Advice on model trains needed

martinsvi

Hello,
After seeing some impressive stuff, I am keen in dipping my feet into modeling. Basically what I want is a train set and then build a city/scenery around it, idealy setting it up on a table. I think I want to go with an European-alpine scenery, but then again US city scene is atractive as well, havent decided yet

I've done some research and it looks like I have to choose between N or HO gauges. I want trains to have Dcc, I want them to be detailed, whith all the lights, bells and whistles etc. Will N provide all that or am I better off looking at HO? I'm worried that HO would be too big for a table setup, as I dont want just one circle, but at least few parallel routes. Then again if N is not very life-like, I'm not sure will it bring the joy

Second quesrion - do roco trains work together with, for example, Bachmann tracks/dcc?

What about couplings?

Lastly - are there any good starter sets you would recommend? As it often happens with hobbies, starter sets are usually replaced by advanced stuff pretty quickly so am I going to be wasting my money getting a set?

5rtytry56

Argos were selling the HORNBY 'Caledonian Belle" cheaper than when I bought off them. You can't go too far wrong here in the starter set finest. HO scale.

ShRT

if you want multiple lines on a table i would go with the N scale. However, HO (1/87) is easier to get accessories for though as its almost the same as 00 (1/76) and the typical airfix models (1/72).

I think Roco dcc is different from the standard DCC which is NMRA compliant. Extra complication is added when manufacturers build their own stuff on top of the NMRA standard.

These guys have a pretty good leaflet on the whole DCC arena
http://www.dccconcepts.com/vamr/dcc-advice-1-an-introduction-to-dcc-and-overview-of-model-railway-control

ShRT

Also check out smart models. They have a free model that is available in OO and N so you could build both and see physically which suits.

https://sites.google.com/site/smartmodelsgbbo00/products/railway-models/railway-buildings/free-signal-box