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I've looked at this hobby from a distance for a long time, and honestly don't have the space to set up a train at home, but was thinking of getting one to set up at work for the holiday season... but something I can keep and set up permanently and set up when I do have some more room and even add on to.
That being said, I don't want anything incredibly expensive, but I don't want garbage either.
I went to eBay to look, but found i was totally lost.
can anyone reccommed a good strated set that isn't garbage, but won't cost me an arm and a leg?
I realize this is really vague, but if you can muddle though it, Id appreacite some advice!
I am not the expert but last year I purchased an MTH O scale train set for the Christmas tree. The train was great and included everything to get started for around $300 on the net. The great thing about the locomotive was the sound and smoke effects, which are synchronized. You will get mixed opinions on MTH stuff due to some business practices, but the product was better than expected. The track has the molded in roadbed, so it is easy to setup on a temp basis.
Make sure you get the locomotive with the speed control. Also, my local train store swapped out the MTH track for the Lionel equivalent. I am sure either is fine except the Lionel stuff is easier to take apart.
One last note, for the same money MTH gives your more features than Lionel. The Lionel trains in that price range did not have speed controllers in the loco.
I'm assuming since you want it for the office you'd want a setup that would be very low maintinance?
The lowest maintinance (and highest durability) sets are going to be higher dollar sets for the most part. You get what you pay for, you know?
A diesel locomotive will probably be the lowest maintinance loco to look at (this, from a steam fan!).
For HO and N scales it's hard to go wrong with a Kato set for reliability and durability. For S, O, and G scales you'd have to ask someone else as I don't know a lot about them.
Without more info it's hard to nail much more down.
One last thing.......you do have enough room for trains. Provided you have room for a little more then a shoebox, you have room for a small switching layout.
I don't know what your budget is but Bachmann has several really nice HO sets out for the holidays. Their "Frontiersman" is a freight set and the "Explorer" is a passenger set. Both have high quality locomotives and rolling stock and are already DCC equipped, which will mean something to you if you get seriously involved in model railroading. One of the Explorer sets is at http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/bac/bac01306.htm and I'm linking to it because it's a Union Pacific set, my favorite railroad. It's $225 for the set, which is a good price for this quality of train set. If you just want a train set with the most number of cars and the most amount of track for the money, the Bachmann Overland Express (http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/bac/bac00614.htm) also has high quality rolling stock and goes for $166. Cheaper sets are going to be made with lesser quality locomotives and rolling stock that won't work very well and you'll end up trashing them if you do get more involved in model railroading.
Ok, so I am going to go with an HO scale set I think, that seems to fit the best.
I am thinking that I want on for work and one for home for Christmas, then combining them afterwards.
After looking around, is it easier to buy the individual peices instead of a set?
It doesn't have to be brand new, but the more I look, the more I see that I can pick up lots of two or three cars realatively inexpensive (and I'd like to have a few P&WV cars in there as well).
Is a set the way to go, or should I research and buy it all seprately?
Can you mix and match cards of the same scale from different manufacturers? (I assume so)
Or am I just CRAZY!
(is this addicting? it sure seems so, my wife thinks I've lost it)
HA, HA! Oh, you just don't know, yet! It gets worse.
If you want/need to have trains running quickly, then a set would be what you need. You can always add more cars, more track, more locos, etc., etc., etc.
Atlas Trainman is a very high quality set - it's their "bargain" line but the locomotive uses the same proven mechanism as their higher end models. All the cars and the locomotive that come with it would work on a larger layout if at some time in the future that becomes a possibility.
While I don't have any of the Trainman GP38-2s, I've got at least six other locomotives with the same mechanism in them. Good, quiet runners.
More so than any other of the typical hobby or sports obsessions. It is contagious too.
There are some Proto-1000 train sets out there that look like they are pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't have any real experience with them. Just what I've seen. I am guessing the down side might be that they have that junky power-loc Life-Like type track.
Oh, you just don't know, yet! It gets worse.
