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Hello, First off I would like to welcome you to the great hobby of model railraoding. It sure is a blast. I have been doing it activly and continuously since the age of 4. This active interest has allowed me to become a craftsman level modeler at the mere age of 21! :) I would like to say that all the advise you have recieved so far is top notch. You would not go awry by following it. I have gotten several people into the hobby, I find once their layout is built that many of them end up with two powered locomotives and between 10-15 cars divided between two local trains and the indistries on the layout. I run a model railroad custom painting, and design business (http://w3.trib.com/~mrljim) and will be happy to adivise you in any thing you need help in. (I do not reccomend directly employing my company's services as they are intended for the older modeler wanting customised modeles made for them and the service is quite expensive) Atlas is a good company to use for track. This may seem counter to some of the advice other people may give. However I would take the money now and invest in a Digitrax Zephyr DCC control system. The unit is very easy to set up and get you started on the cutting edge of modern model train control, and Digitrax brand is design to expand with your model railroad, so you only need the basic starter consol to get started. One other advantage is that the Zepyr starter set is set up so that you can convert the standard train set power pack you already have into a DCC throttle and thus your investment in that piece of equipment is not wasted. I am also volunteering on teh Wiring for DCC website (http://www.wiringfordcc.com) and can help you get started. I would like to state that I my self was hesitant to start DCC but I found that in reality it makes thing very very easy to run. Its just discussing how the system actually works that gets compicated. DCC can be used in any scale. Another style of model railroad that you mgiht want to consider is a system known as shelf layout. It generally consists of shelvs between 8 and 18" (12" is the most common i have seen) wide with tracks laid out in a switching pattern. Then if one wants continuous running the shelf can be mounted relatvly high. About chin hight perhaps. and ran all the way around the room. The all the way around the room version is known as a"wall track" system. I have built two of these layouts my self and are quite fun. Often the shelving pieces are small eneugh that one can work on each section at the workbench. (Comandeered kitchen table perhaps?) and then installed in its final posistion. They are often small eneugh that they can be moved with a minimum of fuss as well. One more piece of information I would like to pass along. Like other people have mentioned before, finding fellow modelers is always helpful. I would like to mention a chat room that me and several of my friends frequent on an almost nightly basis. I highly reccomend Trainweb's "Railchat" chat room. (http://www.railchat.com) THere are many people there who share a passion for model railroading and are more than willing to give advise to a fresh recruit like you. Well I hope I have been of some help. Feel free to email me at Challenger@hrp.every1.net and I look foward to possibly seeing you in Railchat. Sincerely Yours James R. Mitich
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