Hi ... welcome from another newbie.
I was a non-modeller for many, many years. Like many, I am guessing, a started again by buying a few locos, as collectables, then decided they really should have a layout to run on. It is a daunting hobby to begin with - there is simply so much to learn and get 'right', and so much that's new since I last ran a model train - which was in 1980. I have made some decisions - to be quite ambitious regarding the length of track, to let the layout grow quite organically, and to shun DCC as I want to be able to run old Wrenns on the layout. It's been touch-and-go all the way, lots of trial, far more error but am getting there ... slowly.
Mike