Scale

Congratulations on your decision and welcome aboard. The scale is really a personal preference. All of them have their pro's and con's. Now about control, since you are starting from zero, I highly recommend you to go DCC. and if you like the sound then you have a better advantage going HO Scale or larger. The big advantage with HO is that you can buy the engines with the sound already installed and ready to go.

You are in the perfect group being here. You will find great people with a great desire to help you and give you advice. They are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Again, congratulations on your decision to build a layout.

Thank you!  I have been up

Thank you!  I have been up all night (my bad) . . . reading up on DCC.  I have a lot to catch up on.  But I do believe that if I start out small and correctly, that I will be much happier in the long run.

The first step is going to be reorganizing those two rooms and putting some $ away.  I will be going to the train show in Puyallup in about 3 weeks, so that should help me with some decisions.  I have learned not to rush into more expensive purchases w/out doing a lot of reading and asking opinions and hopefully seeing things in operation.

I've seen that you can do some programs off the internet.  The fellow had a PC.  I'm on a Mac, so I am hoping that if I choose that route, that being on a Mac will not present a problem (since 90% of the world is PC).

I don't know enough about all this yet.  Perhaps that won't even be any route I would need to seek anyways. (?)

Mr.K just woke up and I was telling him about some fantastic layouts that I've been watching (and . . . about DCC).  I also told him about this guy who has cars and trucks running around the main square of his tiny layout.  (He got an old windshield wiper motor, chain, magnets for chain and for the underneath of cars and trucks.)  It brought the town to life!

30 miles across the water from Victoria?

That appears to put you in Port Angeles/Sequim or the San Juans... nice location. My maternal great grandparents lived above Dungeness Bay.

I would definitely suggest HO scale + DCC (it's what I went for, so I have a natural prejudice). Since you like trolleys, have you thought of a streetcar based layout? One nice thing about trolley tracks is that they have very tight curves, fitting in smaller spaces - and there are even prototypes where the end of the tracks went around in a loop back to the original track (that's known as a reverse loop and requires a bit of special wiring), making it easy to just let them run. One that I'm thinking of had a park inside the loop as well - a place for people to ride the trolley to on the weekend.

While Seattle isn't very close, it's probably your nearest real metro area and it has a very active model railroading community based around the 4th Division of the Pacific Northwest Region of the NMRA (National Model Railroad Assn). http://www.4dpnr.org/ They're a friendly bunch.

Jeff, yes sir, we are in

Jeff, yes sir, we are in Sequim.  We have a club here in Sequim that meets at the library.  That is the one that I am going to join and they ran their yearly show 2 weeks ago at the Grange Hall over in Carlsborg.  Trolleys certainly don't need much of a radius.

I still would like to have at least one steam and one diesel in the future though.  I have been toying with the idea of going with the TT scale.  There is a fellow that lived in the Seattle area who was really into that scale but he moved back to Germany in August.  Since I like the European layouts, I could just do both trolley and trains with that.  My fear has been that I don't really know quite enough about their scenery.  I was in Switzerland in the mid-70s and all over Italy but did not ride the rails even once.  I do look at videos though (of both real trains and models).

I know that the TT scale is somewhat limited, but I will never have tons of money to spend anyways.  I know my limitations about tossing tons of structures, people, etc.  I am more interested in a long route.  If I had my way, it would run throughout the entire house, LOL.

There is still time to decide . . . a month or two.

If I was starting fresh

With the freedom of starting fresh, I think I would go with N scale and DCC. It sounds like you have some room but not a huge space and if you want to run passenger equipment, you need some broad radius curves. 30" minimum in HO. Those curves eat space quickly. N would give you the freedom to use broad radius curves in a medium sized space.

When it comes to DCC, I think that is the only choice. From there you need to decide if sound is important to you. Sound is possible in N but it is more difficult. Your options are greater in HO if you want sound. 

Your jewelry skills will likely be an asset in model building, the skill you have with small tools and tiny objects would translate well to working with N scale I would think.

Lots of examples of trolleys

Lots of examples of trolleys with steam and later diesel in the US. From large ones like the Sacramento Northern and Pacific Electric to Southern New York in NY state and the Jamestown Westfield & Northwestern also in NY state. I'm sure there's plenty of others.

Charles

Choices

For the record, in HO, there are other choices for advanced control. Railpro is what I chose, and I love it. Very user friendly. Downside, it does not fit in the really tiny locos and critters yet. But it will someday.

Checkout the January 2012 issue of MRH and this video before you decide on a DCC system.
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/videos/railpro-demo

@ ChrisK

You have a wide ranging interest.  Have you consider maybe using one room for your big scale trains and using the other room, say for, N scale?  It might be one way to do this.  I would hope that you will post your track plans here in this thread of yours so, that we may comment on them to help you avoid any problems.

There is one more scale you should look at.  It is called On30.  It is O narrow gauge 30" running on the same size track as HO.  However, there is track made just for it, but one can run it on the HO track you already have. This gauge does use DCC, sound, tiny cute tea pot steamers, some beautiful trolley cars and tight curves.  It has some heft to it too.

