04-26-2021, 12:37 PM
This is a fun thread to read.
I was reintroduced to this hobby, gosh what feels like, almost 20 years ago? But not that long ago? The forum was one of the many of firsts that I found. When I was ready to start building the cost of the an NCE DCC Power Cab was $150 brand new off of eBay. To me...starting from scratch...it made sense to jump to DCC right off the bat. Plus my local club uses it too so it seemed like a good fit for me. Plus, I kinda added things as I went along as my budget allowed me to. I wasn't worried that none of my engines had sound at the time, nor that most of my switch machines were hand thrown while some were wired to a DC Wallwart Power supply and DPDT switches peppering the front of my layout. I knew given time, I could slowly gather the required stuff needed so that when I was ready to take the next step I could. So as years went on I purchased decoders and what-not and eventually converted the guts of the layout to entirely DCC operation.
Now...I can't imagine firing up the layout and not hearing the satisfying chuff along with that ghostly whistle of an 0-8-0 switcher and being able to throw a switch from the same cab that moves the engine. ...and if I fire up the laptop and open the WiThrottle, I can use JMRI to run the layout from an app on my phone.
That said. I cannot imagine trying to source and purchase all of the components now. Everything has become much more expensive and I can see how that would put off many people. The appeal of just two wires and a power pack to just to make things move, and some simple hand thrown switches might be exactly what I'd have stuck with. There is a huge appeal to that as well.
I hope that made some sense to you guys?
I was reintroduced to this hobby, gosh what feels like, almost 20 years ago? But not that long ago? The forum was one of the many of firsts that I found. When I was ready to start building the cost of the an NCE DCC Power Cab was $150 brand new off of eBay. To me...starting from scratch...it made sense to jump to DCC right off the bat. Plus my local club uses it too so it seemed like a good fit for me. Plus, I kinda added things as I went along as my budget allowed me to. I wasn't worried that none of my engines had sound at the time, nor that most of my switch machines were hand thrown while some were wired to a DC Wallwart Power supply and DPDT switches peppering the front of my layout. I knew given time, I could slowly gather the required stuff needed so that when I was ready to take the next step I could. So as years went on I purchased decoders and what-not and eventually converted the guts of the layout to entirely DCC operation.
Now...I can't imagine firing up the layout and not hearing the satisfying chuff along with that ghostly whistle of an 0-8-0 switcher and being able to throw a switch from the same cab that moves the engine. ...and if I fire up the laptop and open the WiThrottle, I can use JMRI to run the layout from an app on my phone.
That said. I cannot imagine trying to source and purchase all of the components now. Everything has become much more expensive and I can see how that would put off many people. The appeal of just two wires and a power pack to just to make things move, and some simple hand thrown switches might be exactly what I'd have stuck with. There is a huge appeal to that as well.
I hope that made some sense to you guys?