QUOTE (Michael363672 @ 23 Nov 2007, 19:35)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>1. With the digital are they all compatiable or if I have hornby do I stay hornby
2. Can any train go digital. I have the eurostar set and the orient express set just standard plus a few other odd trains
3. Whats the best way to get it off the ground and how high is best
Look for DCC products with the NMRA conformance stamp: that's your assurance of basic compatibility. You don't need to use the same make of DCC control system as the model trin manufacturer.
Any 12V DC model from Hornby, Bachmann, or Heljan can be fitted with a DCC decoder. Many now come with a socket, to enable a decoder to be plugged in. If there is no socket then it is a small wire soldering job. It's easy with bigger locos, small locos in particular can be a bit of a challenge to find space for the decoder, if you go DCC start on something larger to build your confidence before tackling something where internal space is limited.
When it rains hard, the splash carries a lot of dirt around 9 inches into the air. Keep the tracks roughly a foot above ground as a minimum when first built. That way you still have some leeway if subsequent height adjustment is required. I used 2' lengths of old 3"x3" fencepost four feet apart, and pieces of 6" x 1" gravel board four feet long, with a second piece 3'9" long of 3" x 1" nailed on underneath to make a T shape, as a stiffener. A metal plate on each post, with a screw into the stiffener so that the track base was about an inch above the post top , made it easy to do any height adjustments required (clay soil with swelling in wet weather, shrinkage and cracking in dry). When I sold the house and moved it took me an afternoon, and a nice fire that evening, to dismantle and dispose of the posts for what had been a 40 yard run. It had been up nearly 8 years and the posts in the ground were all still OK, and they were all salvaged from old fenceposts blown down in the great gale of 1987.