Technology: How Much Is Too Much?

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I always think these kinds of posts are interesting. I promise I'm not trying to pick on it, but I'm not sure it makes sense.

First, what matters is what you're trying to accomplish. You don't need to justify your DC use if it gets the job done. A small layout where sound and lights don't matter really don't need anything but a DC power pack. If you're trying to make a club work, DCC is probably better.

Second, I feel like most of the "myriad other problems" are a problem for most model trains be they Rapido's newest release or an old wide-body Blue-box engine. Bad track is bad track. Bad wheels are bad wheels. Lubrication is almost never a problem unless you've got an old P2K that has been sitting in the box too long, and in any case, is that a technology issue or just poor choice on the part of P2K? The only other time lubrication gets me is with my inside-bearing commuter cars, but thats probably a unique problem for me and the handful of you who have a set of Amtrak Amfleets.

Third, if we want to play the "time" game, it is just so convenient that it turns out this year happens to be 13 years since we moved from Zealot back to our own website. I know I have posts going back that far at least. I am pretty sure any stock locomotive I have from 2008 still runs. Sure, some details were delicate and get damaged, but if the argument is that "older trains were indestructible" is going to be made, I think its fair to point out that the base models are themselves intact, and if you had added details way back when, how much more robust would they have been?

I totally get that lemons exist out there, but generally speaking, if you put a basic decoder like an NCE D13 or a TCS T1 (as well as their 8 and 21 pin equivalents) into a competent engine like those from Athearn, Atlas, P2K, or any other big name, you should reasonably expect it to work.

I can kinda get the sentiment if you tried DCC when it was new. Digitrax didn't make programming easy. Early digitrax decoders as well as MRC decoders as a whole were completely unreliable. However, the technology has matured. NCE systems make programming an engine a brain-dead process of just answering yes or no questions or entering a locomotive road number. The previously mentioned brands of decoders just don't fail that often. My biggest pet peeve is some Tsunami decoders are really bad about turning the lights on if they hit a "dead spot". Is that really a consequence of "too much technology"? Seems more like just poor design choice for Tsunami, so I don't buy those decoders unless I need to.

Anything I have that requires constant troubleshooting and attention was stuff I took shortcuts on as a teenager, and that seems like more my fault for not doing it right the first time.