# couple of questions before i get started



## jayhawk316 (Aug 11, 2010)

hello. great website, have learned alot already, but still have a few questions.

The Plan

im wanting to create a 1890's West Virginia mountains, coal mine landscape. with a small town and lots of farm country. my table is going to be 14x6. i have some pictures saved of that era of trains, what the mines looked like, ect. my family has worked for the railroad since the 1870's so i have lots of rr memobralia and pics.

Now for the questions.

im not 100% sure what gauge i want to go with. im thinking HO, but if someone thinks with the size table im using, 14x6, another size would be better, please let me know.

any recommendations on a good first set to buy? i dont really know where to get started on this. i have looked at alot of sets, but dont know a good brand from a bad.

good websites for buying trains, landscape and all the stuff i will need. theres alot to choose from. i know from buying stuff for my saltwater fishtank, that picking a good website, can help alot.

thats all for now. im sure i will have many more as i move along. thanks.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

i feel that set is not best way to start a layout. before buying things i strongly suggest planning things out. otherwise chances are good you will end up with several things you not going to use. as whats best scale is entirely up to you. its a pesonal thing. 14x6 is sufficient for HO but another problem arises - reach. one can comfortably reach 2.5 feet. unless planned for, you will end up with good portion of surface that requires acrobatic skills to work on, not fun.

have you already read this BTW? http://www.nmra.com/beginner/
if not, i warmly recommend to.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

If I had a 14 x 6 area to work with I would make it peanut shaped. by doing this it would appear to be 14 x 6 but in reality at no point is the edge of the table farther than 2.5 feet from the center. My current layout is an L the required on side against a wall to fit in the room. Unfortunately this make one area a pain to work on. 

You may find it cheeper to not get a set with that size layout. If you go with a set you are stuck with the track it comes with and a power supply you will quickly out grow. If going DC look for an used MRC power supply on EBay. I use a pair of MRC Sound and Power 7000. They are great, power all the accessories and two lines + 2 rail yard. