crossing lights flash by.
I can identify with that, except I caught the sound bug long before DCC. I purchased my first PFM sound unit (the mini-sound) in 1983. It is steam only, but I installed sound into many units including the entire fleet of G-gauge Christmas Tree locos. I was never able to afford a PBL with the diesel sounds. I still say the most recent generation of DCC decoders are just now getting up to its standard for both fidelity and control of the sound.
h44 asked if the sound is annoying. After a while it is. At first it is a novelty and interesting, but after a while, I do find it annoying. I had the opportunity to visit a large model railroad club that was running DCC and many of the members were running sound equipped locomotives. It first I thought it was interesting, but after about 20 minutes, I had changed my mind. Ther were four or five sound equipped units running at the same time and that where I lost interest.
I am also finding that many of the new locomotives being offered on the market today are offered with DCC and in many cases with sound also, but NOT offered in plain old DC. I was interested in a few, but did not buy them as I couldn't see paying extra for the features as I would not be using them.
I would agree with Montanan in finding most sound-equipped locomotives annoying after a short time, doublely so in my case since, having grown up with the likes of Lionel and Flyer tin-plate trains in the 50's, for me sound immediately equates to toy trains, not scale models.
Likewise, few operators of sound equipped locomotives I've encountered seem to have any concept of how sound acts in the real world, operating the sound level of their locomotives roaring as if 1:10 scale models, or like toys! At some of the shows (and home layouts too) the sound has been so ridiculously overwhelming that it drove you away after just a few minutes of observation. So, paying an extra $100 for a DCC/sound equipped engine whose sound I will immediately turn off anyway simply isn't going to ever happen for me.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I did run a PFM sound system years ago, and I think the sound that I got from the PFM system sounded better than some of the new DCC sound locos. I did finally remove the PFM system a few years back because of the availability of getting supplies to equip additional locomotives. It was also quite a job to equip a loco for PFM also.
It's a bit of a pain that so many new locos are coming out with DCC with or without sound and not just in plain old straight DC. Not everyone can afford, or wants DCC either. Locomotice prices are pretty high as i is, and with these added features for DCC just drive the price up, and like I had stated before, I am not prepared to spend the extra money for these features. My hobby budget is a bit tight, as I'm sure many others are too.
I did run a PFM sound system years ago, and I think the sound that I got from the PFM system sounded better than some of the new DCC sound locos. I did finally remove the PFM system a few years back because of the availability of getting supplies to equip additional locomotives. It was also quite a job to equip a loco for PFM also.
At one time I had 4 PFM sound systems. I sold the oldest one. I agree that it is only the newest DCC sound systems that are getting close to be the same quality of the PFM. On the other hand, I can sit there and play with the sound for hours trying to get a sequence for leaving the station exactly right. The one thing I've always wanted but never been able to do or simulate is having the driving wheels loosing traction and spinning. I guess I am a sound junky and think it adds a dimension of life to a model.
I have still have a bunch of LTM modules, because I discovered that the contents of the LTM were readily available from any electronics parts house. Basically the DC is filtered from the speaker and the audio is filtered from the motor and lamps. After I discovered that I bought in bulk and never used another "real" LTM. Sorry to hear that was why you removed your system. This is also why people don't believe me when I say I've been installing sound systems for 30 years. Too many people think sound is synonomous wth DCC.
I still have the PFM controller, but in recent years I have chenged everything over to hand held throttles. I don't know how many times I crashed into the control unit because of where I had to mount it. I am a lone operator and it was still always in the way. I can still hook it up in just a couple of minutes, and do upon occasion, but I haven't converted and locomotives over in years because of the lack of parts available. Where I live, there are no hobbyshops for hundreds of miles that carry what I personally need. My mainline is all cod 70 (sometimes I think I made a mistake doing this) and I used to hand lay all my rail and switches, but after repairing the Kadee spiker many times, I found out recently that it is now beyond repair. I guess I could hand spike, but now I am finding out that as I get older, many things aren't as easy as they used to be. I guess if I had other operators in the area to have operating sessions things may be different, but most people that are into model railroading around here are just into the basics. Almost everything I buy is over the internet.
I do like the sound, but after a few minutes, it starts getting old.
I can tolerate the sound, but not like many of my friends. They do have the sound turned up to unrealistic levels but...its their layout!
I too, have experience with a PFM sound system and for my money the whistle is the best! Sound does, however, give me a headache after a while. It has done that since I demonstrated a PFM one at a three day mall show, right after they were released for sale. I did the demo for 12 hours a day for 3 days! By the end of the 3rd day, I didn't care if sound advanced or not. Even today, out of 30 locos, I doubt that I will install a personal system again. I have one sound equipped loco, for my grandson. When he's not there, its cut off!
You know that's funny. I have sound in a bunch of locos, mostly because I had connections and could get things really cheap, but I went to an operating session at a club members house, and he has very few sound locos. We did the session without sound and it was nice. Just radio chatter and the old fashioned wheels on rail sound. I liked it. I don't put sound in everything. The cost makes it impractical. At the club our biggest problem is some of the guys have their volume waaaay too loud. I believe you should hear your model approaching, say within five feet or so, and when it gets five feet away it should fade into the distance. Most of my sound equipped stuff has the volume set to 50% or below. In a club setting, high volumes on everything gets downright obnoxious very quickly!
Since all my locos are pre-DCC I will most likely build in DC just like I used to. I have experience with the old PFM sound systems in many of my narrow gauge and logging buddies layouts. It was fun for a while but not worth the effort or cost to me. It ought to be interesting to see all the new gimmicks and gizmos people are useing now.
(I assume DCC is very similar to PLC.)
