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90 Posts
Hi Neil
If you're after taking a bit of a straw poll here i'm afraid i'm not going to be much help. I have to sit on the fence and can see both sides point of view.
I am involved in building a new exhibition layout with a bunch of mates that is going to have only dcc control of locomotives. Point control, route control and signalling are all going to be run conventionally at the beginning but with an eye on introducing DCC / computer control at a later stage. My mates are seasoned modellers with conventional control layouts but are pretty much DCC virgins so don't feel terribly confident with the technology at the moment. So a decision was taken on three points, the first being cost, the second Knowledge and the third Time.
Being an ECoS and RR&Co owner, for my own layout i intend to go the whole hog and DCC control pretty much everything possible. I don't have the time constraint of exhibition dates already booked for mid 2008. On my layout i can spread the cost and learning curve over as long as i like and then through a process of demonstration to my mates i'll be able to (hopefully) transfer the acquired knowledge, familiiarity and confidence in the technology both to them and the exhibition layout over the next couple of years or so.
So. personally i'd go for DCC every time but my 3 mates are pushing back against it for the time being. That's a 1:4 ratio and in my opinion is probably a fairly true representation of where most of the modelling community lies. As new generations of modellers progress through the hobby this will change. DCC has been around for about 30 years in one form or another and it's only the past 3 or so years where it is even beginning to become anywhere near close to mainstream. Down at the club, there are still looks of absolute terror from most of the members when i hook my ecos up to the club layout for a DCC session.
Mark
If you're after taking a bit of a straw poll here i'm afraid i'm not going to be much help. I have to sit on the fence and can see both sides point of view.
I am involved in building a new exhibition layout with a bunch of mates that is going to have only dcc control of locomotives. Point control, route control and signalling are all going to be run conventionally at the beginning but with an eye on introducing DCC / computer control at a later stage. My mates are seasoned modellers with conventional control layouts but are pretty much DCC virgins so don't feel terribly confident with the technology at the moment. So a decision was taken on three points, the first being cost, the second Knowledge and the third Time.
Being an ECoS and RR&Co owner, for my own layout i intend to go the whole hog and DCC control pretty much everything possible. I don't have the time constraint of exhibition dates already booked for mid 2008. On my layout i can spread the cost and learning curve over as long as i like and then through a process of demonstration to my mates i'll be able to (hopefully) transfer the acquired knowledge, familiiarity and confidence in the technology both to them and the exhibition layout over the next couple of years or so.
So. personally i'd go for DCC every time but my 3 mates are pushing back against it for the time being. That's a 1:4 ratio and in my opinion is probably a fairly true representation of where most of the modelling community lies. As new generations of modellers progress through the hobby this will change. DCC has been around for about 30 years in one form or another and it's only the past 3 or so years where it is even beginning to become anywhere near close to mainstream. Down at the club, there are still looks of absolute terror from most of the members when i hook my ecos up to the club layout for a DCC session.
Mark
