Back in the old days (more than 20 years ago) when I worked in a hobby store, I loved putting sets together for people. Grab a quality power pack, some Atlas nickel silver track, an Atlas or Athearn loco, and a bunch of blue box cars.
My Boss always bought tons of the Tyco and Bachmann boxed sets for the holidays. I hated selling those things, but people bought them. Of course, a number of them came back after Christmas, though most stayed sold.
If one is just starting out in the hobby, a DECENTset is the way to go.
Proto & Athearn both have sets with the locomotives & rolling stock that are a good quality, especially for the money.
At one point I’m sure Athearn had power packs that were made by MRC, not sure about the track though.
People may say that Athearn are crap or too noisey, I say BAH!
Athearn locomotives, especially the “Blue Box” or BB ones are, in my opinion, the most durable on the market. I’ve had & seen a couple drop to the floor & continue to run afterwards.
Ask questions if you’re not sure. There’s no such thing as a stupid question, especially in a hobby.
Just my 2 cents
Gordon
oh ya, welcome to the online Model Railroad Club!
Thanks Gordon,
Your 2 cents is worth it’s weight in gold to me, as a matter of fact, everybody’s 2 cents adds up to lot of great info to me. Want to do this thing as right as possible (rookie speaking) the 1st time. And yeah, I will ask a lot of questions because everyday in the forum somebody asks a good one that makes me ask HUH??? [%-)]
Thanks again Gordon
C1
IMHO…FWIW…You can’t go wrong with a good quality starter set!
For sure, I’d avoid the “toy grade” sets, but the Athearn, and Lifelike Proto sets are good stuff.
It was mentioned that you will want to change your layout as you learn…well guess what. NO layout is ever finished! You will always want to change something as you build your “Empire” ! You’ll see things that you could have done better, things that don’t “look right”…it’s OK.
That being said, we still have plenty of equipment on our model railroad that came from Tyco, Bachmann and Lifelike sets that do just fine! The Kid loves his Bachmann Warbonet F units. They were his first trains, given to him for Christmas in 1991, when he was all of 2 days old, and he still runs the crud out of them. ( He’s about to turn 14 this Christmas season! )
IF MONEY IS NO OBJECT…then for sure, go for the gold! Get the best that you can get! But all the planning, building, and hunting all the “Right Stuff” goes easily when you actually have trains running!
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Rotor
Most train sets are designed to get you railroading with least amount of fuss at a price point that wont send the customer running for the door. This usually includes compromises of tight radius curves, sectional track and a power pack adequate to run one locomotive. Sometimes though, the train you want only comes in a set. The Hogwarts Express is one example. If you have the time, the patience and an idea of what you want to build and the time frame you want to depict then I suggest you buy components. If you want a test bed to see how serious you are going to go then a set may be a better way to go. My first was a set of which I still use the rolling stock and I still buy sets if that is the only way I can get certain items such as the wife’s HP Hogwarts Express, my son’s Walt Disney train or my Bachmann John Bull set.