Just a bit of a rant. I just got e-mailed an article with links to others by Model Railroader which said basicaly that your selection of a DCC system would be enhanced if you use the system your freinds and clubs use. I have no friends in DCC (except here), never had many in the hobby as when I worked I ussually worked at times others were off. Clubs, few and far between and not an option for me from a trasportation standpoint (wasn't always this way but a lot of clubs have gone away). Hobby shops, good luck with that one and I live in an area of 7 million plus. Now the train shows are gone (most had alrady gone before this), used to have 6 or more a year close by, they all went away before I moved and now their is one and that one isn't as close, not that that maters now (this pandemic shut down my fix a week or so before the show).
Not sure what "point" you're making here...
If you have a club layout, or friends that you visit and run on their layout(s), it's quite a natural and not exactly controversial statement to say that you might choose a similar DCC system as your friends so it's a familiar system.
But if you don't have friends, then sure, that consideration might not be there...
I've made a number of good connections and friends through a couple of different clubs/organizations/groups.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Shutdowns here, too. I had thought about joining a club before the virus, but that will have to wait a while. The close one is O gauge, and the other is a bit far. There are a few local shows, but they're really just layout displays by clubs. The closest real show would be Timonium if they ever start shows again.
I plan to get my layout set up again as the weather gets colder.
We really need a government program that will alert us when our cell phone detects another model railroader close by.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Why join any excelusive club/organization/group? Sorry that you're having a difficult time finding friends there. There isn't a local NMRA group you can join? What about a community board at a library you can post seeking interest in MR? Don't give up!
MisterBeasley We really need a government program that will alert us when our cell phone detects another model railroader close by.
cv_acr Not sure what "point" you're making here... If you have a club layout, or friends that you visit and run on their layout(s), it's quite a natural and not exactly controversial statement to say that you might choose a similar DCC system as your friends so it's a familiar system. But if you don't have friends, then sure, that consideration might not be there...
Agreed. It all goes without saying.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
rrebell,Well, Model Railroader is correct in that selecting a DCC system that's the same as your friends or your club is beneficial. Chances are that someone has learned something and can share solutions with newbies, reducing frustrations.To answer you topic title question, yes, friends & clubs in the hobby exist. I'm a 30-year member of my club, which is one of the oldest HO clubs in the USA as well as having one of the largest club buildings (10,000 sq. ft.) that I know of.
www.ssmrc.org
We have about 65 members or so.We have been using Digitrax DCC since 1999, and I'm one of the DCC gurus at the club that people take their problems to. I don't know it all, but I know what usually fixes things. If someone came to me with an NCE problem, I wouldn't be able to be of much help. However, if they have a Digitrax problem, I probably have an answer.One other benefit is that if your throttle matches your friend's or your club's layout, you can bring it with you and use it there.
When I first started with DCC, I wasn't a member of any clubs, and I had no local MRR friends. I previously had been a member of a club but after moving, it was too far away to be practical. Plus they were enamored with the Rail Lynx IR control system and I didn't want to drill holes in my locos for the receivers.
Between this forum and posting on some other mailing lists, I met some more local people and we provided mutual help with our layout builds. Also, settling on one road to model, I joined the historical society, which since to thsi being a local road, is located rather close to me, so I have been able to participate in various activites, including the HO modular layout exhibition. Through these activities, I have met many more peopel who share the hobby, and also a love of the same prototype. With a wide range of knowledge.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
cv_acr MisterBeasley We really need a government program that will alert us when our cell phone detects another model railroader close by. What you're suggesting is more akin to those dating apps where you can see other singles in your area. Some of them will let you know if you "cross paths" with another user (if both of you are allowing the app permission to see your real-time location). You don't need "government programs" involved, just someone to invest in creating an app. And then people downloading and using the app. (COVID contact-tracing apps may be backed by the government, but it's just an app built on the same concept as dating apps have done for years.)
No, of course not. I was being facetious. Private industry can do a better job of pretty much anything to do with our railroads, even model railroads.
rrebell Just a bit of a rant. I just got e-mailed an article with links to others by Model Railroader which said basicaly that your selection of a DCC system would be enhanced if you use the system your freinds and clubs use. I have no friends in DCC (except here), never had many in the hobby as when I worked I ussually worked at times others were off. Clubs, few and far between and not an option for me from a trasportation standpoint (wasn't always this way but a lot of clubs have gone away). Hobby shops, good luck with that one and I live in an area of 7 million plus. Now the train shows are gone (most had alrady gone before this), used to have 6 or more a year close by, they all went away before I moved and now their is one and that one isn't as close, not that that maters now (this pandemic shut down my fix a week or so before the show).
