HELLLPPP! I know nothing and I need to get him a train....

[Anonymous]

Did anyone get anything train related for Xmas????? I bet that is a really dumb question!!!!

Tess

P.S. Keith also got a train ornament from my mum. :-) Forgot that one thing. :-)

[ramoutandabout]

Ok let me see if i can help a bit. I grew up with trains around all my life, until i out grew away from then when I was about 20. I'm just getting started with trains again, with the help of my awesome wife. If it was me, I would start out with a simple train set, which includes track, an engine, between 3-5 cars, and a powerpac, for around $200-$500. This will give him a chance to actually run a train on a loop and decide how he wants to proceed (better than just getting an expensive engine that all you can do is look at). I'd check in the Walthers catalog or at your local hobby shop. Try www.walthers.com to get ideas but if the gift was for me I'd rather get something I could run.

[Adelie]

Well, yes and no o the train-related Christmas stuff. My wife got me the Sunday River video on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid (if you haven't heard of it Tess, it is prounounced gory & defeated). Rather fascinating, since the layouts go back into the early 1950s.

I hedged my answer because before Christmas I wandered into Tony's Train Exchange's web site and their holiday sale. I wandered out with a CMX track cleaning car and a pair of DCC equipped Atlas RS1s, all in N-scale. I saved a bit of cash with the sale, and avoided having to do surgery on the locos myself to install the decoders. So, I sort of got those for Christmas, courtesy of myself!

I'd just as soon do the train shopping myself, since I'd have to not only give hints as to what I wanted, but provide the manufacturer, model number, reseller who has it and how much it costs to avoid a well-meaning disaster (like an S scale RS11 for my N scale layout!).

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:

I'd just as soon do the train shopping myself, since I'd have to not only give hints as to what I wanted, but provide the manufacturer, model number, reseller who has it and how much it costs to avoid a well-meaning disaster (like an S scale RS11 for my N scale layout!).

:-) sounds like you had a good christmas....courtesy of yourself. :-) do you have pics of your layout? :-)

[tstage]

QUOTE: Originally posted by piccolotess
How old's Daniel? Is he going to be able to afford DCC...or is Uncle Tom gonna have to help him get started? :-)

Tess,

Daniel just turned 14. He's a good kid. Right now, Daniel doesn't have much income - nor even a layout. When I finally get my NCE PowerCab (which should be shortly...please, please), I could "donate" the Bachmann to a "good cause". Maybe that might be the spur he needs to start building his own.

Glad to hear all went well with the Christmas surprise. Look forward to seeing the pics sometime.

Tom

[Adelie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by piccolotess

do you have pics of your layout? :-)

That's a sore subject right now. The lower staging level is done, as are the helixes to and from it, the loops are done and track laid, and there is some subroadbed and roadbed down. Construction WAS proceeding nicely. However, the Tracklayer's Union is on strike while the wife and I figure out if we are moving this coming year. She's finally reached the point that I reached about 5 years ago, that I want out of the rat race. So, while we search for a panacea somewhere, probably near Asheville, NC, everything that would require disassembly is on hold. That leaves me with some structure building and weathering, locomotive painting and weathering and decoder installation. I'll enjoy this hobby in one way or another....or else!

Eventually, I will take pictures of the plywood central before I flip the reversing switch on the impact driver and start spinning screws out. Call it laziness or denial, but I've had less ambition about taking pictures of the progress as long as there is no progress on the horizon!

When I get any of the structures I've been working on finished, I will post pictures of those. Same for the locomotives and rolling stock.

And if we move, those of us who are old enough will remember the immortal words "we can rebuild him. Better than he was, faster" Hopefully for less than $6 million.

- Mark

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