13. Lucky For Some.
I've deferred writing another blog in the hope that I might have some real progress to report. Sadly, apart from the usual trickle of purchases, I'm still unable to get onto building the railway room owing to other commitments.
The following may end-up being filed under 'Daft Ideas', but then again.......
I was recently corresponding with another modeller, seeking to expand my knowledge - and the subject of DC/DCC entered the dialogue. Now, even not having run DCC trains myself, I can see their obvious manyfold advantages - especially if we include sound etc - which really appeals to me. Model railways are, to me at least, an animated diorama, so anything that helps animate and bring the scene to life is a 'Good Thing', be that sound, smoke lights, movement or whatever. However, the 'elephant in the room' is clearly cost. The problem for me isn't the cost of the static components - I've managed to collect quite a lot very much on the cheap, secondhand. The problem is the chips/decoders - call them what you will.
If one has a few locos, them £10 per loco for a basic chip really isn't going to break the bank. However - if you have a lot of locos, then the cost is substantial - prohibitive even. I've got quite a few locos - so this really is an issue for me.
If we look at the cheapest sound decoders (Hornby TTS.), these seem to run out at around £35. The proper sound chips are over £100.
Now let's say you have fifty locos - and many folk do....;-
DC = £0.00
DCC = £500.00
DCCS = £1,750.00 (Hornby TTS.)
DCCS = £5,000.00
Clearly, if the number of locos is large it really does get eye-wateringly expensive........and if sound-chipped - stratospherically so....! You have two hundred locos...? That'll be £20,000.00 extra please sir....! Yikes....
Obviously, if you have quite a few locos, some sort of rational compromise is required. A local club has their trackwork switchable between DC and DCC - and this seems a thoroughly excellent idea for starters - and I'm pretty sure I will use this great idea to maximise flexibility. My corespondent also pointed out the great advantage that friends visiting who wish to run non-DCC locos can still do do with a system that is switchable. I'm sold on the idea already...!
If one wants to stay with all DCC, there may be other, additional solutions - some of which may seem a bit odd.....but bear with me...
One solution would be to have mounting for the chip and speaker in the lead train vehicle with a removable roof. That vehicle could also pick-up the power and feed the loco motor via the chip. Locos and chips could be swapped at will. This might work very well for me, since I will have permanent rakes of vehicles marshalled in storage sidings and have no interest whatsoever in shunting - only running the trains. I will always have less trains than locos, so this seems to make sense..... This idea also offers the ability to also use much better, larger speakers too. The locos would need to be only very slightly modified with a fly-lead/plug-socket underneath for quick interchangeability. The loco's feed from the wheels would have to be cut and a miniature plug and socket fitted. There would be a lead under the tender with a plug hidden underneath for the coach/van hook-up. In principle, to go from DC to DCC would then only require the swapping of the plug from the loco's own pick-ups to the fly-lead under the tender.
Cost;- Pennies.
Difficulty level;- Very low.
This system might also make it easier to use DCC with some older models - and 'visiting locos', equipped with the same plug, could be switched from DC to DCC in literally seconds....
In my case - I will only have a limited number of trains, but many more locos, so this option might make sense. That lead DCC coach could also be put on other trains in a jiffy too - even further expanding the availability of DCC-running, but without needing a chip for every train even. Anyway - I'm estimating I'll end up with around three locos for every train available. If I only need one decoder for every three trains, that's around a 66% saving. Sure - not every sound chip is perfect for every other loco - but you get the drift....
Yet another advantage of this system would be that you could have sound for a small or awkward loco - especially tank engines - that simply have little or no room to fit full sound.
Perhaps the obvious question is - has anyone already done this - and if not - why not....? Knowing the vast breadth of knowledge and experience on RM-Web - I'm sure someone will have the answer...
Feedback appreciated - positive or negative.
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