Hi gang. I was talking to a guy at work the other day who just installed DCC on his layout and asked me why I haven't yet. I explained to him that because my layout is so small I can only run one train at a time per track without it looking crowded. I also prefer things that are old school simple - I mean you're looking at someone that still drives a stick shift truck and carrys a Cricket cell phone around if that'll tell you anything... So is there anyone else out there that's not into DCC ?.
Tracklayer
I do have DCC on my HO layout mainly because I only have a 1 track main & want to run more than 1 train on it. I have a fairly large 20.3 outdoor layout that is not DCC. & am working on an HOn3 layout that will not be DCC. I would have to buy a complete system for each of the other 2 layouts & the large scale decoders are pricey. DCC is good in some situations, but not all. jerry
I will have a small (very small!) HOn30 mining section in one corner of my HO layout which will remain DC. I'm certain that I will only be running one locomotive at a time and there will only be four turnouts. Besides, fitting a decoder into the critters would be difficult and I just don't see the need.
The HO layout will be DCC.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Raises hand.
I know this one.
The answer is Sheldon (not the one played by Jim Parsons).
Andre
My N-scale layout is DC and it will stay DC. I will admit that if I were starting over, I'd go DCC but that's not going to happen.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
Oh god, not another Sheldon hates DCC thread. Help us all.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Motley Oh god, not another Sheldon hates DCC thread. Help us all.
When I finally do get to build a layout, it will most likely be DC. I am interested in DCC, but I personally know no one whose is DCC that can teach me how to set it all up. Cost is another reason. I have the luck of Yukon Cornelius and unless I find that silver and gold, there will not be any change in operating systems.
Robert H. Shilling II
There are plenty of DC users still out there. But they tend to lie low and keep their mouths shut because of the reactions similar to what you experienced. I don't enjoy spending my time with fellow modelers having to explain and justify myself. There seems to be an inability on some to too many to accept that the latest trend is not everybody's cup of tea. I should no more have to justify my choice of DC than they should their choice of DCC.
But the same could be said of many current trends - how many don't buy their locomotives RTR any more? How many still build passenger cars from kits? Build their own throttles? Hand lay track? Have a free-lance prototype and paint schemes? And are OK with the result of a much smaller layout, roster, and slower progress than might be achieved going the RTR route? Those that do these things tend to be looked upon as between somewhat eccentric and fully certifiable.
That said, I am currently in dual mode at home because the HOn3 modular club uses DCC. DC would be impractical for a modular layout that is never the same from one setup to the next; a point to point layout (with branches) that features as many as 10 trains running at once. OTOH, if it weren't for the club, DCC would be a waste of money and effort for my around-the-bedroom-walls home layout.
As a side note, it is interesting to note that despite the overall excellent modeling of the club, there are very, very few non-Blackstone locomotives running at any given setup.
just my thoughts and experiences
Fred W
I too am still in plain DC. For my small switching RR there has simply been no reason to spend the funds a DCC system would cost. I can only run one locomotive at a time in a four car train and have a total of one runaround track and six turnouts. The only value DCC would add for me is if sound improves to a point where I add it. Yes, I know there's another thread for sound; it's just not there yet to my ear. But then I also still build structures with wood, card, and balsa.
Before you assume I'm technophobic, on the contrary my job is on the bleeding edge (I'm sort of like Leonard, wishing I could be Sheldon). It's I just use my hobbies to get away from that and enjoy the hand labor and craftsmanship that goes into a scratchbuilt structure or handlaid siding.
And to be honest (sorry going to go editorial for a second), I believe it helps me be a better scientist by connecting directly to the craftsmen who build what we think up. We are getting way too many young engineers in who have never touched a tool or built anything outside a CAD model who don't realize that not everything that can be designed on a computer screen can actually be built on the shop floor. (editorial mode off now)
Yep, all DC here! Around the walls on three sides, one main line. I've thought about DCC from time to time as it would allow me to run some small switching while the main is running, but that may get over my head! If ever I get to do it again though.....
Duane
DCC is fine for layouts with multiple operators, and I have no interest in converting those folks to DC operations.
My thoughts are that if a train is running, there should be someone actively engaged in running it, and since I prefer to operate alone, one train in motion at a time is all that's needed or wanted. While my layout is medium-size, the wiring is extremely simple. Any of my locomotives will run fine with any others, so almost all trains are doubleheaded, and pushers are used when necessary - there's no need to re-programme anything. Lights on trains were fun when I was a kid, but they seem toy-like to me now, and after spending almost 40 years in a steel mill, I do not want any extraneous sound.
I have operated on DCC layouts, and it's well-suited to multiple operators, so I can't say that it's bad, but it's simply of no use on my own layout.
Wayne
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
While I plan to have a large layout at some point, I won't DCC it either for three main reasons.
