[hornbyjack]

i have a budget of £500 i have the flying scotsman upto track pack d, the rambler, some farm animals, signal box, station.

what should i buy?

 

[neil_s_wood]

How much space do you have and are you interested in DCC?

What would you like to see in your layout, e.g. stations or industrial scenes, city or country?

You probably want to think about what your eventual aim is and to buy stuff which will help you get there. You've got a fair bit of money there and probably want to have a good think about what it is you want from your layout. Don't let it burn a hole in your pocket and buy something on the spur of the moment.

Look at track plans books and get some ideas about bigger layouts if you have space or better uses of space if you don't have much. If your interested in DCC, one of the new Hornby DCC starter sets would be worth thinking about.

 

[pedromorgan]

what do you want to buy?

Peter

 

[Gary]

What size layout are you thinking of operating, what sort of sort of control will the layout have and what sort of theme is planned?

You have indicated that you will be using Hornby track as you already have track packs up to D. It seems logical to go with a Hornby track mat 6ft x 4ft layout however you may have other ideas.

The answers will go a long way to helping you and others work things out and offer suggestions.

And without wishing to promote anybody in particular there are some interesting ideas on this website for those on a budget. There might be something here that gets the brain juices flowing:-

http://www.thegoodsyard.co.uk/trainsets.html

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[hornbyjack]

well i was thinking of a farm theme. i have about 12x12foot room. i would like to know more about dcc though.

so....... whats dcc exactly?, what does it do better than R965?, what dcc would be best?

 

[Gary]

Its probably best to let Hornby explain what DCC is as they are aiming their information at absolute beginners:-

Hornby DCC information

and Bachmann have an information page too:-

Bachmann DCC information

For somebody on a tight budget and an absolute beginner to railway modelling then really its probably best to look no further than the starter systems offered by these two companies.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[hornbyjack]

thanks ill certainly consider dcc now.

cheers

jack

 

[hornbyjack]

wait are barchman a whole different company to hornby

 

[hornbyjack]

ok ive just ordered dcc. now what would you say i should buy?

 

[Gary]

Yes. Both lines of products can be found in all good hobby shops and they do broadly offer complementary products rather than identical products. Hornby have a larger number of stockists and a long history of supplying the UK. Bachmann UK have been around since 1989.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

Which DCC set up did you order?

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[hornbyjack]

would you know were the nearest barchman stockist is to norwich?

 

[hornbyjack]

i ordered the hornby select digital i will have to pick it up from the post office tomorrow cos my local stockist said he will send it there (its second hand how stupid of me)

 

[pedromorgan]

Jack i really dont want to sound rude, but asking questions like "what is DCC" is really a waste of our time. if you go to any search engine on the web and type "what is DCC" you would get plenty of answers for all levels of technical knowlage from beginners the hornby site will be usefull and for advanced people try looking thropugh the NMRA specifications.

Asking "what DCC is Best" is a bit like asking whats the best car. it totally depends on what you want it for. if you want to go fast then buy a fererri but if you have 7 kids and loads of shopping then you are going to look a bit stupid. can i recommend that you avail yourself of as many magazines as you can and go throuh many catalouges (they are all on the web) and teke a look at the specifications and compare them yourself and if you dont understand something then look it up.

All too often forums are full of threads asking things that they could find out in seconds by simply putting the question into a search engine. this is something that MRF has managed to avoid most of the time.

Peter

 

[hornbyjack]

yes but i prefer to hear it from a person because is there a faq about dcc on hornby.com? no so i ask people.

 

[hornbyjack]

any more ideas on what i should buy

 

[mthornton]

I suggest you try out the Hornby select which you have already ordered first. You may then have more questions and your needs may become more apparent.