We have a member who has designed a great On30 layout in a small space.  His name is Dave Meeks.  He is an artist too.  The main table of his layout is on a 3 foot x 6 foot.  The rest runs down a shelf.  He has taken the flavor of Disney and made it more real world.  Take a read through his blog and view his beautiful vistas;

http://thundermesaminingco.blogspot.com

I don't model in this scale, but I have collected a few items.  My current modeling is in HOn3.  HO narrow gauge 36".   However, I recommend you explore the On30 just as a possibility.  You can have a lot of fun with it.  I hope to hear more of your efforts here no matter what you choose.

While you are educating yourself on DCC it is only fair that you educate yourself on "DeadRail."  I think you will find it interesting.  Be sure to ask any questions that you need clarification on.  There is a great group of people on this forum who will help you.

Den

Since you mentioned Trolleys

Since you mentioned Trolleys I will toss some information your way. Two of the finest modelers in my railroad club are trolley nuts as they call themselves. In the bottom portion of my post are links to our club website and my Blogs. On our club website there are several links that can be accessed by anyone to see the Roy King Trolley Layout that we are restoring and updating. The layout was rather famous and has been on many layout tours in the Dallas, TX area. It now resides in East Texas at our club. It has been upgraded to dcc and supplies power through the overhead wire. We also have trolleys on the main HO layout at the club as well.

Now I know you are a long way from Texas but one of our members winters in Texas and lives in the Summer in Northern Washington State so we do have folks that make the trip! I will extend to you an invitation that if you are in the area stop in and see us you will be glad you did. The Club Blog link will let you participate in the adventures at the club by letting your fingers do the walking as they used to say. Now below I have posted an early trolley that was used in my former home town and the area I plan to model.

Below I have a few pictures of the King Trolley Layout.

I hope these provide a we bit of incentive to look to what your interests are and pursue your dream. Lots of folks still use dc as a choice for layouts and until about last year the trolley was dc. After we get the backdrops mounted and put the trolley layout back in position we will likely have some more photos to post of the updates.

There are lots of photos of all our layouts on the club web site and my club blog. You can also read a few years of events and see pictures in our club newsletter that is also available on the web site.

Enjoy and welcome back into the hobby. By the way what interests does MR K. have, maybe we can lure him in as well?

Scale?

  If you don't already know you want N scale you'll probably be happier with HO scale as it's a bit easier to set up and run and can stand a bit more dust on the tracks before stalling.  The other option would be to buy a new nice running O-27 locomotive and re-live your childhood fun. My grandkids love the Lionel Thomas the Tank trank set and it's been quite sturdy for them to play with. Lionel makes some nice Fast track with molded on roadbed and ballast that can be set up and re-configured as desired..DaveB

Well, I'm going to throw a different idea at you

you mentioned different "boards" in you layout.  May I suggest you look at "modular" railroad layouts.  It sounds like you are almost trying to invent that as you go.  It has been done and there are standards that would allow you to hook up with other people's layouts.  You could also re-arrange your own layout if you wanted to change what goes where.  The NMRA website has some lists of standards, so I would suggest going there for some "light" reading.

For the rest, so far you have had at least 5 different scales mentioned to you.  While I prefer to work in HO  myself, my advice is to go somewhere and handle as many scales as you can to see what feels right to you.

If you decide to go DCC, then you have to decide which manufacturer's DCC as well.  (oh happy happy joy joy).  I started with DCC by buying a throttle to run my trains on the club layout, so now for my own layout I have just purchased a starter system int he same manufacturer's stuff to build on.  This is something to consider.

As for engines, all but 1 of my current engines were DC.  Now they are all DCC, but only the 1 I purchased new has sound.  So, you are not trapped in DC if you decide to upgrade to DCC later.

Whatever you do, choose what feels right to you.  And ask questions.  Someone here knows the answer.  (And other someones may give the wrong answer too, so be careful)

For the record, in HO, there

I stand corrected. I need to practice what I preach and look outside the mainstream. I was thinking a choice between DC and DCC but as you note, there are other options!  

N Scale and T-Trak...

Honestly, I think you could match all the criteria you're looking at - and more - in N scale, going the T-Trak modular route. Build a couple of end loops and  add one module at a time between them, reconfigure it any time you like, and load on as much detail on a single module as you can stand.

 A standard single T-Trak module is about the size of a sheet of notebook paper. Yes, that small. Each module can be a stand alone scene, or part of a larger presentation. The standard calls for Kato Unitrack, which is very rugged and darn near bulletproof, just snaps together, yet stays securely connected.

While the official T-Trak web site calls for plywood framed modules, it's not a requirement - and 3/16 foam core is a great way to put together modules that require no power tools beyond a low temp hot glue gun.*

The official T-Trak site is here: http://www.t-trak.org/

and the T-Trak Wiki (with lots of pictures of other people's modules, and ideas for even more...)  is here: http://ttrak.wikidot.com/

(and you can take any or all of the modules to a train show and set up with other T-Trakkers as well...)

