by Desertdweller
Scotty,
I am glad to hear you are living in a community that supports model railroading. In many parts of the country, model railroad clubs are in the decline. Where I live, my local N-scale model railroad club was 120 miles away, before it lost its lease on its clubhouse. I still paid my dues and belonged to it as long as it held together, making trips to the monthly meetings and running my trains on the club railroad.
I strongly suspect the decline in model railroad clubs is closely related to the demise of the local hobby shop. The LHS provides a place where modelers can identify each other and form bonds and clubs. As these shops close, the opportunity for model railroaders to discover each other is lost.
Let's face it. Model railroading is basically a solo activity. While it can be an enjoyable group activity, it does not have to be to enjoy it. But then, that makes it all the more difficult for beginners to learn from the experienced model railroaders.
When I got started, I was able to join an O-scale club that had been around since the 1930's. I built an inexpensive car kit so I would have something of my own to run. I learned a great deal from those guys.
This group disbanded when their railroad was destroyed in a fire. I then joined an HO club that became an N-Trak when they lost their layout space. I left them in 1986 when I relocated for a job move. Every club I belonged to gave me education and friends. I was also able to help new modelers because of these clubs.
When the club I belonged to 120 miles west of here closed, so did the local hobby shop there. There was no relationship between the two, except that the shop was frequented by club members because it was handy and the owner was friendly to the club. Another pretty good hobby shop exists 120 miles south of me, and another 50 miles east of me. That is my LHS, but I don't know how long it will last.
I will take issue with you as to availability of reasonably priced equipment. We have one local model railroad show a year, with few vendors of either new or used stuff. I rather suspect a lot of the used items are worn out. I don't think we can support this hobby on garage-sale trains. Our beginning model railroaders deserve new equipment at reasonable prices.
When us Baby Boomers were getting started in the 1960's, we had a number of manufacturers supporting our HO hobby. The lowest-priced products were AHM, Life-Like, Tyco, and Bachmann. Mid-range products were produced by Athearn, Atlas, MDC,and Con-Cor. High-end stuff was brass, beginning with Tenshodo and progressing up through Pacific Fast Mail and Key and Gem. My "top shelf" stuff was Athearn and Con-Cor, and I aspired to Tenshodo.
What do we have now? Bachmann and Life-Like have become respectable mid-range manufacturers. AHM and Tyco are dead. Athearn, Atlas, and Con-Cor, with Kato, are the new Tenshodo. High-end brass has priced itself out of the market.
I think a company like Atlas could do a great service to this hobby, and therefore to itself also, if it would aggressively market its DC control system as an affordable alternative to DCC. They already make the basic control components needed. MRC still makes great DC powerpacks, and they now make a DC pack that can activate on-board sound. Couple this with a line of true DC locomotives (not DCC locos with a chip that can be disabled to run on DC) and a newcomer might still have a chance to build a model railroad that is something beyond "a trainset on a board". Remember, money saved on simple control systems can be spent on other model railroad equipment.
I think the DCC control systems have been oversold, anyway. Do you remember when they were first introduced? A big selling point was "you'll only need to connect two wires to your railroad!" Now we find that to make DCC reliable, it requires more feeder wires than DC. DCC requires constant power on the rails, a potential safety hazard. All existing DC locos would require receivers, many would require the frame to be milled to provide clearance for receivers.
Would you buy a used DCC loco from a vendor at a model show, or from a garage sale? I would buy, and have bought, DC locos that way. You can tear them down and troubleshoot them if they don't run. The worst thing you can find is a bad motor. But a used DCC loco that won't run? I wouldn't know where to begin. How could you tell a bad decoder chip from a bad motor?
Les
I am glad to hear you are living in a community that supports model railroading. In many parts of the country, model railroad clubs are in the decline. Where I live, my local N-scale model railroad club was 120 miles away, before it lost its lease on its clubhouse. I still paid my dues and belonged to it as long as it held together, making trips to the monthly meetings and running my trains on the club railroad.
I strongly suspect the decline in model railroad clubs is closely related to the demise of the local hobby shop. The LHS provides a place where modelers can identify each other and form bonds and clubs. As these shops close, the opportunity for model railroaders to discover each other is lost.
Let's face it. Model railroading is basically a solo activity. While it can be an enjoyable group activity, it does not have to be to enjoy it. But then, that makes it all the more difficult for beginners to learn from the experienced model railroaders.
When I got started, I was able to join an O-scale club that had been around since the 1930's. I built an inexpensive car kit so I would have something of my own to run. I learned a great deal from those guys.
This group disbanded when their railroad was destroyed in a fire. I then joined an HO club that became an N-Trak when they lost their layout space. I left them in 1986 when I relocated for a job move. Every club I belonged to gave me education and friends. I was also able to help new modelers because of these clubs.
When the club I belonged to 120 miles west of here closed, so did the local hobby shop there. There was no relationship between the two, except that the shop was frequented by club members because it was handy and the owner was friendly to the club. Another pretty good hobby shop exists 120 miles south of me, and another 50 miles east of me. That is my LHS, but I don't know how long it will last.
I will take issue with you as to availability of reasonably priced equipment. We have one local model railroad show a year, with few vendors of either new or used stuff. I rather suspect a lot of the used items are worn out. I don't think we can support this hobby on garage-sale trains. Our beginning model railroaders deserve new equipment at reasonable prices.
When us Baby Boomers were getting started in the 1960's, we had a number of manufacturers supporting our HO hobby. The lowest-priced products were AHM, Life-Like, Tyco, and Bachmann. Mid-range products were produced by Athearn, Atlas, MDC,and Con-Cor. High-end stuff was brass, beginning with Tenshodo and progressing up through Pacific Fast Mail and Key and Gem. My "top shelf" stuff was Athearn and Con-Cor, and I aspired to Tenshodo.
What do we have now? Bachmann and Life-Like have become respectable mid-range manufacturers. AHM and Tyco are dead. Athearn, Atlas, and Con-Cor, with Kato, are the new Tenshodo. High-end brass has priced itself out of the market.
I think a company like Atlas could do a great service to this hobby, and therefore to itself also, if it would aggressively market its DC control system as an affordable alternative to DCC. They already make the basic control components needed. MRC still makes great DC powerpacks, and they now make a DC pack that can activate on-board sound. Couple this with a line of true DC locomotives (not DCC locos with a chip that can be disabled to run on DC) and a newcomer might still have a chance to build a model railroad that is something beyond "a trainset on a board". Remember, money saved on simple control systems can be spent on other model railroad equipment.
I think the DCC control systems have been oversold, anyway. Do you remember when they were first introduced? A big selling point was "you'll only need to connect two wires to your railroad!" Now we find that to make DCC reliable, it requires more feeder wires than DC. DCC requires constant power on the rails, a potential safety hazard. All existing DC locos would require receivers, many would require the frame to be milled to provide clearance for receivers.
Would you buy a used DCC loco from a vendor at a model show, or from a garage sale? I would buy, and have bought, DC locos that way. You can tear them down and troubleshoot them if they don't run. The worst thing you can find is a bad motor. But a used DCC loco that won't run? I wouldn't know where to begin. How could you tell a bad decoder chip from a bad motor?
Les