Happy to be aboard

[hirailer]

All registered and ready to go! Thanks Bill for creating this forum. This certainly is a huge improvement over yahoo.

[llxlocomotives]

Yes, thanks Bill for the invite.  I am very interested in this system.  I will probably lurk most of the time, but who knows.
Larry Dunbar

[drisdon]

I joined the forum yesterday as I am very seriously considering selling all my Digitrax equipment and making the switch.  I don't have many locomotives right now with DCC so now would be a great time to switch.  Jacob D. has made several posts recently regarding Railpro on Free-mo which has really made me consider converting. 

One of my biggest pet peeves with DCC is that it is so difficult to make different locomotives run well with each other in a a consist.  It requires using JMRI on a computer with a special programming test track and special connection device like a SPROG, and much time fiddling to speed match locomotives.  It's very frustrating to spend so much time detailing, painting, installing lighting and DCC, and weathering locomotives only when you go to run them they fight each other and drag each other around the layout or just plain won't run together at all.  If you have to spend so much time fiddling with programming and CV adjustment it ceases to be an enjoyable hobby and ends up being work, what's the fun in that? 

From everything I have seen Railpro would really simplify this.  You can take different locomotives and place them on the rails and MU them together and they will run together.  What a concept!  That is how this should be-easy! 

To think that DCC equipped locomotives are ready to run is truly one of the biggest fallacies in model railroading.

Is there any reason I shouldn't switch to Railpro?

I'm also grateful to have been pointed to this forum, there is lots of information and answers to questions.

Thanks,
Dan

[Alan]

Dan,

We are of the same mind. Ease of consisting was the main reason I chose RP. It works as advertised. Couldn't be simpler. The secondary reason for me was getting the control signals off the rails. Consider all the electrical noise, particulate filth, surface oxidation, intermittent electrical contact from rolling wheels and sliding wipers, and varying inductance, resistance, and capacitance of train track. The rails make a very poor pipe through which to send digital signals. This is evidenced by all the chatter one hears about blown decoders, lost addressing, unresponsive decoders, lost CVs and the like. The DCC manufactures should be applauded for making DCC work as well as it does on such a lousy bus system. RP radio communication seems a vastly better way to go about it and it is bearing out that way for me.

The only two drawbacks that may be of concern are: 1) Your friends' DCC equipment won't work on your RP layout; 2) You are restricted to Ring electrical components unless you build your own (circuit breakers, occupancy detectors, accessory controllers, etc.).   

[drisdon]

Neither of those issues you listed are hindrances in my opinion.  My home layout is small, 9' x 13' U shape in the 3rd car portion of our garage.  The real benefit of RailPro is that I can run my locomotives on DCC equipped layouts like Free-mo setups.  The nice part is the DCC issues won't affect me nor will I be frustrated when locomotives won't run with each other. 

Thanks to you all for helping me make a good decision.  Now, first I need to sell all my Digitrax equipment and DCC decoders.

Dan R.