When I suggested testing the waters out, Picking up a 20 dollar set from toys R us and a 12 dollar sheet of plywood. That way if the little hands are too ruff your not out much money. And you can always resell it on E Bay...lol... sorta. To the best of my knolage all model trains running on DC have that problem that's where DCC comes to the rescue. Unless you shell out for the 1200 dollar brass ball barring German motor unit that's what your going to get. However buy the best locomotive you can afford it is worth it in the long run. As OC and others have said Atlas and Kato are good investments. I too have made mastakes along the way, had I someone to warn me of the pit falls before me I could have saved myself some gref and quite abit of money. Alas I would have still made some of them either way and you will too. Just posting to this site will lessen the pain and raise the learning curve for you. In O scale each purchase is an event, Even the plastic stuff (The good stuff) starts at 100 bucks and brass, well 250 dollars gets you in. A good locomotive can start at about 700 dollars and up. Now I am not filthy rich as some would think, I will sell off stuff, build it myself, or slowly save to get one real good one of something as opposed to ten so so somethings. Look around at shows, flea markets, clubs, newspapers, and friends. Remember, "Thoughts become things." If is truly what you desire and is in line with the good of the Universe It will manifest before you. And usely not the way you think it should. Just ask for guidance, grounding, and really good stuff and see what happens! "Still Training After All These Years"
Mac, You need one (decent) loco, a few freight cars, an oval of Kato Unitrack plus a few switches and some extra track to make a small yard. Get this lot in HO and N, preferably off ebay. Get one controller (just use DC for now) which will do both. Outlay $XXX Have a play with both. When you've decided which way to jump, or fall, or your family pushes you sell the losing set on ebay. Net outlay $XXX/2 plus some postage. And what you have left is the beginning of the next $X,XXX that you are going to spend, so all you really 'lose' is the postage. Yikes, I sound like an optimist
If I was going to start, and it was just for myself, I would stay in N-scale. But if I had youngsters that I wanted to include, I would go right to HO scale. For kids used to bigger toys like Fisher Price or action figures (depending on age, of course), HO scale is a little more relatable. The sound and lighting options easily available for HO locomotives (as opposed to N scale) will draw kids in a little more too. Operating, switching, and handling N-scale equipment can be pretty tricky, especially for little hands that are still learning dexterity. And for a kid, starting to do anything with modeling would be better in HO scale than N scale. Mind you, it's not that it can't be done in N-scale. But in alot of ways, it would be better in HO, IMO. ---jps
Well, lucky for me, my kids are very gentle and easy on things. Two boys under 12 and0 and I can count on one hand the number of things either has broken. And I have spent hours making Thomas Tank wooden and plastic track layouts with them. The youngest is a fanatic and he can now build some pretty complex runs. The wooden and the metal trains are about N scale size. N scale is not as tuf as Thomas stuff is either, but I am not sure that will be a huge factor/concern. Most of it comes down to me getting into my new house this week. Have a guy coming to see about running gas from basement furnace are to main floor laundry room for our gas dryer. At that time I will be able to step foot into the house I bought 4 1/2 months ago but have not been in since. Then I can take a look around and decide where and get the measurements too! If it is big enough I could end up with HO. But there is so much N scale knowledge here on this board I hate to pass that up... Peace and Blessings
