The Future of Old Electronics

As with any man made item, when it stops working, and parts are no longer available, you need to be able to manufacture your own replacement parts, or perform an upgrade to new, different components in order to keep your item operating.  Perhaps this is not the answer you are seeking, but, it is true of many of the things we use in our life-times.

I don't consider this the same kind of obsolete. When an iPod's battery conks out, you have to replace the entire unit--the battery is not user-replaceable (there are ways of getting in there, but they're best suited to technicians with specific tools, and some phones even make it completely impossible to replace the battery--it's actually glued to the chassis), so at best it can only function tethered to a wall wart.

If the boards in a modern O-Gauge loco blow out, there are folks around who can repair the boards. It's just a different skill-set (before any postwar aficionados chime in, ask yourself how many average folks can disassemble/reassemble/adjust an electro-mechanical E-unit?). For those failures that cannot be repaired due to custom-programmed IC's, the entire board can be replaced. Although in some cases it's not economically feasible to put new guts in, it's almost never a case of a locomotive having no other option but retirement--just an owner willing to go only so far to get it running.

---PCJ

So far, fingers crossed, I have found these "new-fangled" locos to be pretty robust,

at least in terms of age. None of my stuff has had the wheels run off of it - when I was

a kid I had one 2055 Hudson and a Burro crane (and a kid's imagination), so they got run a lot.

With only rare exceptions, when I have asked a modern loco to crank up and go, it has,

even after months on the layout without moving, or even years on a shelf in the house.

MTH (no bash intended) electronics have seemed less sturdy than Lionel-based

boards, but have a MUCH better smoke-unit devices. (That may not hold true, now.)

My layout is in a 12X24 building in the back yard which is neither heated nor cooled

unless I am using it. Which reminds me - I need to go put another coat of paint on that

3rd Rail Dash-9 that I'm accosting.

So, I do "worry", but my track (pun) record with this stuff is, so far, pretty good.

Word of advice: never leave your layout physically plugged in to the house current (or your DSL, etc, cable) when it is not being used. Surges, thunderstorms and computers

on flanged wheels, y'know.

I don't worry about it because I avoid buying anything made after 1996