Hi my son has taken an extreme interest in model trains. His father and I are looking into a train set its a 1990 burlington bullet ho scale, the seller is asking 50.00 is this to much for this set? its still in the box and has never been used
I suggest you repost this on the model railroad general discussion board. Who is the manufacturer?
Most train sets of that type have a horribly cheap locomotive with what is called a “Pancake” motor mounted on the rear truck that drives only the rear wheels. In my opinion, the set is not worth $50. You’ll get more for your money by visiting a hobby shop that sells trains and purchasing individual items.
Thank you. We are just starting out and we want something. That is going to last him. We eventually plan to have a train room. We tried to research the set but couldn’t find any info on it.
The Burlington Bullet was made by Life-Like, it is “New” in the 1990 Life-Like catalog: http://hoseeker.net/lifelikeinformation/lifelikesetcatalog1990pg01.jpg ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Found it on the HO Seeker site: http://hoseeker.net/lit.html ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Search the Community for Life-Like to find threads regarding Life-Like quality.
A lot of ground to cover here. HO trains will run from $50 to thousands for a number of reasons. For a child with no experience you want something reliable. You will also want to keep it simple and use the first layout as a learning experience. A local hobby shop can help tremendously. The back of Model Railroader magazine lists hobby shops geographically. Walthers and Athearn make higher quality train sets that should be reliable in the $100-150 range. They should include a circle of track 36" in diameter and a power pack which will get you started. This will easily fit on a half sheet of plywood with room for some scenery and buildings. you may wish to purchase some straight track to lengthen it to 8’. later you can try replacing a straight with a turnout creating a siding. Use nickel silver track only. Make sure the joints are up tight on track sections on both sides of the track. Do not set it up on carpet as the fibers will find their way into the loco and car trucks causing some problems and be hard to figure out for a newbie any questions ask them on the model railroad general discussion board. lots of long time modelers with lots o experience willing to help at any time. Have fun
If you’re interested in getting a complete train set from a hobby shop, it might be better to purchase a Bachmann train set with Digital Command Control and a DCC-equipped locomotive instead of starting with a plain DC power pack system, because DCC will give you smoother control.
Here’s a nice decent quality trainset from Walthers.
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Walthers-Trainline-HO-870-Train-Set-Santa-Fe-p/931-870.htm
And another one with more cars.
http://www.trainworldonline.com/manufacturers/starter-sets/overland-limitedunion-pacific-00614/
Welcome to the forums and to model railroading.
I see two very nice things happening here, a young person with interest in the hobby and a family working together to have a successful experience.
If you go to the top of this page there is a “Get Started” section on the black line. There are a number of helpful sections that will offer you some information. There are also some good books on getting started. If you have a local hobby shop, hopefully they may have one or two of them to help you. If they don’t, our host here has a nice selection at “Shop” on the same black line. I suggest you do some reading and include your son as you read.
You will all want to get trains rolling to keep your interest up, we all do. If you have a place you can set up a table that does not have to be taken down, you can put the track on the table and do some running, while you decide on a plan that will fit your space and desires. Many of the better sets come with track that has a built in roadbed. Unfortunately the various brands are not easily compatable, however, it can be adapted to add regular sectional track or flex track on cork roadbed later if you want to.
DCC is easier to wire and operate for most folks, but the locos and controllers cost more. There are a number of good DCC starter sets, most of us seem to like what we have. My suggestion is to get one that is easily expandable, if you think you or others in the family (hopefully all) will stay with the hobby.
You will undoubtedly have more questions and many folks here are willing to share their experiences. You will find that there are often several ways to do something, none are wrong, but some work better for some, while a different method works well for others. Try the various ways to see which is best for you. Even different places on a layout, you may find