I think this is a sensible post. All I would add is that it's not necessary to
use all the fancy features of DCC to make it worthwhile. I gave up on my
Digitrax system because I didn't use it enough to memorize the features I
wanted to use. I had to keep reading the manual. My MRC Wireless is much more
intuitive. I'm not trying to plug MRC, but the controls are different on each
system. Some are much easier to use than others. For the same level of
control as DC, I find DCC much easier. It's kind of like a cell phone. If all
you want to do is make calls, it sure is easy. If you want to go beyond that,
the features are there to be discovered.
But what's all this talk about consisting and helper engines? I thought all
you S guys did was run in circles :o)
By the way, Train Sim is boring. Get Trainplayer.
Ed Kozlowsky
Pieter Roos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi Bob;
Man, I think I'd better go back to writing class before I post any more. I'm
not sure anybody understood what I was saying.
The question was rhetorical, because Bob Werre said that DCC was needed to run
a helper backwards in the same train as locomotives running forward. He really
knows that isn't so, as do I, and I was trying to make the point that nobody
has to rewire a diesel to run them back to back and the same applies to steam
helpers.
What Bob Werre SHOULD have said, and did in his later post, is that DCC makes
it easier to cut in and out the helper engine. You can do it with DC, but you
need to have set up your electrical blocks correctly to allow for it. You can a
lot of things in block DC that you can do with DCC, but you do a lot of
up-front work with wiring and toggle switches and then have to explain it to
anyone who is going operate. Want to have the train on the passing track keep a
dimmed headlight on while the mainline express passes? Wire up some batteries
and reed switches for the lights in each locomotive and you can probably do it,
but it's a standard feature in DCC.
The best description I ever heard (and the reason I will be converting to DCC)
is that with block controlled DC , you run the layout. With DCC, you run a
locomotive.
Beyond this, it's a choice of what you want to do and are comfortable with. If
you don't want to do DCC, there's no reason you should. No reason those who
like it shouldn't use it, either. Arguing about it makes as much sense as
arguing over scale vs. highrail - ohh no, let's not go THERE again!
Pieter Roos
Robert Nicholson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: --- In [email protected],
Pieter Roos
wrote:
>
> Ahhhh, Bob;
>
> Lets think about this for a second. Did you ever have to wire an F
unit backward to make up an A-B-A loco set?
_________________________________________
I've got so much feedback that I'll try to answer all that Emailed me
personally as time permits. However, I did want to answer Pieter's
question: no, DC locomotives, wired correctly, all run the same
direction, no matter which way they are facing.
However, I get the impression everybody here thinks I'm dead set
against DCC. That is not the case, but it does have some drawbacks,
cost and the learning curve being two of them. If it's that simple,
why does Model Railroader devote 2 or 3 pages in every issue telling
people how to use it.
DCC is just not in my best interests right now for the reasons given.
How long will it be before we just run out and buy a "train-sim"
program and sit in front of our wide-screen digital TV's with a Game
Boy and forget about building a model railroad altogether.
That's not what I want, how about you?
Bob Nicholson
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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