General Purchasing Order

[Anonymous]

For those of us who are starting out with their purchases with their railroad, what's somewhat the common order of items that you would buy, expense wise?

For some, purchasing locomotives I think would be the main thing to buy first....since its the most expensive items to add to the layout. I think once you have bought all the locomotives that one would need for awhile, then you would work on buying more freight cars, track, or whatever one would want to look into and it would be easier to purchase.

Generally the locos consist of one of the biggest expenses of the train hobby. Is it easier buying the other items once you've purchased your motive power? Usually except for preorders, a cost of one engine @ $400 would be enough to buy several cars, accessories or even track, and you wouldnt have to wait as long to save up for them.

[dwiemer]

Start with a starter set, then, more motive power and track. Then you begin to plan a layout and keep your eyes open for any rolling stock that catches your eye. Then, more track and some bigger transformers. This followed up by more motive power and rolling stock. Oh and did I mention the occasional doctor visit to examine the wounds from when your wife sees the bill from all the purchases?
Dennis

[rogruth]

After the starter set and additional loco or two , I would get a better power supply{ transformer} .

[Anonymous]

"For those of us who are starting out with their purchases with their railroad, what's somewhat the common order of items that you would buy, expense wise?"

Do you have an actual plan, e.g. a layout of a certain size with a certain common theme? An all too common problem is for someone starting out to begin buying motive power to the exclusion of everything else. This is great if you are primarily a collector and have the $ to back it up. Most of your purchases will wind up being "shelf queens" if you don't have anyplace to run them. If you are not sure what you really want to do, stick with basic starter set(s) until you get a feel for where you want to go. Most secondatry purchases are a) track, b) switches, c) additional rolling stock, d) action accessories, e) additional power supply, f) additional motive power, g) repeat cycle.

[johnandjulie13]

Hello Trainmaster:

I have recently got into the hobby myself. Not being very experienced, I can only tell you what I have done. I started with an MTH starter set. It includes a Locomotive that is DCS ready (for when I am DCS ready) and it came with three cars (including the caboose) and a decent 100W transformer. I then added an operating car, so my son could have some immediate involvement. The starter set has been a great value and was a great way to get up and running.

I have since purchased some Atlas track and another engine. I am now in the planning stages of a permanent layout.

Good luck with your railway and have fun.

Regards,

John

[Anonymous]

As you probably know, make sure you are buying engines, etc. that can run on the track curves you will be putting down. In my case, it's O36 and O48. Joe

[IRONROOSTER]

One sequence of events could be:
1. Design the layout.
2. Build the benchwork.
3. Lay the track.
4. Connect the power
5. Add engines - as many as you can run at once.
6. Add cars - as many as you can run at once
7. Add buildings/accessories - as many as you can use at once.
8. Buy extra stuff.

For large layouts after the design, build it in sections repeating 2-7 until finished.

Or you could just buy what appeals to you and rotate it on and off however much layout you have at the moment. This is a fun hobby so do what is fun.

Most folks want to get off the floor and have a mixture of engines, cars, and accessories with more than a simple oval of track. So they buy a little of each to get started.

Enjoy
Paul

[darianj]

For me it was:
Starter set
Second Starter set
4 Switches,Additional track and Crossover
Another Loco
Another train set
With various rolling stock and buildings all along the way

Basically I just bought what caught my eye at the time.

[Anonymous]

Since I have DCS only my engine buying habits are restricted by "if the engine has PS2".
When I find a DCS PS2 engine I like then I will fill in the rolling stock with any manufacturer I want. So I guess I buy only PS2 engines for now and rolling stock that looks good behind it.

[jimhaleyscomet]

Here is my purchase order.

1. Buy non command set (Lionel Pennsy Flyer)
2. Purchase a ton of more 027 track and another 027 set (probably a mistake).
3. Purchase a crossover package (figure 8).
4. Purchase a bunch of JUNK of ebay (another mistake). Shipping made for a bad deal.
5. Purchase a PS2 MTH set. Wow this is more fun!
6. Purchase a bunch of MTH track including track for figure 8.
7. Sell most of 027 stuff and buy another MTH PS2 set. (I regret selling the 027 stuff).
7a. Pick up a few 1957 sets (including ice house and ZW) for about $250. Spend another $300 getting the two locomotives fixed.
8. Buy a PS2 locomotive.
9. Buy a Lionel command control locomotive.
10. Purchase TMCC and DCS controllers.
11. Purchase several K-line starter sets for the cars (the track is good to).
11a. Purchase a few Beeps.
12. Purchase Thomas set.
13. Purchase several MTH switches.
14. Purchase a few K-line snap track switches.
15. Purchase a few fastrack switches (for Christmas Layout).
16. Create my fourth layout where I run both command engines and conventional trains.

If I had it to do over I would start with MTH PS2 sets and DCS. If money was a big issue I would start with Thomas set. I would use a different track on my layout. K-line snaptrack is my favorite since it sounds significantly quiter (lower frequency sound is less objectible) however K-line is out of business (but the track is still around).

Jim H

[laz 57]

The best transformer you can afford.
laz57