Well, you always work evenings and weekends?
Don't have your own transportation?
Those are life style choices that are outside the mainstream readers that MR is appealing to.
Sorry.
I belonged to a long standing and well published club when I was young. It was a great group of people who taught me a great deal about the hobby.
More recently I was a member of a "round robin" group that meets at a different members house each week. That too was a great group.
I did however drop out of the group for a number of personal reasons, which included - schedule conflicts with family obligations, less in common with the modeling goals and styles of some newer members, and a desire to spend that time doing more actual modeling towards my layout goals.
Within that round robin group most guys used Digitrax so they could bring their throttle to each others layouts. But several members where still DC or used NCE.
That first club is still DC to this day.
I am pretty neutral about train shows. Pandemic aside, we are known for some good ones around here, but typically I only go once a year in recent times. I'm not much for crowds. I mainly go to search for NOS stuff on my want list.
Yes, because I have been at this my whole life, in this same region, and once worked in the hobby business, I know a lot of the people at the shows. Guess I'm just not a social bug.
When the pandemic calms down, and the new layout is started, I will invite some modeler friends over.
But I have enough of my own DC wireless throttles to go around........
Sheldon
When DCC was new many of the "early adopters" here in Milwaukee chose the Lenz system because the guy who knew the most about DCC and helped out with installs and decoder installation (and his business card called him the "Digital Doctor") was a great believer in and advocate for Lenz.
It certainly saved time at operating sessions not to need to be given a tutorial on the DCC system being used. It also helped, and again particularly when DCC was new, that guys could bring their own throttles to an operating session because a shortage of throttles could really slow things down. I think these are the reasons MR suggested getting the same DCC system your friends and fellow operators have. It is a practical thing, not a clique thing.
Dave Nelson
Well, about the DCC thing, when I joined my club a few years ago the most obvious advantage of using the same system was that I could bring my own throttle from home and use it at the club. At the club, we have since added a Wifi system where anyone can run their trains from their smartphone. That changed the whole dynamics, for the better by the way. So, apart from sharing knowledge about the system itself, the system argument is not as strong with Wifi. And any DCC decoder will work on maintream DCC systems (OK, MTH may cause issues, but that's an exception)...
Simon
I think it's common sense to at least talk to someone who already owns a DCC system you are considering buying to see how they like it, but I wouldn't buy a DCC system just because someone you know owns one. Since I don't have any close friends who are model railroaders or belong to a club, I often rely on magazine or online reviews - particularly the extensive reviews in Model Railroad News.
kasskaboose Why join any excelusive club/organization/group? Sorry that you're having a difficult time finding friends there. There isn't a local NMRA group you can join? What about a community board at a library you can post seeking interest in MR? Don't give up!
Paul3 one of the oldest HO clubs in the USA as well as having one of the largest club buildings (10,000 sq. ft.) that I know of.
one of the oldest HO clubs in the USA as well as having one of the largest club buildings (10,000 sq. ft.) that I know of.
Oh, wow! We have a 5000 ft^2 layout but nowhwere near a 10k-sq-foot building (and parking issues to boot). I am extremely jealous of that dispaching tower!!!
Our club (now a museum, actually) was established in 1940, btw.
www.pmrrm.org
Aaron
Our club here in Danville VA is meeting but most of the members have not come back yet. As for DCC the main thought is that with one common ststem you can use the same throttle at the club as well as share commonalities in trouble shooting. That being said our club is Digtrax and we have members that have NCE (me) MRC and ESU. Our club does have some club owned throttles as well as WIFI. There are advantages in some ways with the members having different systems. I have had to take several engines home for members that we could not program there and my NCE did it fine. I feel your pain with hobby shops and shows- we all do probably. I have access to three hobby shops but they are all 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours away in opposite directions. Before here I lived in Chicago where there a lot of hobby shops- HOWEVER, they took almost as long to get there with traffic....... I understand about the show- same thing happened here- a week before the show in Greensboro NC everything shut down...aargh... they resceduled but cancelled again. Several others were cancelled. The one for Raleigh NC is on though for Nov 7th- can't wait!
I went to that well established and published club, hoping to learn more about DCC and operations. I was informed there would never be DCC at the club. Two members were running their trains round and round and a half dozen members were drinking beer and shooting the breeze. Even though they offered a free trial membership, I did not go back a second time. I've got the beer drinking thing down pat.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy I went to that well established and published club, hoping to learn more about DCC and operations. I was informed there would never be DCC at the club. Two members were running their trains round and round and a half dozen members were drinking beer and shooting the breeze. Even though they offered a free trial membership, I did not go back a second time. I've got the beer drinking thing down pat.
