I was saddened by last week's announcement, but hopeful that my recent foray into Rail King and DCS wasn't completely ill-timed and that my new Rail King engines and DCS system won't be orphaned. Couple of questions (realizing some answers might require speculation):
1. It appears there are no more TIUs on order with China and that, short of finding one still on a dealer's shelf or aftermarket, we can only hope for the new DCS company to build new ones, right? To me, this seems like the biggest worry should the new DCS company not survive.
2. DCS remotes are coming "on the water" but will probably be hard to come by. I'm not a fan of using a smartphone or tablet for train operating but am thinking about buying the WIU in case my lone DCS remote would fail. For that reason, I'd love to find a 50-1036 kit, but don't see that happening any time soon. Seems like WIUs are plentiful...make sense to buy one to protect operating?
3. Engine parts worry me less than the DCS system components. In a total worst case scenario, one could find someone else's dead engine, convert a DCS engine to TMCC via ERR, install DCC or some future control system, make it conventional, sell it for parts or even make it a display piece, but the whole layout and collection doesn't become inoperable with the failure of a single engine. Sound right? Because of this, I'm still planning to take September delivery of a Rail King engine.
4. What about non-tech parts availability in the future? This seems like the least of concerns/risks to me, and I imagine repair parts will be somewhat available much like K-Line parts.
I realize we can't know everything, and I realize these are small, first-world problems during a pandemic and recession, just trying to understand insuring my investment and hobby.
