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KPack:
As always seems to happen, Railpro got brought up again in a thread about DCC and wireless control.  (Thread is here in case you want to roll your eyes: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/41479).  I never get tired of hearing diehard DCC guys bash Railpro and defend their "precious".  I do the same when it comes to Railpro.  I understand the arguments and get where they are coming from in regards to Railpro.

However, I honestly don't understand why people love DCC so much.  I went over a friend's place today to help build his layout, and when he went to test run a new locomotive the crap hit the fan.  The whole system went crazy.  Multiple shorts and faults, unable to issue any commands, unable to select or control any locomotives, locomotives take off at full speed, etc.  And the system was working fine an hour before that.  I tried looking through the Digitrax manuals to help, but they were worthless.  Couldn't help but be reminded of trying get something working on an old MS DOS computer.  The whole time I kept thinking that setting up the layout with 3 PWR-56's would've saved all the headache....no more power supply+command station+booster+circuit panels+loconet.

If you like DCC you can keep it.  I've been around it enough to know that I hate it.  Give me Railpro any day of the week and I will happily enjoy running trains.

-Kevin

G8B4Life:
I deliberately tried to avoid reading that thread when I saw it when it was posted, somehow I just knew what it'd turn into though I'm kind of surprised it took more than a couple of pages to do so.

You are 100% right Kevin, they bash RailPro to defend their "precious" though some (at least one) are starting to see the light in that the traditional command station should be going away and the throttle itself should be the brains. The current fascination with WiFi and Bluetooth is interesting in a head shaking way. Ring deliberately chose to implement his own wireless protocol for a reason, same as a system I use at work  chose to implement their own wireless protocol, along with many others in industries doing the same; WiFi and Bluetooth are not the be all and end all of wireless communications.


--- Quote ---I went over a friend's place today to help build his layout, and when he went to test run a new locomotive the crap hit the fan
--- End quote ---

Yep, sounds just like an associates blog that I follow. He's a DigiTrax user and he's forever having problems on the large layout he's building. I too keep thinking a few PWR-56's and problem solved.


--- Quote ---trying get something working on an old MS DOS computer
--- End quote ---

Don't you go dissing my beloved DOS 6.22  ;)

Anyway...


--- Quote ---If you like DCC you can keep it
--- End quote ---

This +1. While DCC in itself isn't hard for me understand under the hood give me RailPro any day, while not perfect because of imposed "commercial decision" limitations it's still better. DCC lost me the day I had a loco on a club layout and it started moving back and forth of it's own accord. Yep, someone else had put the exact same model (so same address) on the layout and started running.

- Tim

Alan:
For perspective I think you have to consider what the masses had before DCC. Block switches and the accompanying hundreds of miles of wire was like pointy sticks and bearskins. DCC must have seemed like magic at the time. Additionally, the protocol not being a proprietary secret gave the DCC ecosystem a big advantage over RP in that small manufacturers can join the fray. Protothrottle being a prime example.

The world today has become cell phone-centric. It is not surprising model railroaders gravitate that direction. They have a powerful computer in their hands, if only the train had the other half of the equation. You can't blame them for seeking such.

I liken DCC/RailPro to my experiences as a twenty-something gearhead wrenching on cars. Saabs were extraordinarily well engineered cars and an absolute joy to drive and work on. Yet they were outnumbered by Fords and Chevys a million to one.

trainman605:
Since I have both type of systems, but not in the same scale, on my HOn3 layout I have NCE DCC which my Blackstone engines all came with Tsunami DCC decoders as standard equipment and it works very well for that scale. I have watched KPack's RailPro videos on YouTube and I can see where RailPro works in the HO diesels very well, much larger engines to deal with. As far as G scale goes I have never had a system in my engines till I put RailPro battery power in them, I will say here I think I made the perfect choice for my use. I did give NCE DCC some consideration for my G scale layout as it is indoors, but I just thought the RailPro battery powered engines would be so much more fun to run, plus I do belong to a Garden RR Club and I can just take my G scale engines and run them anywhere without concerns for power requirements. Control systems are for what works for you, I personally don't see why anyone would want DCC in any outdoor layout, when you can get battery power and just run your engines and forget about all those electrical concerns.

trainman

nodcc4me:
In the club that I used to be a member of, there were only two guys out of at least a dozen who knew anything about DCC. I watched them spend hours at the computer in an attempt to modify settings in locomotives, and often to no avail. There were frequently issues with the Wi-Fi, and the wheels on my locomotives would always foul up with track goop, despite cleaning the tracks. My user name sums it up.  ;)

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