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I used to take a ribbing from my friends at the LHS because I was in N, the same from my friend's when I was over at their layouts. You'd always hear versions of the same thing, N was so small, why you couldn't even see them. Finally I stumbled on this line that shut them up; I would say: "If you can't see N scale, you should surrender your driver's license." N really has two sizes, HO also but it is more noticeable in N. N is a contemporary scale, you will see very little steam and lots of diesels, and many modern diesels out there in use today. The first size is the steam/diesel transition size, with smaller engines and rolling stock, lots of 40 foot box cars for instance. The other size is today's cars and engines, SD90's and autoMAX's, centre beam cars, articulated intermodal, etc. The large stuff almost looks like G scale in HO. A friend of mine was running some new HO autoMAX's on a 1/2 a basement layout and did it ever shrink the layout, really big cars make layouts smaller. But in N the same AutoMAX's look just great, same with SD90's. In N having two SD90's lashed together looks great, in HO it looks bizarre unless your basement is gymnasium size. What I would recommend is to have the scale you chose match the room you have. MR once ran a coffee table layout in O scale if I remember correctly. Now of course it can be done, but because it can be done is not a good enough reason to do it. N is a better coffee table layout size, more can be done visually and operationally in a coffee table with N. If the amount of room you have isn't that great (by your definition) then you might want to consider N. You can have an empire in N which would be a medium layout in HO. If you have more room, go HO. Have the scale fit the space, not the space forced to fit the scale. Next there are deals out there to be had in model railroading, but when you first start out stay away from the "deals." There are also many bad deals out there. Buy everything separate from the Local Hobby Shop LHS. Tell your LHS owner or clerk you are in the hobby for life and you expect the equipment you buy to run well, last long and look great (this means it will cost more). The hobby is expensive but spread over 20 to 50 years is affordable and you have more left to own and see than a sport like golf that eats money with only a score card to show for it, and that you usually throw away. If you are thinking about making a purchase ask about it in the forum first until you get your sea legs. Just keep reading and participating in the forum and before long you will be shocked to discover you too are starting to dispense advise.
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