11-08-2010, 06:33 PM
Like Ralph and doctorwayne, I am a DC guy "from way back." I have quite a number (a number somewhere between 15 and 19) older brass locomotives, all but the most recent acquisitions having the old Pittman-style open-frame motors. They run fairly well out of the box and those that have been given a "Superstructure-Off Tune-up" of insuring drivers are quartered, gears are lapped in and have the proper clearances and lash, are properly lubricated and then "run in" prior to paint, decals and weathering are fine running model railroad locomotives!
Some personal time and involvement is required. But building things and making locomotives and rolling stock operate as well as they can be made to operate used to be one of the skills that every model railroader was driven to learn. Today, it's more buy ready-to-run or pay someone else to do it because it's too time consuming and too much trouble to learn how to do it yourself! Besides ... I want it to be perfect now!
I'm going to give DCC a whirl because unlike Ralph and doctorwayne, I don't have a nice large, more-than-50%-finished layout ... I'm just starting to build one ... again ... And so I can build with DCC in mind. But I probably won't make the final wiring hook-ups until I get that first "Old Brass" piece remotored and decoder equipped! Then we'll see if I still want to consider 15+ more of that kind of Locomotive Tune-Up and added expense, which will still of necessity include all of the above mentioned tune-up steps anyway! Not that I mind doing those tune-ups... quite the contrary! They are a labor of love, and the satisfaction at the other end is pure, unadulterated button-popping pride in a job well done! Isn't that one of the great rewards of our hobby ... pride in a job well done?
Some personal time and involvement is required. But building things and making locomotives and rolling stock operate as well as they can be made to operate used to be one of the skills that every model railroader was driven to learn. Today, it's more buy ready-to-run or pay someone else to do it because it's too time consuming and too much trouble to learn how to do it yourself! Besides ... I want it to be perfect now!
I'm going to give DCC a whirl because unlike Ralph and doctorwayne, I don't have a nice large, more-than-50%-finished layout ... I'm just starting to build one ... again ... And so I can build with DCC in mind. But I probably won't make the final wiring hook-ups until I get that first "Old Brass" piece remotored and decoder equipped! Then we'll see if I still want to consider 15+ more of that kind of Locomotive Tune-Up and added expense, which will still of necessity include all of the above mentioned tune-up steps anyway! Not that I mind doing those tune-ups... quite the contrary! They are a labor of love, and the satisfaction at the other end is pure, unadulterated button-popping pride in a job well done! Isn't that one of the great rewards of our hobby ... pride in a job well done?
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln