Joined
·
522 Posts
Please, let me start out by saying very very clearly that I don't want this to turn into any kind of argument. But I genuinely do want to hear both pros and cons of going digital, in the simplest possible terms. Detail can come later if we ( I really mean YOU experts!) can first establish the main sub-areas for consideration and discussion.
It would be great if the topic could progress in an orderly way that might serve as something of a digital check list, not just for me, but for any visitor who was toying with digital but perhaps a little shy of asking questions, or of feeling foolish. I may well even ask questions to which I think I alread know the answers, not only to confirm that my thoughts are on the right lines, but to fill in the gaps for other beginners.
I don't have any digital kit as yet and am not sure that I will ever go that way. I'm honestly in two minds about it and am sitting on the fence - have been for years!
I can see some nifty attractions, the more obvious and attractive (to ME) being constant lighting and possibly sound.
I suspect that one reality is that some enthusiasts use digital as a prestige symbol and also 'just because they can'. Sometimes, it seems that the technology itself may be be the main attraction, rather than it being of any great innate practical advantage. In no way is that reason 'wrong', it just isn't a persuasive one for me personally.
I'm also rather surprised at how much bother the various systems seem to create with apparent unreliability and a surprising amount of incompatibility, neither of which I had expected after all this time. Even if totally idiot proofed, I'm not sure that digital would be of more than marginal advantage when my prime requirement is simply to run a lot of trains under fully automatic control, which entails a good deal of track sectioning, no matter what.
Other than double heading, which I would almost never envisage for a layout of mine, when would I need two locos under separate control on the same section? For an auto system to work effectively, trains need to be kept apart in electrical blocks, hence my doubts as to advantages of digital control.
I am very concerned at the number of comments I read that older 3-pole motors just aren't amenable to digital control, full stop (That's a period for Dennis!). This is a huge deterrent to someone with a good stable of existing locos, painstakingly built up over many years.
The other obvious area for concern is price.
Digital systems are expensive, some of them horrendously so. I know there are cheaper starter systems, but they atill aren't cheap compared with orthodox control and the impression I have gained (and this could be very wrong), is that starter systems are not very expandable, could be dead ends and thus money down the drain, even in the relatively short run. PLEASE straighten me out if I have this wrong.
I may well think of other questions, but this should give us a good starting point, I hope.
It would be great if the topic could progress in an orderly way that might serve as something of a digital check list, not just for me, but for any visitor who was toying with digital but perhaps a little shy of asking questions, or of feeling foolish. I may well even ask questions to which I think I alread know the answers, not only to confirm that my thoughts are on the right lines, but to fill in the gaps for other beginners.

I don't have any digital kit as yet and am not sure that I will ever go that way. I'm honestly in two minds about it and am sitting on the fence - have been for years!
I can see some nifty attractions, the more obvious and attractive (to ME) being constant lighting and possibly sound.
I suspect that one reality is that some enthusiasts use digital as a prestige symbol and also 'just because they can'. Sometimes, it seems that the technology itself may be be the main attraction, rather than it being of any great innate practical advantage. In no way is that reason 'wrong', it just isn't a persuasive one for me personally.
I'm also rather surprised at how much bother the various systems seem to create with apparent unreliability and a surprising amount of incompatibility, neither of which I had expected after all this time. Even if totally idiot proofed, I'm not sure that digital would be of more than marginal advantage when my prime requirement is simply to run a lot of trains under fully automatic control, which entails a good deal of track sectioning, no matter what.
Other than double heading, which I would almost never envisage for a layout of mine, when would I need two locos under separate control on the same section? For an auto system to work effectively, trains need to be kept apart in electrical blocks, hence my doubts as to advantages of digital control.
I am very concerned at the number of comments I read that older 3-pole motors just aren't amenable to digital control, full stop (That's a period for Dennis!). This is a huge deterrent to someone with a good stable of existing locos, painstakingly built up over many years.
The other obvious area for concern is price.
Digital systems are expensive, some of them horrendously so. I know there are cheaper starter systems, but they atill aren't cheap compared with orthodox control and the impression I have gained (and this could be very wrong), is that starter systems are not very expandable, could be dead ends and thus money down the drain, even in the relatively short run. PLEASE straighten me out if I have this wrong.
I may well think of other questions, but this should give us a good starting point, I hope.
