QUOTE: Originally posted by jeff521 Hello folks: I just registered for this forum...here's my first post! About a year and a half ago, I tore down my beautiful 9' x 12' N-scale model railroad that I had worked on for 14 years. I'll post some photos sometime soon. Anyway, I've moved into my new house, and I have about 1200 square feet of basement to work with! Obviously, I'm thinking big. This will be my fourth major model railroad since 1983. All of them have been N-scale based on Southern Wyoming and Northern Colorado. Most of my locomotives and rolling stock are fairly high quality (Kato, Atlas, etc), and all of my rolling stock has been fitted with Micro Trains trucks and couplers. My first question is what code and brand of track should I consider for realistic, big time mainline railroading? I used Peco Code 100 (I think...I could be wrong) on my lasy layout. It worked great but I've seen more realistic track (Shinohara maybe?). Will my rolling stock and engines work with code 70 without retrofitting the wheels? Or do I need special wheels with smaller flanges for Code 70? What about Code 55 for trunk lines and sidings? My second question is with more than two dozen locomitives (Kato and Atlas, all diesel) dating from 1992--2003, should I consider retrofitting everything for DCC? Or would it totally drain my budget? I have about $2000 to get started. I was unalble to salvage any of my track or scenery (except trees and some rocks) from my last layout (it's a long story, but I had one evening to dismantle my layout). I do have lots of structures, rolling stock, engines, etc. Thanks in advance. I used the search function and read some threads, but I just got more confused.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jeff521 Thanks for the excellent suggestions and information. If I recall, some of my newer Kato and Atlas engines that I bought after the year 2000 are DCC ready. I'll have to do some research to figure out the best route to go.
QUOTE: I was thinking about selling some of my older engines and reinvesting the money in DCC. I have a bunch of GP-35's and SD-45's that I did not run very often. They were made in Japan before Atlas moved their manufacturing to China. I'm not sure if that makes any difference in their market value. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.