Dc/dcc


aaaaaaaaare you operating in DC or DCC

  • DC

    Votes: 19 38.0%

  • DCC

    Votes: 31 62.0%
  • Total voters
    50
L

Lester Perry

Member
After reading some of the replies to the poll When Will DCC become the standard?. I decided to do this. How do you operate, DC or DCC?
 
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DCC for the past 7 years. Made the switch as soon as I got back into the hobby and moved into my new home. Always wanted DCC but had to wait for prices to come down first.
 
I've had digital locomotives since about 1992. After years (decades?) of gradually upgrading and replacing non-DCC-able locos, my final two analog locomotives are scheduled to be rotated out of the fleet this weekend.
 
Staying with DC. Twenty five years of it and comfortable with it. To me DCC is very complexicated with an almost whole new language to learn.

Doug
 
DC does everything I could possibly desire on my one-man operations layout. At the same time, DCC holds no fascination for me and I'll likely never switch. Why go through all that expenditure of time, effort and considerable funds for no significant gain?

I also think that a much more telling poll regarding the current situation of where DCC is going in the hobby would have included the question of just how long each poster has been seriously into model railroading. Newbies will almost certainly be starting out with DCC these days, but they are relatively few in number. Just how is DCC doing among established hobbyists (those with 8, 10, or more years in the hobby)? Considering the total numbers involved, the latter is far more important in drawing any conclusion than is the former.

NYW&B
 
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Went with dcc as soon i had the money, but still, i keep my dc transformer for the Xmas tree setup. dcc allow me to plug my pc to the layout, cant ask for better !
 
Cheap simple low tech old school DC is just fine because I only have really old small low geared slow running trains...
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The permanent layout will also be small so I'll only be running one train at a time anyways.

I do use a small MRC Tech4 220 controller with momentum and braking for a realistic feel. It's fun anticipating the throttle and braking just as you would if you were operating the heavy moving mass of a real train.:)

Greg
 
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NYW&B said:
DC does everything I could possibly desire on my one-man operations layout. At the same time, DCC holds no fascination for me and I'll likely never switch. Why go through all that expenditure of time, effort and considerable funds for no significant gain?

I also think that a much more telling poll regarding the current situation of where DCC is going in the hobby would have included the question of just how long each poster has been seriously into model railroading. Newbies will almost certainly be starting out with DCC these days, but they are relatively few in number. Just how is DCC doing among established hobbyists (those with 8, 10, or more years in the hobby)? Considering the total numbers involved, the latter is far more important in drawing any conclusion than is the former.

NYW&B
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No significant gain for you personally maybe, but there's lots of diversity in our hobby. As a partial answer to your question. I've been in the hobby seriously for 18 years. The club I belong to has around 70 members. Most are middle aged (50+) and long time modelers. All use DCC. We've all got our reasons for which way we choose to run our trains. There are good reasons to stick with what you've got, and if it works for you, enjoy! The thing is, the perceptions of excessive cost and excessive complexity, and especially of no significant gain are not necessarily true and vary significantly from one modeler and his layout to the next. Having used both I can tell you without prejudice that I get far more enjoyment out of my trains with DCC than without it. There are several related threads currently running and lots of interesting discussion, but I think everyone agrees on "to each his own" :D

I'll bet you felt the same way about computers at some point, and look at you now! ;)
 
Espeefan said:
No significant gain for you personally maybe, but there's lots of diversity in our hobby. As a partial answer to your question. I've been in the hobby seriously for 18 years. The club I belong to has around 70 members. Most are middle aged (50+) and long time modelers. All use DCC. We've all got our reasons for which way we choose to run our trains. There are good reasons to stick with what you've got, and if it works for you, enjoy! The thing is, the perceptions of excessive cost and excessive complexity, and especially of no significant gain are not necessarily true and vary significantly from one modeler and his layout to the next. Having used both I can tell you without prejudice that I get far more enjoyment out of my trains with DCC than without it. There are several related threads currently running and lots of interesting discussion, but I think everyone agrees on "to each his own" :D

I'll bet you felt the same way about computers at some point, and look at you now! ;)
Click to expand...

Alan - I'd have to say that if your club of 70 members are all into DCC on their home layouts; it likely is a situation extremely rare in any group of that size, unless the club's operation discourages DC hobbyists from joining. Certainly, in my experience, I cannot point to any local group of more than a handful in size here where even half of the members run DCC at home. As was indicated by another poster up-stream, the electronics end of the hobby does hold an unbounded appeal for all those of us in the hobby.