That does not surprise me, my few visits there in the last two or three decades were similar to your experiance. I was member there in the late 70's/early 80's.
Many of the great modelers I learned from are long gone, or have passed the "leadership" roles on to others.
That layout has a very unique DC cab control system, and the small size of the layout, and the nature of the track plan, do not lend it to walk around control.
And, they have a well planned working signal system.
That somewhat leaves sound as the only motivation for DCC. And, as Mike will tel you, as DCC sound decoders improve in terms of DC performance, someone desiring sound on that layout may find that acceptable.
The transformers and control panels on that layout were manufactured in the Westinghouse shops a few miles up the road. I can say that now, anyone who might be in trouble over that is dead or long retired..........
When I was there they did have an "operations" night, with a fast clock and a timetable. No idea if that has continued.
That layout was really the brainchild of 4-5 guys, the orginal structures are almost 100% scratch built by one person - he taught me a lot. Two others layed all that hand layed track, built complex switches and crossovers, and several others engineered the control system and signal system.
They allowed me to be a member at only age 15, something very rare in that group. I stayed ative until I was a young adult. But eventually I moved a little farther away, and had wife and children to attend on Thursday nights.......
But whatever its short comings as an organization, or its limitations due to its small size, it is the home of some great modeling and the layout runs flawlessly.
I learned a lot.
Today I am just not the club type anymore. I guess I could be the "round robin" type again, when time allows.
Aaron,Thanks! It's a pretty sweet set up that we have. We started with 12 guys in 1938 in Quincy, Mass. (as the Quincy Model Railway Club and pronounced "Quin-zee"), moved a couple times during the war and just after, before settling in Weymouth, Mass. from 1953 to 1998 as the South Shore Model Railway Club. We never shut down for WWII (like many clubs did) as most of the members were in war critical industries like working for the Boston Navy Yard or the Fore River Shipyard.In 1999, we moved into our current building which is a former US Navy Ammuntion Depot for the near-by and long gone Boston Navy Yard. When ships came into Boston for work, they'd have to off load all ammo onto barges and store it. Our particular building (built in 1915) was a magazine for large caliber battleship projectiles (14" & 16" dia.).
When the Boston Navy Yard closed, the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot gradually closed up shop. When the Navy eventually left, they gave the property to the town of Hingham, Mass. with strings attached. Some property could be sold, some could be developed into housing, etc., but a large portion had to be a park. Any buildings left over had to be occupied by local gov't or non-profit groups or be torn down at the town's expense after 20 years.So the town took several buildings for the DPW, the school dept., etc. There's a fire museum, a credit union, and there used to be a wildlife sanctuary. We got the last building that was made available, and it had the best floor. However, it had a 30' wide hole in the roof and was an empty shell with no doors and no utilities.Our members fixed the hole (we have several contractors and carpenters in the club); we paid to have utilities brought to the building and we had to cut through the 12 inch thick floor for water piping (after getting a well drilled) and electrical conduits. Then we walled off and insulated the exterior walls, made partitions (for office, library, bathrooms, meeting room, etc.), and added lighting, etc. The only things we hired done was digging the well, hanging the suspended ceiling, and the HVAC install. Members did all the rest.The layout room is just over 6300 sq. ft., and about half of it is built.BTW, when we were designing our layout, your club was one of our inspirations. Not that we copied anything you did, just the fact that large club layouts could be run successfully for decades. We had some "doubting Thomases" that thought it was impossible to keep a big layout running well and that we should design a smaller layout like our old 2500 sq. ft. club. I would point to the Pasadena Club and say if they can keep a 5000 sq. ft. layout running, we can, too. So thanks for that!
I've had the good fortune to visit Paul's South Shore Club a few times, and even met Paul on one or two occasions. I can attest to the professional way the layout is built and maintained. Unfortunately, I lived on the other side of the Boston highway system, or I might have considered becoming a member myself.
Given the size and layout of the building and the trains within, I would say it's one of the most pleasant clubs I've ever visited.
Thanks!We're actually working on a new chunk of the layout right now. It's going to replace a temporary staging yard that is currently in use. The new area is a switching area for a local freight, and includes an ocean beach scene, a fishing harbor, a brass drawbridge (the Gloucester drawbridge, actually), the end of our trolley line in an 18"R loop, a junk yard (cutting up steam engines...we have a lot of steam parts), and several other industries. It will also have us run as one giant loop for train shows instead of having two like we do now.