That being said, for a noobie I'd pick one of two avenues. Either start with an Atlas track design book and pick a simple layout you and your son can build, or find an industry or yard close to you that interests you and design your own shelf layout that goes completely around the room. Half the fun with that is taking your boy and researching your local area. Atlas is nice because they have sectional track that fits exactly with their layout designs. My first HO layout was an Atlas design called "Plywood and Summit" and was 4X8. I learned on that and went on from there to design and build several room layouts.

As far as costs go, You'll probably have 5 to 6 hundred in lumber and trains plus you'll need a DCC controller. Starter sets cost $175 to $250. A nice full blown set would be 6 to 8 hundred dollars. I think a starter set would suffice since your'e starting out small. So I'd say $1,000 would be a nice round starting number to get you up and running.

Frank....

Model Railroader has nice plans for small railroads on their January issue that you might be interested at. I am like you, shelf type is my favorite because you don't loose the room. In other words you can use the room for something else while using it as a railroad as well.

is that model steam engines are very finicky, and not nearly as robust as diesels.  You can generally pick up any diesel by the fuel tank, but if you aren't careful when handling steam engines, parts start breaking off or worse yet, the rods bend knocking it out of quarter.  Also inexpensive steam engines frequently have issues that create more frustration than fun.

You might also start with Kato unitrack or Bachmann track with the built in roadbed.  That way you can layout an oval on a temporary 4x8 mounted on saw horses, and then try a switching layout with industries like you would have with a shelf.  See whether your son likes watching trains run around in circles or if he likes to pretend to switch out industries.  Shelves lend themselvs well to industrial switching, but are difficult to do continuous running on unless you either have a large turn around blob at each end or the shelf continues all the way around the room.  In the case of the latter, you will need a lfit up section or some sort of gate in front of any doorways to allow entrance and exit.

Trainworldonline.com has trainsets with DCC controller for just under $300.00. Another $100.00 for some plywood,2x4 for a table layout leaves about $100.00 for some structures. The DCC controllers might not be the best out there but should suffice for your needs.

Rob Teed

I would take a look at Model Railroaders current project layout!  The layout is based on the Virginian Railway and is a 4x8 layout that is expandable.  It is being covered in the January thru May issues and has weekly web videos to go along with it.  The layout is packed with operation and looks like it would be a fun to build and operate!  

Like Driline said, the question is too broad reaching. Some pointers that I have learned from screwing up over and over, however:

1. Figure out what you're modeling first. I started buying random stuff for several years, and I wasted a ton of money and time getting stuff that doesn't fit my road or era. Now that I know what I want to model, I can zero in like a hawk on what I want.

2. Don't buy cheap. Standard (non Spectrum) Bachman stuff looks so great for $40 with decoder, until you realize that they are OK runners, but don't look very good and have crappy decoders that are nearly impossible to program. Athearn and Atlas diesels are a good bet, not being too expensive, but also being realistic. Also, consider sound seriously. It adds so much to the experience of running a train, and makes lower speed operation and switching a lot more fun. Sound chips can be put in about anything, and if you don't want to do it yourself, you can send the loco off to Tony's, and they will sell you the correct sound decoder, install it, program it, and return it to you.

3. Make your lumber fit your railroad, don't make your railroad fit your lumber. We have a bizarre obsession with 4x8 layouts, when they are really terrible for modeling much of anything, except maybe that crazy Brooklyn Terminal railroad that actually was about the shape of a 4x8 in HO. It's easy to build a couple of box frames and put foam on them, and put some fascia on them, and end up with a nice, long shelf layout where you can walk along with the trains and switch them.

4. Use DCC. This is one of the few things I did right. However, don't get one of these "starter" systems like Bachman or MRC. I did, because I could never imagine spending $500 on Digitrax. Boy, did I regret it, and ended up wasting $200 on Bachman crap. Then I ended up getting Digitrax, and I am very happy with it. Get Digitrax or NCE, and even then, it's probably better to get the fully featured systems, as by the time you expand the starter sets, it ends up being only a little bit more to get a full 5 amp booster and full memory/operator/slot capacity.

5. Don't use EZ-Track or Atlas sectional track. Flex track is so liberating, and makes for much better operation. If you use #6 turnouts or better with Code 83 flextrack, you can make some really nice and reliable track fairly easily.

6. Don't try and put too much in too little space. People try and pack too many turnouts and too much track in, and they end up with spaghetti that looks terrible. Plan it out in a CAD program, so you don't end up with too much track, or too sharp of turnouts. I'm dealing with a situation now where I thought I could wing it and get the right track radius in. Now I have track that isn't reliable, and looks terrible when big power and long cars go over it.

Sav,

Like you and others have suggested starting out small is a good idea, firstly to hone your skills in all the facets of model railroading.  Like I did small modules are a great way to start, they let you build your skill levels on everything from bench work, wiring, track laying, scenery, weathering, and structures.

They are easy to move around, so can be built anywhere really inside in a bedroom, basement or garage.  Ours was 35" x 24" (900mm x 600mm), this is a good size to get track, scenery & structures into.  Our first practice module is actually being incorporated into our layout the JL&T, they can be also added together to from a bigger bench/shelf layout later if your happy with them.

You can start out by doing a rural scene first with some track, an easement, some fields and maybe some gentle undulating hills.  Then move onto a more hilly/rock cut scene, maybe with a small creek and bridge.  And then graduate to a city/industrial scene with multiple buildings, roads, curbs, crossings and lots of fine detail & weathering when your skills get better.

This will allow you to have small enough goals to reach and finish in a realistic time so you don't get bored and see results that will encourage you to keep going.  When you have finished you can keep them, incorporate some into your bigger layout, use them for model photography when you buy new motive power or rolling stock, sell them to other modelers, or scrap them and start again...

Have a look at our JL&T Module Blog and see how we started ours, I will still do others in the future to further build up my skills and knowledge or try new techniques.  I just got a little carried away and started a full layout after I built ours!......

Jas...