For a short period of time I was a member of a model railroad club a year and a half ago. Went to a few meetings that were always a good distance from where I lived, but hey, price of admission right? Club dues weren't bad. Members were encouraged to build a module for shows and DCC was not mandatory but understood to be the polite thing, so your DC loco wasn't tying up a whole track. Nice enough group of folks and I did learn a bit about scenic detail. I never ran any of my own trains on the club layout (all DC and I felt super awkward about being That Guy hogging an entire track), but I did get to run another club member's DCC/sound train for an hour or two. I decided to let my membership expire and parted on good terms. Recently I've been thinking of taking it up again as a way to get out of the house, interact with people, and most importantly run some passenger trains on a layout big enough to really stretch their legs. The cost is the primary reason I haven't done anything yet. My home layout, a simple switching plan built out of Kato Unitrack, is DC. I run a single locomotive on said switching layout because (by design, trying to be nice to my wallet) that's all that will fit. When I want to run my passenger train now I throw down a loop of track on the floor and have at it. It does get a little boring having a four foot long train (steam loco and three coaches) chasing its tail on a six foot long loop. So I'd have to get a DCC decoder for the passenger loco. Not crazy expensive, but money. Then I'd have to figure out some way of programming it and get a throttle. While the club has spare wireless throttles available on a first-come first-serve basis, it seems the polite thing to bring my own so I'm not always tying up a club unit. But that means either getting a Digitrax Zephyr Xtra all in one for home AND a receiver and wireless throttle, or a bigger system right from the get-go which seems like rampant overkill for a loop of track on the floor and six outings a year on the club layout. Or I could put a decoder in the passenger loco and buy just a wireless throttle, program it on the track at the club, and just run it there and be unable to run it at home until the financial situation improves in a few years. For a while I was thinking of getting a Rapido RDC with DCC and sound from the factory (easy to transport, already set up for DCC) but the idea of a single $350 unit that someone could walk up, grab, and run off with made my brain hurt. What would you do in this situation? Am I overthinking way too damn much?
Many/most decoders have a setting that will allow for DC operations. So that could save you some money in the near term, just put a decoder into the loco, run DC at home and DCC at the club. What loco do you have? There are drop-in decoders available for most locos produced. Nothing wrong with getting a Zephyr or NCE PowerCab, either. It is easy to move them between layouts, too, if you also wanted to switch your shelf loco to DCC as well.
The loco on my switching layout is an Atlas B23-7. Converting to DCC and possibly sound for it shouldn't be too hard, just costs money. The passenger loco is an English steam engine, a Southern Railways S15 4-6-0. I need to go through the manual it came with but adding a decoder shouldn't be too difficult since it is DCC Ready with an 8-pin socket. The bottom of the tender even has a speaker grill molded in, if I wanted to try for sound.
If the Atlas is recent production, then getting a decoder in should be pretty easy for that one too. Just take the shell off and plug in the 8 pin. Older ones will require soldering to the correct electrical points, like the trucks and motor. What DCC system does your club use? Mine does MRC. They make a plug in for the layout power pack, (similar to a wireless throttle receiver) but it is a WIFI router. There is a free app called WiThrottle, so the only thing you need to buy is the router (about $120 on their website.) You might be able to find it cheaper at a retailer. It is already a lot cheaper than the $300+ controllers, but if you are going to do any programming, you will probably need a real controller. The app has 28 function controls, the locomotive address plug in, and forward/reverse throttle. That is really all you need to operate; it is super simple. My club already had one, so I paid no money for my controller. If you are a small modular club, like me, you probably need only one router. A fixed layout club also near me has a system integrated into their layout. To do that, it will be a little more involved. If your club uses MRC, you could ask everyone to pitch in 10 or 15 bucks and get one. Then it would be super cheap for you.
The Atlas is a Silver Series from 2005 according to their website, with an 8-pin plug. The club was all about Digitrax when I was there.
Your thinking actually seems quite reasonable. My worry is you could be letting it all come between you and having some fun in the hobby.
I belonged to a modular club some years ago. They solved the problem by designating one of the mains to be the DCC track and the other for DC operation.
It's normally a two-track main although a few sections are three-track. One of the two can be used for DC, the other stays DCC. I might just need to get over my shyness (no better word for it) and be that guy that ties up the DC track for a while.
My advice would be to spend a tad more that $350 and invest in a simple DCC system. If your layout is a small switching layout, you could probably interchange. Slowly and at your wallet's speed convert your engines. While mine may not be what you want to do, just another option and the way I think about these things. Regardless your decision, you're smart for keeping your wallet first.
Before buying a DCC system and/or throttle check with what manufacture they use. Decoders can work with any system, but not throttles.
You say that you would like to join a club. Have you checked around? Maybe there are more than one club available. Here in So. Indiana (across river from Louisville, KY) there are at least 4 or 5 clubs here. And the NMRA is available ANYWHERE. I've been a NMRA member since the 70's and think it is one of the best buys in the Model Railroading Hobby. We had an NTRAK Modular club here for awhile, but after our 2008 Convention our Club just fell apart. Now there is a group of N-Scalers wanting to get back together again. You can't keep Model Railroaders down. Have you looked around to see if anybody is selling an older Digitrax set up? Any Swap Meets in your area? Ask around, at your Local Hobby Shop or any local modelers that you know. Maybe even FeeBay or Craigslist! It can be a little pricey to get into the DCC area, but it is worth it. I've operated on some Top-Line Layouts designed and built with 100% DCC control. There is NO comparison to DC control. And can THANK the NMRA for being able to operate and see many fine, some have been in MR & RMC Magazines, layouts.
The challenges and choices we have regarding model railroading. Well that's what I like about it. It's not my place to tell you how or what to do. So, I'll beg off on that one. You'll figure it out.
Go down the forum to DCC and Electronics and check out DCC++. With cheap Chinese Arduino clones you can build a simple base station for around $10, with no soldering required, and you can download JMRI for free to control it. If your B23-7 is DCC Ready, a Digitrax DH126P decoder plugs right in, and only costs about $19 from woo woo woo.