Regarding your suggestion that I might once have also been reticent about getting into computers, that was never the case for me and I probably have been using them as a medium of communication longer than most anyone here - better than 30 years now. I welcome with open arms any innovation that truly holds an actual benefit for me, but as I indicated earlier, I operate regularly on a friend's large DCC layout and I can tell you that I see at least 5x the electronic glitches there as compared to my DC home pike. Creating potential operating problems for my currently almost perfectly running layout simply holds no fascination for me at this late date, nor would the conversion of dozens of locomotives that already run superbly. So by all means enjoy your DCC, but it is definitely not for me, thank you.

NYW&B
 
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here is one for ya..

One of the clubs I belong too runs DC and DCC. Talk about a nightmare LOL!!! I agree that this was cool 6 years ago as DCC prices were high but at todays prices and the movement in the hobby DC is no longer needed for such a large layout. For some reason the club is sadly trying to hold onto the DC part yet expanding it in DCC. They dont want to let go of DC with the reason that it may louse membership if they went to 100% DCC. Honestly Yes, we would louse some members but I know for a fact we would gain most of the losses back from people that are tired of DC issues. The talk from most of the members is that they would rather see it as a DCC only layout. What I see from my personal perspective is that a hand full of people are keeping the club down and will not allow it to stay up to speed with the direction the hobby is going.
As far as operations go its very simple, It has 2 single track aeras. When members are down on open house and all are running DCC its fun. All the cabs are set to DCC and we can talk to guests and put a nice show on for them. yards are full of trains entering and switching. We may have nice 100 car trains with helpers on the rear/middle run for hours without any issues. The only issue we may have is when a loco shorts at a turn out. Then a few DC guys shows up and guess what, the layout goes to the bottom and many of us just park it for the day. DC guy runs his blocks and shorts other people in that block, everyone is now chaseing their block panels, trying to stay 2 blocks in front of the train. I know Im just as guilty of these glitches as I was once a DC guy at one time too LOL....Plane and simple its not fun trying to talk to guests, move around the guests, asking guests to move so you can get to a block panel etc... you end up paying more attention to the silly toggle switches and cab panels than watching you nicely detailed equipment run. you know the deal train runs fine all day and the one time someone is watching it someone shorts you out!Not only to mention how much is spent to maintain both DC and DCC and keep them seprate. I know at some point it will switch to 100% DCC but in the mean time I try and stay away when all the DC guys are despretly trying to get their trains to run smoothly. I have my options, Quit or stay. Thats easy but whats hard for me is watching people do things the hard way when there is a simple way right in front of them!!!!!..

;)
 
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NYW&B said:
Alan - I'd have to say that if your club of 70 members are all into DCC on their home layouts; it likely is a situation extremely rare in any group of that size, unless the club's operation discourages DC hobbyists from joining. Certainly, in my experience, I cannot point to any local group of more than a handful in size here where even half of the members run DCC at home. As was indicated by another poster up-stream, the electronics end of the hobby does hold an unbounded appeal for all those of us in the hobby.

Regarding your suggestion that I might once have also been reticent about getting into computers, that was never the case for me and I probably have been using them as a medium of communication longer than most anyone here - better than 30 years now. I welcome with open arms any innovation that truly holds an actual benefit for me, but as I indicated earlier, I operate regularly on a friend's large DCC layout and I can tell you that I see at least 5x the electronic glitches there as compared to my DC home pike. Creating potential operating problems for my currently almost perfectly running layout simply holds no fascination for me at this late date, nor would the conversion of dozens of locomotives that already run superbly. So by all means enjoy your DCC, but it is definitely not for me, thank you.

NYW&B
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Well those that have active layouts do use DCC. The club was originally DC and the membership voted to convert once they saw the capability. We do require DCC on club operated equipment, as we have no DC capability any longer, again a membership decision. I'm not aware of any DC'ers in the membership, but with todays selection of dual mode locos it wouldn't be a problem to live in both worlds.

I also know many older modelers with established layouts that made the switch, and a few that haven't. As to the number of glitches, have your friend look to the quality of his install and original wiring if he kept any of it. You have to install either system correctly or you'll have heartburn :D My club's layout is large, and we have no "glitches" other than the occasional loco "losing it's mind" and having to be taken back to the program track. (Usually a result of an operator error, running against a switch or something)

Even these are pretty rare. My point isn't to sell you or anyone DCC, just to point out that many of the reasons given not to change over (expense, complexity, reliability, lack of benefit) are often overblown and very much in the eye of the beholder. By all means enjoy your DC.
 
I never would have returned to the hobby, if I still had to deal with DC and its wiring nightmare to have multiple trains operating. For a basic DCC layout, all you have to do is connect two power feeds to the rails and you have multiple, bi-directonal, trains running on the same track. What do you have to do for an equivalent DC layout? Also, the operating realism with electronic locomotive control, sound, etc., using DCC far surpasses DC.....(and the DCC manufacturers have only broken the surface of its capabilities.)

Sorry if I hurt feelings, but DC should go the way of vacuum tubes and brass rails....in the dump. JMHO
 
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