*I just built a triple length interchange module with a foam core frame - the thread for that is here: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/foamcore-framed-ttrak-module-12198371

Hi Chris

Humor first...some of us are in our 3rd childhood. Simply because we were able to keep building trains even while working and raising kids. Also there was a thread going sometime back about the number of young girls who are showing an interest in model rr.

Ok serious stuff. If I were stating with a clean slate I would pick N also. Full length passenger cars take up a lot of turning room. My primary scale is HO. I have a small dog bone loop set up just so I can watch a N scale passenger train I hand painted back in the late 60's. It uses 14inch radius curves on it and the cars look just fine on it.

N scale locos run extremely well these days and I think are beginning to show up with sound.

At the show you mentioned coming up. You should find all sorts of modular RRs showing up in just about any scale including G. Any of the operators will probably be willing to talk about any aspect of trains that you care to bring up.

Jack

My son says he'll dig out the

My son says he'll dig out the boxes and I'll play around with both my old HO and N which will help me decide if I feel that N is too small.  My main gripe with N in the early 70s was ______________ (fill in the blank).  

And, yes, working with jewelry and having a bunch of pliers that can get into tiny spaces has to be a plus.  I have an array of X-acto knives/blades, a Dremel kit, soldering stuff from stained glass work.  Not sure where my old airbrush is, but it's somewhere.  I also have really good lights and large magnifying glass, some that hang on my neck, one very one on a stand.  For those with problems seeing close-up?  I even still have my loupe from my old typesetting days for measuring 'mouse' type and tiny leading. The dollar stores have reading glasses of varying strengths.  I find that these help a lot also when I'm finishing jewelry pieces.

As soon as I *know,* I'll post.  Mr.K is actually showing a bit of enthusiasm about all this which is nice.  I know he'll help me with some things, like cutting my boards, etc.  

Aug 2014 • Mineral, WA (Mr. Rainier Scenic RR)  (Won't post such a large photo again, sorry)

I highly doubt I will be creating something *awesome* . . . like I said, just want to get started small and have some fun and see where it spreads over the coming years.  The winters here can be rather blah.

 

Thanx to all of you for your

Thanx to all of you for your responses.  I will be rereading them and have copied and pasted some tips already into a folder I'm compiling.  I'm kinda an information hound.  Have a great weekend!

Good amount of track for both

Good amount of track for both N and HO.  Atlas (from the 70s and 80s).  Got a bit nostalgic seeing 1990 Boston Globe newspaper that I used in the boxes . . . missing my old stomping grounds.  Was looking last night (on line) at Boston & Maine stuff, videos and old photographs.  My uncle was a conductor on the New Haven run back in the 50s/early 60s.  I still have a train lantern and need to get one replacement lens.  

Disappointed, of course, in the quality of the trains I got as the HO were supposed to be for the boys . . . but will play around the next month or two.  The N is so stink'n cute!  But I prefer the size and feel of HO.  Am setting up the HO first.  Good grief those Amtrak passenger cars are so long!

Getting too many ideas for setting up both scales. Good grief, woman! Get a hold of yourself.  I don't care for wiring all that much.   I can dream, can't I? And that's what keeps us young.

To Rob in Texas

To Rob in Texas:  All I can say is "Wow!"  If we decide to drive to Florida and come through your fine state, I would beg Mr.K to bring me to see all this.  I have good friends who moved to Arlington two years ago.  

The only way we could lure Mr.K in would be with either O or G scale.  We talked lots about G outside but honestly with the ponds/fish and greenhouse and getting a hip-high raised bed for veggies, he has no interest in starting something that big.  Plus I have plans for a 3rd larger pond because I want to see how big our fish can get.  My dream would be to run a train around the ponds but this won't happen.

He would rather have slot cars but won't bother.  As long as he helps me with some of this and is supportive, that's good enough.  He's body man (auto body for decades).  He has lots of models to build (all in boxes).

I have been looking at your HO pix (ETMRC) and love that narrow gauge trestle!

We just had another member

We just had another member join our club yesterday. I will also add that one of our members has an out door railroad that you can ride on, and another has built or is building a live steam engine that one can ride on as well. It maybe that those things might also be available to be seen if you folks are stopping by. I will be posting some new entries with photo updates soon in regards to our trolley layout, next weeks open house, and the train show. After we get past that hurdle we will likely jump back into some operational things as well. Since you mentioned wiring and another poster was talking about control panels I have some things to post in that vein as well. More to come and likely will hit later today or tonight after the football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Ravens.

Glad you liked the web site, and thanks for the kind words. If you and your better half as the saying goes are planning to stop by gives us a shout on here and at the club web site and we will see if we can not have the club open when you folks are planning a visit. With any luck someone would be available to show you folks around. We are about 100 miles east of Arlington, Tx. That might sound like a long ways but some of our members are I think 70 miles or close to it from the club house, we are worth the trip.