I am creating a layout in HO for me and my 5 & 7 yr. kids. I have been reading through the forums and see that there are many very different opinions on all topics. Here is want I am looking to do:
HO Layout size: 16x13
I have the MRC Prodigy (not the advanced) DCC system
I am not going to run trains with onboard sound. (basic DCC)
I am not looking for Proto trains. This is more toy like right now, remeber 5&7 year old children.
So here is what I need help with.
DCC LOCOS. What brand? Notice I did not ask which is best… For instance, Bachman makes “standard” locos and the "better “Spectrum” series. From what I understand (which isn’t much) the standard locos are certainly a lower quality product, louder, not as strong, etc. Louder is ok, but not as strong? How does that equate in to number of cars that can be pulled vs Spectrum?
How about Athearn? Many seem to say they are the staple of HO. Good for the money.
Atlas, better motors & more detail. Detail for my kids? They will like it becuase it’s a train. Better motor? How better for basic running? Better as in stronger? Better as in more life?
So you can see I have been reading the forums, I am just having trouble putting it all together for MY NEEDS. My kids want to run trains. We have O gage on temp layouts and they like them just fine. We want a large HO layout becuase it’s cheaper, takes up less space, and would be a ton of fun.
A lot depends on what you want to run. The answers will be different for old steam, transition steam, transition deisel, modern etc. I have a autistic son and he, with a little training, treats the trains with respect. The Bachman Standard Deisels with DCC are running around $30 and seem to be doing okay.
Hi, may I suggest that you get some open freight cars, gondolas etc. Children love to take part . Just watching closed cars moving around is less fun than having cars that you can put things in. To start with buy lower priced locomotives, some boys like to race their trains around at high speed, resulting in crashes. See how they get on for awhile before buying highly detailed items. If in time railroading is their thing then you can go on to the more detailed models. Think play value at this stage. The Athearn and Bachmann standard locos will work just fine, and should anything break, then better to lose 30 dollars than 100. I have a number of cheap items which still work after many years, they are not as smooth or slow running as the more expensive models but they do their job.
Hope this may be of help to you, good luck and enjoy yourself.
william
thank you very much spacemouse!..I have both those cars on my layout…the flatcar (vintage 1968) converted to a log car and the Cattle car (vintage 1974) converted over to a Katy…how come i just can’t part with the cheap stuff?
I think Bachmanns that Space Mouse mentioned are good choice for kids. Not as smooth running as an Atlas, but still good runners. Not as detailed (not even a road number on the one I have), but rugged – no flimsy parts – and boy, the price $30 WITH a decoder installed. I think they are available in GPs and FTs.
I think is a great idea to start up with DCC, is easy to use and doesn’t require great wiring and electric skills. But, for it to work you must have DCC compatible locos… the only cheap ones I know DCC ready are Bachmann. I have (stored) 3 Bachmann standard gp-40’s and a couple of F-9s and a gp-50. They’re quite noisy (but your kids won’t care about that) and weak. They’ll pull about 10 cars each on 22" rad. curves. I think that’s enough…
Aso for the layout, what have thought? My experience with kids tells me continous runs. Perhaps a double line with two trains running in oposite directions, kids luv that! A tunnel and a Bridge is a must, better if trains go under-'n-over the bridge. Give your kids something to do and add some operational accesories and structures like those from Walthers Trainline or those I used to have from Tyco. Avoid using complex track plans with slips and crossovers, you’re kids just would pump up the thortle and watch those trains fly at full speed… You can find some good deals of old toy cars from Tyco in Ebay. Soon you’ll have powerangers being runover and megazoids invading your town. Remember to leave a space to park Thunderbird No. 4…
Bachmann’s newer standard diesels now have drives that are close to Spectrum quality, and can also be purchased with DCC installed. They also have a very large metal frame that fills most of the shell, but still leaves space for the decoder, so I’d think they would be pretty strong pullers. They also have shells that have been upgraded to the level of detail found on the Roco diesels from the 70’s and look pretty nice.
So Bachmann would deffinately be a good choice for starters.[:D]
gizzard i bought a bachmann train set in 1997 thats a spectrum series with a GP40 and it has body mounted knuckle couplers installed already no dcc in it whatsoever and ive run it on my club layout and does pretty good. should you decide to upgrade the cheap cars with better trucks and body mounted couplers its very simple to convert as ive done this to a number of freight cars
A good source for buying rolling stock, buildings engines and scenery details is the
local swap meet. Many good purchase made over the years and at great prices.
Get to know your local hobby shop owner (manager). My first two engines I bought
were Atherans, over 10 years ago. They are still running and have been converted to DCC. When buying rolling stock, new or used buy units that have
boby mounted couplers, anything else is not worth the money, no matter how little
you paid for them.
I"ve got a little different take on this. I do agree with all the above, and as far as the trains go and not getting into layout design and all of that, my thoughts are to buy a couple of train sets from any of the leading manufacturers and add cars from there. I would go with sets that are DCC ready. As may happen later on, this toy train layout may become a “model railroad” and you may want to go the DCC route and all is needed then is to add decoders to the locos. If things don’t workout as planned, then a whole lot is not lost this way. Ken Oops, I see you already are going with DCC. Even still a couple of trainset like above and adding the decoders would, in my opinion be cheaper (less expensive) then buying decoder equiped locos and individual cars to make up a couple of trains.
My take on this is a quite a bit different since your kids are so young. You can make quite a nice 3 rail O gauge layout in a 16x13 area and use curves up to O72 (roughly the equivalent of 18" radius curves in HO). HO can be quite delicate and easily broken, whereas the offerings of Lionel, MTH, K-Line and Williams are quite robust. It’s a personal opinion, but I th
