Resqnu
Member
Hi guys, I’m new on the forum and new to MRR. I purchased 2 Bachmann kits for me and my 5 year old 3 weeks ago. I’m 47 years old and I’ve always wanted a nice HO train setup, so now that my son is an train fanatic, I can easily justify it…lol. I have read a lot and learned quickly as I want to convert from the current DC systems to DCC. I just built 2-4x8 tables and will be putting them in a L shape which will give me a 30 inch tall 12ft x 4ft and a 4ft x 4ft jut out in the basement. I am currently designing the track layout. I want an outside and inner track. The outside will be a more long flowing run for my son and and have some roadway on the outer most edge of the layout, so my son can interact with vehicles/crossings with one train. The inner track would have more turns and turnouts with a rail yard for moving trains around for myself 2-3 trains. I wouldn’t mind the 2 tracks crossing or starting with keeping them separate. I will be using Atlas 100 flex track.
NCE DCC Twin starter set with power supply (for son) and a NCE PowerCab (for me) $270
NCE Powercab (for me) and NCE led Engineer throttle (for son) $230
Digitrax Zephyr DCC syste (for son) and Digitax full feature throttle (for me) $320
Any help and info is greatly appreciated. My budget is not unlimited, but have learned from being in RC hobbies for a while, that to buy good stuff the first time. But don’t want to go crazy until I make sure this will be around for a while.
My apologizes for the long post.
- Any layout ideas would be greatly appreciated. Once the layout is decided on the scenery and landscape will be designed.
- I currently have 3 new Bachmann Kit dc locos that, if possible need to be converted to DCC. I have decent soldering skills from 6 years of building and racing 1/10 scale RC cars and building RC helicopters. Can this be done? Any recommendations on the decoders? I also plan to buy a few DCC locos with at least one with sound.
- Now the big question, What DCC system would you recommend for me and my son? I’m looking for easy setup, easy programming and be able to be expanded. Like adding more power, if needed. Not looking to start a war, (just looking for experience with ease of starting out with some expansion nothing for club stuff). I want a controller for my 5 year old and a more advanced controller for myself. I’m open to any recommendations. After lots of reading on here a few recommendations I have seen are :
NCE DCC Twin starter set with power supply (for son) and a NCE PowerCab (for me) $270
NCE Powercab (for me) and NCE led Engineer throttle (for son) $230
Digitrax Zephyr DCC syste (for son) and Digitax full feature throttle (for me) $320
Any help and info is greatly appreciated. My budget is not unlimited, but have learned from being in RC hobbies for a while, that to buy good stuff the first time. But don’t want to go crazy until I make sure this will be around for a while.
My apologizes for the long post.