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Steve, You can incorporate your father's layout into a new one without too much difficulty. It may require some fiddling or modification to the track in order to "interface" the two. Since he has not seen it run for a while, you might want to try to make it functional as you think about your plans for the new "Empire" [;)]. Track today is more likely to be nickel silver instead of brass (silver colour instead of yellow). But the old brass will work fine if it is kept clean. Many people mix products on their layouts, using track from one manufacturer and turnouts (switches) from another. You do not need to run Altas locos on Atlas track, or anything like that, although I think you probably know this already - sorry if I am oversimplifying things. I recently starting a layout of my own after a (long) time away from it. I wish I had gone DCC from the start. The smaller your layout, the more you will appreciate DCC I think. Unless you only run one engine at a time, your locos will be very close together on a small layout, which makes switching blocks for cab control a pain in the you-know-what. Digitrax offers a "starter" set of sorts called the Zephyr. It looks much like an old MRC power pack, with a few buttons, and a knob for speed control, but it is much more advanced. It will even allow you plug in your old transformer to use as a second controller. Can be found for under US$200. Your only other expense if for decoders (anywhere from $20-$30 per engine). Bad news is that your dad's old engines may be difficult or impossible to retrofit with decoders. Anyway, all this to say - ask away! For the most part you will get useful info here (and other places on the net), and there really aren't any silly questions. The search function can also provide you with lots of info on questions that have been asked in the past (probably more info than you'd even want to read...) Andrew
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