Alright, so I’ve decided to go on another locomotive route. I found a Walthers Mainline HO scale EMD SD70ACe in the KCS Red scheme, and it’s $135. It has DCC and sound. I also found an Athearn KCS grey AC4400CW for $90, but it doesn’t have DCC or sound. Do I need DCC and sound as a beginner?
Also, does anyone know where I can find a Norfolk Southern HO scale SD40-2 High Nose? They seem to all be sold out.
Thanks again!
Edit: My layout is a going to be a bit small. It’s supposed to go around one small area in my basement, maybe 15 feet long at the most. I was thinking about making a bridge that goes up to my lizard’s terrarium and loops around it.
OK, I get the fact that your bouncing around, making sure you get the biggest bang for your $300.
I would go with the Athearn. I’m pretty sure that $90 loco is DCC Ready, if you ever wanted to go from DC to DCC. I briefly went back through the post, I didn’t see if you’ve decided on DC or DCC ?
It’s cheaper to start out in DC, and make the switch when your ready.
But, something to consider. That $90 loco will need a $20 decoder, and if you want sound, figure another $80. That is decoder and all. And that is mid range prices, as some brands of sound decoders, such as ESU will be a lot more. That $20 decoder can be taken out and put in another loco, that is DCC ready.
Of the makes of locomotive you asked about, I would rate Atlas first with Athearn second. I have had mixed results with Bachmann. I’ve got some good runners from them and others I would classify as junk, and not even good junk. The biggest decision you have to make is whether to go DC or DCC, the latter being more expensive. If you are only going to run one or two trains, DCC is probably overkill.
When you say you want a track plan to go around your room, do you mean around the walls or an island type layout. Some disparage the basic 4x8 oval but I think it’s not a bad way to start. I think eventually you are going to want to add scenery which can either be rural, small town or big city. With a small layout I would stick with one or two small towns. If you have a local hobby shop that deals in used merchandise, you can sometimes pick up some prebuilt structures on the cheap to help fill in the non-railroad spaces. ebay can also be a good source for this as well as building a rolling stock roster.
Well it’d be cool to have DCC and sound, but it’s a whole lot more expensive. I’ll just stick with DC. I’m 75% sure I’m gonna buy this HO scale Athearn KCS SD70Ace and maybe 5 cars (a flat car, a couple tankers, and a couple hoppers). It’s $140 for the SD70Ace.
I really want to get a NS high hood SD40-2, but none are available. The closest thing I could find was a NS high hood SD45-2 by Athearn I believe.
Rather than Bachmann EZ Track, you might want to consider Atlas True Tack which also comes with the plastic roadbed. If you get into the hobby in a big way eventually, you can use the Atlas track without the road bed. Having typed that, I would defer to someone else as far as a comparison cost analysis is concerned.
I did a quick simple double oval in True Track on an 8 X 4 ft base, the infamous plywood sheet and I think you can get get the track for a totalof about 50$.
That’s a good question. There are lots of DC experts on here, maybe you’d get their attention if you went to the Electronics and DCC forum in here, and use that question has the title to a new thread.
Two things no one has talked about is era and location. You’ve already jumped around a lot on those. In the long run, you’ll be happier with your layout if you pick one era and location and concentrate on that. Sure, a New York Central Hudson steamer looks great, but not if you’re building a California logging layout.
Small layouts use tight curves. 18-inch radius is OK, but modern-era engines and long auto-racks might have trouble negotiating it, while an Alco RS3 pulling some 40-foot boxcars will look and perform much better.
I’m firmly sold on DCC. I like sound engines as well. When I compare the prices of sound engines with buying a DC engine and then adding a decoder and speaker, most of the time it comes out cheaper to go with the sound engine in the first place, and you don’t have the tricky project of installing the decoder and speaker. Once you get beyond a basic track loop, it’s actually easier to wire DCC than DC, because you don’t have to worry about blocks.
When I returned to this great hobby a few years ago I blatantly lied to “She who must be obeyed” and told her that I just wanted to “Check out” a train show in Denver.
With cash in my pocket I knew I was going to buy a “starter set”.
After a few laps around the show I returned to one vendor and offered him $35 for a DC transformer, a Loctite themed set with one loco, several cars and a circle of track.
Much to my wife’s dismay he took the offer.
I went to another vendor and offered him $20 for a Tyco crane set that he had priced at $30. Again, he took the offer!
Our house has hardwood floors so I set up the “starter set” on the floor.
She didn’t like that so I offered to put a piece of 4’x8’ plywood on the spare bed in the computer room.
I haven’t progressed past the 4’x8’ pike but I have upgraded to DCC and built a trackplan that I am extremely pleased with.
The initial cost of the my original pike was well under your $300 budget. However over the past few years I have spent probably ten times that amount.
I still don’t run sound locos. I don’t know if I will ever upgrade to sound but upgrading to DCC was inevitable.
Because of the 18- and 15-inch curves on my pike I have limited my motive power to 4-axle diesels and 0-6-0 steamers. The larger 6-axle SDs and steamers with leading and trailing trucks will work but look out of place.