why is it??

[poliss]

You could say the same thing about monochrome and colour TVs, or phones with rotary dials on them vs the iPhone. When was the last time you saw either of the old types on sale? If model railways don't keep up with the times it will die out as the youngsters go for 'cooler' gadgets.

[zwilnik]

One possibility is that DCC could be bypassed entirely by newer tech that uses current standards like wi-fi (and zeroconfig networking). While there are standards of sorts within DCC, it is still a bit of a hack of pretty old technology compared to the wifi chip in a phone. Although again, would require a bit of a leap of faith and investment by whichever model company thinks it's worth doing.

[Mustermark]

I am inclined to agree that DCC is quite expensive and not exactly new technology, and when I was deciding what to use the locos I had would need modding and new ones were expensive.

Partly because I didn't want to chip the numerous DC locos I had already collected and partly because DCC seemed like a nice idea but not necessarily needed for my layout, I opted for DC.

I have CTI Electronics' cabs that I will run from a laptop (as well as signal controllers and yardmasters for points).  The laptop idea is a bit high tech (which is ) but actually fairly simple to program.  Now, I accept that a laptop isn't cheap if you don't already have one, and nor is the CTI stuff especially cheap, but all my locos are good to go and provided I plan the sections on my layout right , I can run everything I want to run at the same time .

I can program the running on the laptop for trains to stop at stations or signals and have it run completely automatically (with sensors on the tracks) or I can shunt manually to my heart's content using the mouse.  It seemed a great way to go.  I will let you all know how it works out as I get the layout up and running this year.

[poliss]

My budget is very low. I buy 99% of my railway gear from Ebay, including the Roco Lokmaus II and the newer Multimaus. I save money because I don't need to buy loads of switches to isolate sections. I do have lots of DC locos, but only one at a time because DC wiring is comlicated for a bear like me with very little brain. 

There are already some apps to run your DCC system using the iPod Touch, iPhone or Android Phone.
The TouchCab. http://www.touchcab.com/
JMRI WiFi Throttle. http://jmri.org/help/en/package/jmri/jmrit/withrottle/UserInterface.shtml
There's even some software that will let your locos draw the track plan for you. :-)
GamesOnTrack GPS. http://www.gamesontrack.co.uk/

[cupoftea]

It is true to say that DCC is now 'old' technology but........

Tooling is very expensive as is R&D and anyone investing in those areas is going to be looking for at least a healthy mid to long term return on their investment. I wonder how many N Gauge locos are actually sold in the UK and what price the manufacturer actually charges the importer per unit?

It should be very possible to produce a model that is radio controlled and, in some ways, that would be an ideal. The big 'but' is would anyone investing in developing such a model actually achieve the unit sales to achieve a decent return on the development costs?

What i personally find inexplicable and very frustrating is the number of locos I have bought that have had to returned with faults that simply should not exist by the time the model reaches the end-user. But that's another story......... Personally i would rather that the emphasis was on quality control rather than technology.

Just a personal view but i worked in an industry where the emphasis was on quality and we always worked with the rule that our product must meet a customer's agreed and approved specification and must meet or exceed a customer's reasonable expectations with regards to performance and service life.

[zwilnik]

Just a personal view but i worked in an industry where the emphasis was on quality and we always worked with the rule that our product must meet a customer's agreed and approved specification and must meet or exceed a customer's reasonable expectations with regards to performance and service life.

If the profit margin is small per unit, it makes absolute business sense to improve quality to reduce the number of expensive returns. Sometimes you'll get a business attempt to go the other direction and blow the R&D money that could improve quality control in trying to make the units cheap enough that the massive number of returns doesn't override the profit margin per unit, but they usually last about a year before going under

[cupoftea]

Just a personal view but i worked in an industry where the emphasis was on quality and we always worked with the rule that our product must meet a customer's agreed and approved specification and must meet or exceed a customer's reasonable expectations with regards to performance and service life.

If the profit margin is small per unit, it makes absolute business sense to improve quality to reduce the number of expensive returns. Sometimes you'll get a business attempt to go the other direction and blow the R&D money that could improve quality control in trying to make the units cheap enough that the massive number of returns doesn't override the profit margin per unit, but they usually last about a year before going under

Yes indeed.