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I read Lance Mindheim's article in this months MR, in the first section about barriers, he missed an important point: cost of implementation.  It seems that he has dismissed this as an issue for people.  Given his style of model railroading, its understandable.  He does not build large layout empires, or run more than one or two trains at once (from what I have read from his books and published articles).  Individual unit cost of batteries and wireless decoders has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum.  Add in the suggested cost of a wireless headset for sounds.  I already find it a pain to have to charge by phone battery.  Now it is being suggested that in the future I have to charge my trains prior to an op session, and the length of said op session is dictated by battery life?  A quick note about planned obsolescence.  Its not being discussed in the model railroad press, but it is something you see in every day life.  The components you use to make a battery powered train today may not be available in 10 years.   That rechargable battery pack starts to loose amp-hour rating as you use it.  Eventually it will not hold a charge sufficient to complete an operating session.  You may then find yourself searching for a "comparable replacement" since the original design battery is no longer availble.  Great, you'll probably end up with a better battery.  But what are the chances that you will have to modify how the battery is inserted into the locomotive, or the locomotives onboard charging circuitry will have to be replaced?  I do not believe that batteries are the future of model railroading.   I base this on my past experiences with cell phone batteries, and my 9 years experience in the service, where I watched one the most advance battery designs be ruined permanenty by one discharge cycle.  <--That battery is why I am able to type these words today.  Maybe Lance and MR are in the pocket of "big battery"?[:-^]
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