I did see at MB Klein's the other day the NCE silent decoder that replaces the D13SRJ 9 pin, now smaller and called just D13J at just under $19 each. Hmmmmmmm? let's see 300 @ $19 = $5700. No problemo!
P.S. Have they had run on them since I looked, no singles left, but a couple of the 4 packs (works out to $17.50 ea. and the 10 packs @ $16.40 ea.) The 4's are identified as D13J-4 and the 10's as D13J-10.
Was there a rule that stated you had to buy all of your decoders at the same time? If there was I missed the memo. I have quite few locomotives myself and not all are DCC equipped. Of those that are even fewer are run regularly. Many are conversions of older brass which also require remotoring. You eat the elephant one bite at a time. There is also good reason not to take the plunge, as has been state above. For myself, the low voltage performance on DCC blows away that of straight DC. Especially important with steamers. I also like control of the features, but to each his own.