I have HO with DCC...enjoy it immensely.
I bought a MTH Christmas set in 2000.. Loco Sound...( was told future DCS would control it-big lie)
So now I am getting into MTH O scale a little more..Have a DCS and a Proto2 set..
need another Proto engine
My issue is that the DCS seems more difficult than DCC..I had to buy a book to get answers ..my Digitrax had all the information I needed with the device..
So I am wondering if any HO DCC folks have made a successful jump to O scale DCS?
john galt I have HO with DCC...enjoy it immensely. I bought a MTH Christmas set in 2000.. Loco Sound...( was told future DCS would control it-big lie) So now I am getting into MTH O scale a little more..Have a DCS and a Proto2 set.. need another Proto engine My issue is that the DCS seems more difficult than DCC..I had to buy a book to get answers ..my Digitrax had all the information I needed with the device.. So I am wondering if any HO DCC folks have made a successful jump to O scale DCS?
John,
Noted your post in the general forum about this one being moved.
Respectfully, I don't think you will find too many people on the Model Railroader forum that do much in O scale 3 rail stuff. While there are few guys who identify themselves as "multi scale" modelers, this forum seems to me mainly HO and N scale guys, with an S scaler or two, and maybe an O scale two rail guy or or two.
Personally, I use DCC at the homes of nearly a dozen other modelers in our local group, but I don't use DCC at home. DCC is fine but is not really in line with my needs or goals and would add significant cost to my layout with little benefit.
I have no interest in sound in HO, and no interest in Hi Rail/3 rail trains of any scale, so I have even less interest in MTH DCS.
While I an not a big DCC promoter, I do think MTH was foolish to think they could or should try to interject DCS into the HO market. From everything I can see their penetration into the HO market is basically zero.
As for the ease of use of DCC or DCS, I guess that depends on which DCC system you have, and what your needs and wants are.
In all my time on this forum, you are only the second "HO modeler" to share with us a desire/action to move toward O scale 3 rail trains.
So responses may be very few at best - unless this post stirs this up.
Sheldon
ATLANTIC CENTRALSo responses may be very few at best - unless this post stirs this up.
Few maybe, but not none ;).
John, I'm not an o-scaler and don't presume to speak for every HO modeler (they can certainly do that for themselves), but I'll add my experiences with MTH DCS engines.
Not good.
I've purchased four DCS engines (protosound 3.0 to be exact) to run on a DCC layout and found them to be disappointing. Two of them (2 of a 3 unit consist) have blown their decoders and are currently what I call 'walking dead'; they work, along with most of their functions, but can't be reprogrammed or reconfigured in anyway. Though I've gotten advice from numerous people in this forum and taken them into the LHS they came from, nothing can be done with them save rip out the decoders and put something else in. MTH, sadly, has been little help; they don't answer emails (aside from their automatic, noted-by-our-technicians response) and leave people on hold for enormous lengths of time. I've given up. I love the engines, but I'll be pulling the decoders and putting Tsunamis in them as soon as circumstances allow it.
I will not buy another MTH product. Keep in mind, this is all HO stuff I'm speaking of. I have no experience with their O scale offerings (I don't think many here do). What you can do is check this guy out:
http://www.kellyskaboose.ca/
Brian Kelly is an O-scale dealer in Kamloops BC who deals with quite a bit of MTH and Lionel stuff. He's one hell of a good guy, and I'm sure he'd be happy to help you.
All the best,
Stu
Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!
"O Gauge Railroading" magazine's forums might be the best place to get more information. Their magazine covers O two-rail, toy trains, and especially three-rail "hi-railers", people who run 1:48 scale trains on three rail track. Many folks in the HO or N worlds don't realize more than half of the products made by Lionel, MTH and others are scale items but designed to run on three rail track. There are some "hi-rail" layouts out there that are at least as realistic as the typical Kalmbach "Great Model Railroads" layouts.
http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/forums