BLI gives you no choice: take it with DCC or take nothing. I do not know if "Keep Alive" works when you run a DCC locomotive on DC. One thing that I hated about the Baldwin Centipedes was that they were prone to stalling. Once it stalled on DC, the decoder re-set, so it stopped and went through the start-up process again. Eventually, I sold them. The steam seems less prone to stalling. I have two of the USRA light 2-8-2s. I like the sound. Rarely do they stall. They run at a good speed for drag freight. This speed does require a high throttle. One reason that I did not buy the USRA light 4-6-2s was that even at full throttle on DC, the decoder would have them run at too slow a speed. I do not know if Reading Company used the 4-8-4s on passenger trains. When a road uses a 4-8-4 for freight, generally it is fast freight. I would wonder if the T-1 would run on DC at a speed acceptable for fast freight. In the early days of discussion for a decoder equipped locomotive that would run on DC, Atlas had an early prototype for a decoder with a toggle. If you toggled DC, it bypassed the thing entirely. We need something similar.
The Atlas "Dual-Mode" decoder was not just a prototype, it was a production decoder used in many Atlas locomotives. It had a jumper for DC only or DC and DCC. In the DCC setting, the loco would still run on DC as long as you did not turn off analog conversion. The purpose of the DC only setting was so you would not have the high starting voltage needed for the decoder - mainly so you could run it with other DC locos without a large speed difference. It actually didn't completely bypass the decoder, it only did it for the motor output - the lighting still operated off of the decoder.
Initially when I got my centipede set I too had problems with stalling but figured out that it was due to not being properly railed which is more difficult than a big boy. The end trucks are pretty onerous to get set on the track properly but once I got that sorted the stalling issues were gone and this is operating on 12" radius curves.
I'm not sure this was in N Scale, but I do own (through my father's estate) an Atlas HO diesel which I believe does literally have a toggle switch to go between DC and DCC. At least that's what my faulty memory recalls. As for BLI, based on comments here and on other networks, until modelers don't have to serve as their Quality Control Department I have zero, zip, nada interest. And as for a pre-order deposit, I have even less interest than that. There is someone "on another network" who advertised the next run of Kato Amtrak diesels at a discount--- and full pre-payment in advance. I thought of an expletive but deleted it.
Hmmm. As stated by many, consumer choice is probably going away in our hobby. DC only would be great from BLI. I have no desire to use their decoders after my "fun" with the 3 in my PRR T-1. In fact, a beautiful roundhouse queen is not on my list of wants. So, nothing from them until they get back to DC only so I can install my desired sound and DCC. I do understand the manufacturing dynamics of the outfit. And who knows how things are in the current environment for them. But, I will stick to this, I am not spending $400 or more bux for a loco with a decoder I have to remove immediately. 'Nough said! SNAFU!
Limited runs. DCC only. This may just discourage more than a few potential newcomers and some already involved.
I've been seeing this for years, but Atlas, Kato, Intermountain, and ScaleTrains are still offering DC locos and don't show any signs of dropping them (Bachmann still has some plain DC but they are definitely trending away from it). Yes, some manufacturers only offer DCC sound locos, but I don't see plain DC going away anytime soon; although, that's not very comforting when the loco you want is only offered with DCC and sound.
This shows that it is best to shop around. That does not necessarily reduce the final price, but it might. Another obvious choice is to wait & try to get it when released. woo woo woo woo woo woo, for instance, will have an contact list when it arrives in their stock. You may not get it, but if you do it will be less than the MSRP.
I wish I could buy that locomotive for only $499. I'm in Canada and that same loco will cost me close to $700 cdn.
Nobody has to. They can just buy Kato and enjoy their trains. I can honestly say that if Kato's offerings don't align with my current modeling focus, I just change my focus. I really like CB&Q (thanks Kato for the CZ and the unbelievable E5 release). I also now enjoy DRGW, WP, ATSF, GN, NP and even CN, PRR, NYC, SP and C&NW. "Maybe" even UP. It's all good. They all provide me with aggravation free enjoyment of trains. That's what all of us are here for.
Apologies if anyone has already made this point, but i'd expect the T1 to be more expensive than all those USRA steamers. If you have to amortise the cost of development, tooling etc for a smaller run /less demand, you've got to charge more.
