New to the forums

[VaSpeck]

Hey everyone I've been lurking around here for a while learn as much as possible before going too much further. I used to model layouts with my dad and uncle when I was little and now I have a 3yo daughter who got into trains she see's around town. I decided to get out my old stuff and put up a train under the tree and that turned into the layout I started about a week and a half ago. It is a L shape 12'x8'.

I have learned alot so far and have some things I would change if i could do it over but thats ok. Theres not much on my layout so far but she doesnt seem to mind. I built the table with a 30" height good for regular chairs and angled the controls down so she could sit in a chair and run the trains. All my controls are color coded so she can figure them out. She is doing good so far. She can pick which train track she wants to turn on and run them with no derailments. I think dcc would be more fun but I was thinking this way would be easier for her to figure out. Is there a way to run dcc sound decoders and keep the control simple and color coded how i have it? I just think picking loco numbers and all of that would be harder on her.

I had a lot of ez track so thats what ive used so far but when I make the spurs to the other lower sections I have planned i will transition to flex. Also it never dawned on me to use insulation foam under the track or for land forms so I used the paper towel method but I think it came out alright.

Thanks for all the info everybody has provided me so far and thanks in advance for all the answers im going to need while I build this layout.

any way here are some pics of what I have so far.

 

[wheeler1963]

Welcome aboard!!! You've got a very smart 3yo!!! Glad she has brought you back to trains. Not often you hear of a father daughter playing with trains, I think that's great!!! You've got a good start on your layout, and if it's simple enough for her to run it, that makes it even better!!!

 

[Cjcrescent]

Welcome! Since you've been in the hobby before, your learning curve won't be as steep. You do have a smart daughter there! My daughter has been my railroading buddy since she was 18 months old. I even had a special pillow set on top of the layout where she would sit and just watch the trains run. When she was 5, she started building simple kits, and I still have those in my fleet.

She's almost 30 now with a son of her own, and HE's already into "GOPS!" (that's what he calls me), trains!

 

[Trussrod]

Hi VA,
Yes, welcome to you and your daughter on the forum here.

Glad your getting back into Model Railroading along with your daughter. I have a neighbor that is trying to get one or both of his daughters interested in trains too so I'll see what takes place. I think Matt might just be interested himself anyway.

It's good to see younger folks getting involved for sure!

Enjoy the forum and ask all the questions you like, there is most always someone that has answers.


As to your question about being able to put sound in the loco's without using DCC you should be able to do that without a problem. I say this as my buddy bought some Sn20 loco's by Bachman and he runs them on his DC track and they still produce sound but it does it on it own to synchronize with the movement of the steam loco so there should be no problem. Also another friend is also running DC as I am too, and he has Diesel Loco's that are sound equiped and even let me listen to one over the phone a few days ago.

So, yes, you should be able to install sound without too much problem I believe.