Big Beast wrote: A few days ago I watched a guy run a DCC train on a club layout. I watched him walk around following the train. I then looked over at the other guy working the yard with DC hearing the clicking from the switches turning blocks on and off flipping switches. I turned back to look at the guy with the DCC. As I watched I realised it wasnt for me. The guy working the yard looked like some tower dispatcher directing the yard while the guy with the (remote control ) looked like a zombie.
A few days ago I watched a guy run a DCC train on a club layout. I watched him walk around following the train. I then looked over at the other guy working the yard with DC hearing the clicking from the switches turning blocks on and off flipping switches. I turned back to look at the guy with the DCC. As I watched I realised it wasnt for me. The guy working the yard looked like some tower dispatcher directing the yard while the guy with the (remote control ) looked like a zombie.
I watch trains railside and most all of the switches are controlled by the Dispatcher, someplace in Omaha. Except for some local switching, the railroads are run by sitting on the engine. We cannot do that trick in HO, but we can follow it around. How the person acts is either to his credit or detracts from his credit. I really like following the models around and enjoy diming the headlights for meets, blowing the whistle for crossings and ringing the bell around stations or areas that require that action. We really only get out what we put into something.
Home layouts and large club layouts are really different in operating procedures. If you watched a club that can run a hundred plus car train with mid and rear DPU's, you would appreciate DCC. It can actually allows manned or DPU helpers on large trains. Don't try this in DC mode.
Most prototype mainlines are controlled by a dispatcher and most mainline switches are controlled from many many miles away.
Most high quality DCC controller models can be run at 1 mph or less, which is important to me.
No matter which you choose, you can still have a lot of fun in DC or DCC.
Enjoy / Cheers
I've had both types of layouts and would much rather run the train than run the layout. I've kept one of my old control panels around to explain the difference to the non-train types and remind me how much extra wiring and stuff I don't need with DCC.
Tilden
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
i don't know if anyone here is familiar with the Belt Railway of Chicago, but they have remote control switches to cross over on the yard leads from the main line, and also on the west end of the west receiving yards. all ya have to do is "tone up" the switch, check the route, throw it if ya have to (from the radio!), and pull! does that make ME a zombie because my engineer can get us lined up while we're still outside the yard, instead of stopping an 11,000 ton train just to check one switch on the other side of a curve?? that's what's better with dcc-it saves you time and you CAN recreate almost anything in the world of railroading.
I'd like to see that switch flipping guy run 2 switchers in the yard and also set up for the incomming freight on track 2-3?.
DCC allows the control of muliple locos, I can have 2 assingned on each knob of the DT400 for say working the yard. can align the turnouts for the incoming train and the operator can take it into the yard.
Years ago I used to enjoy sitting at a cab and flipping the block toggles. Does keep you on your toes. Once the train is out of sight from the cab the CTC is your only hope of knowing what's going on. Thought I would never get into DCC control, now I could never go back.
The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
I think DCC rocks, but it can get you into trouble (and not just $$ trouble). I have to chuckle when the instructions say "You can operate up to X number of trains". I tried to run just two the other day (by myself) and it got ugly pretty quick! I know what the instructions meant to say, but it's tempting to operate a few at a time, and since most of us work alone, it can lead to trouble!
Personally, I have a mix of DC and DCC. Trains are DCC but everything else is DC (turnouts, etc.) I am not that electronically savy to wire all the accessories for DCC, nor do I want to. To me, I like the "personal" feeling of manually changing turnouts, etc. Also, it forces you to pay attention to what's going on.
i guess if i had a model railroad i'd want to recreate what actually occurs.
Hi. If a zombie can follow a locomotive that can run into another locomotive on the same "block" using DCC control, then he should be a happy zombie. No interlocking tower wannabee with DC block control every got two DC locos to kiss noses in the same block...unless he rewires the motors, of course.
I do see your point, especially in a yard. But the fellow acting like the interlocking tower guy doesn't get to play with trains, he just switches them. Mind you, with DCC, I can just as easily reach in and flick turnout points manually, or I can use a stationary decoder.
It is nice to see that more progress is being made in the DC world to get better realism. I don't see that as a waste of time or resources, and if it adds a late-life zing to DCers everywhere, great!
Signed
A happy zombie
you guys may think that until you realize you can pretty much recreate anything that REAL railroads do with DCC...
d
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.