Restarting my hobby, need guidance.


J

Julioengineer

New Member
Hello all,

After a ten year hiatus I am planning to get back into the hobby. When last I practiced I was doing HO but now I want to start with N scale. When I first got into the hobby I bought a book on HO with tips on beginning in the hobby and layout plans. Is there a recommended modern book that talks about beginning the hobby, the difference between DCC and regular controllers, and has track layouts that I could build out? I imagine many things have changed in the last ten years especially availability of information on line and I want to get an understanding of all that. Am I better off getting a book or is there enough information I can use in this forum and online? Any suggestions would be helpful. Also I wouldn't mind opinions on whether I should try to get a lot of the materials used from other hobbyists and do DCC or go less expensive and start out with a regular controller. Sorry for the rambling but I am very excited about getting started again and want to do it right. Thank you in advance for all your help.
 
Go to the local hobby shop, they have a whole series of books for the beginner that covers your wiring needs and track plans galore. There is also a book on DCC for the new guy to that part. I would recommend starting with DCC as you're just starting. Wiring is very simple and a lot less of it. I have a hundred locomotives and two N layouts. It would cost me a fortune to convert my stuff, so I'm staying where I am, you on the other hand just getting started have the opportunity to start with DCC and grow with it. Lucky you.
 
Thanks Railfan. I have on order a book with n scale layout and I am looking for a low cost DCC book so I understand the system better. I already have my DCC controler. I bought the Digimax empire set and all I need is the power supply. I also have some track, a table and an idea for a layout. I have taken a break for the holidays and plan to do more research so that I can model a Tombstone-Phoenix-Flagstaff run with an era appropriate steam loco. I choce this because there are three different terrains, desert, city, and mountain. I think it would be cool to have the gunfight at the OK Corral, an old western city and some snowy mountains on my layout!!!! Once again thank you for all the info and I look forward to getting this done in the new year.
 
Welcome back to the hobby and welcome aboard. Make sure you keep us posted on your progress and if possible post photos. Good luck to ya.
 
Welcome back. I too have just come back to modeling and also have adjusted from HO to N scale. HO was a lot of fun and very easy to work with but too big for my small space with the idea of having a mountan, lake, rail yard, and seperate passenger and freight stations. I too looked at the startup books and used them to develop my layout framework but me thing that I suggest is that you go to the Woodland Scenics web site and review thier videos. The development of the layout terrain would be make much better and easier if you were to use the Woodland Scenics Sub-terrain system. It is great. I had to make some major changes to my layout and I moved to Sub-terain and it was well worth it. Check out the videos on Woodland Scenics. Best and have fun....Harlan
 
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