First, the layout I have and the planned expansion (whenever that happens) is set up for block control which would require rewiring the whole thing.
Secondly, for the number of powered engines I have (20+) it would be prohibitively expensive to convert.
Third, some of the engines I have would take lots of work to convert. Four 2-6-0 steamers which are too small for most HO decoders that are made and I don't want wires from the tender. I had an engine that was that way and it was a pain to run. I also have a few it would require a major rework of the engine.
DC or DCC, it does not matter, we are running trains and having fun. I am DCC and have been almost from the begining. I run a few trains at a times at the same time and it would be a hand full if I was doing DC but if DC was what I always knew for my size of my layout then why change.
AAAARGH!!!!
It makes the 9th circle of Hell look positively inviting, doesn't it?
Me too, though I fully appreciate the qualities of a good DCC system. My layout is small enough for one operator, complex enough to occaisionally have more than one train running and yet the old DC block system with Atlas slide and push buttons for controlling the action. Anachronistic and contrarian, yes, but it works and fits the miserly back story of the neighborhood that my Cascade Valley RR dwells in.
I am truely grateful to all those who have larger, fancier and much more cutting edge layouts than what I have, because their efforts do keep the hobby moving forward. Good modeling is not just a game of resourses, nor is it a race to see who builds the fastest. If such were the case, there would only be one great modeler at a time and the rest of us would get to enjoy feeling inept until our individual moment surfaced. Personally, it is the gradual improvement in skills, the solving of self created problems (dang, why is that spur shorting out again,etc.) and the steady creation of a "might have been" or a recognizeable place in time or the real sized world for others to enjoy that engenders the most satisfaction.
Don H.
andrechapelonIt makes the 9th circle of Hell look positively inviting, doesn't it?
Yeah, but this one goes to "11", so it's better, isn't it?
I am a DC user and will remain so. On a 25x40 double track 3 cab control, powered with 3 MRC CM 20's, I currently run a train on each of the mains,with three or four engines and fiddle around with the industries and yard with the other cab. One of these days I will completely finish it, but I am in no hurry!. I do have six DCC engines with sound that I usually run for the Grand kids. With all the wiring and switches involved I could easily switch to DCC, BUT, that will never happen, at 71, not in my lifetime anyway!
Frank
I use it all. I have DCC for my S scale, DC for my 2 rail O scale and HO, and AC for my 3 rail O gauge. S scale is my main scale right now, but I still set up the other stuff just for fun.
BTW if you use any cell phone, you're not old school. Old school is 2 cans and a string.
Paul
Personally I admire those who have the ability to keep up with a DC system. I am much too scatterbrained to be able to remember what switch to push when.
Heck, I get fuddled just using my DCC system on my test track. Heaven help me when I actually get two trains running on my layout at the same time. That's why I am trying to find an economical way to have turnouts switch automatically when a train approaches against the switch.
Couldn't learn to play the guitar either.
I'm still DC, for now.
once I get a nice career and a good house with enough space to model the SP&S in it's entirety(selectively compressed) I should have DCC by then.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I am still into DC, because DCC does not make any sense for my 1 train, 1 loco micro layout. The layout will be wired for 1 block, there will be 1 switch only and the loudspeaker for the sound system will be underneath the benchwork, and not in the loco.
Were I to build a larger layout than my little suitcase layout, I´d certainly invest into a DCC system, just because I don´t like wiring. Like with many other things in our hobby, the choice depends on the project your going for.
I have a DC layout 15'x30' run by a Train Engineer system. I hope to eventually go dead rail.
hon30critterCouldn't learn to play the guitar either. Dave
It's a lot easier, than learning how to play an Accordion.
rrebellI hope to eventually go dead rail.
Ah! Live steam.
My layout is nuclear powered, so neither DC nor DCC matters to me. No bus wires, no feeders, no nothing.
I remove the sound that comes on DCC-equipped locos, because the buzzing on the rails would drown out any puny loco sound anyways.
I don't even have to worry about overhead lighting cuz the glow from nuclear power provides an overwhelming luminescence.
Rich
Alton Junction
Both DC 90% of the time DCC/Sound the other 10%..
That MRC Tech 6 is a great little power pack for guys like me that has DCC/Sound locomotives.A simple push of a button and I go from DC mode to DCC..
Its ideal for one engine "suit case" layouts or small one engine ISLs where sound will be used.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
doctorwayne rrebell I hope to eventually go dead rail. Ah! Live steam. Wayne
rrebell I hope to eventually go dead rail.
Ah yes..Live steam..Love it but,out of my range.
I have a 20 by 30 HO scale layout. It is dc at the moment and I am debating wether or not to go dcc. I enjoy the building aspect more than running trains, but the grandkids like operating it. Someone mentioned building their own power supply. I would like to do that but need plans, so where could one get plans for that sort of thing?
Mike