Amazing

[Atlantic Central]

Gene,

Yes it is the UT4R that I perfer when operating someone elses Digitrax layout. I don't like the speed control or the maze of buttons on the regular throttle.

IF, and that is a very big if, I ever did decide to go DCC, I would most likely go with Easy DCC or NEC. Their throttles are much more user friendly in my opinion. And I like the control panel design of the Easy DCC base unit.

One big thing that keeps me from DCC is I don't have a lot of interest in all this "operational minutia" of turning on headlights and blowing whistles or activating other sounds. As I have said before, I really don't care for sound in the smaller scales. I can go for horns/whistles and bells at grade crossings which can be layout based and computer controled.

I want to operate a lot of trains at once, on some sort of schedule and I want to be able to do that by myself or with a small crew AND I want to be able to have large full blown operatating sessions. 10 sound equiped locos in one room is just a din.

Walking around with mainline trains is also a low interest for me. I only want to walk around with locals or for industrial switching and my layout is designed with very little switching on the mainline. Industrial areas are setup much like they are on the prototype in big cities, they are seperate belt line areas with their own trackage. The mainline is a double track super highway to the next city (staging).

You see I want to be the General Operations Vice President more than I want to be the Engineer. I will admitt that often at others layouts I enjoy watching more than operating.

For these goals DCC is more expensive, more work and has a bunch of features I don't need or want compared to Computerized Block Control.

Sheldon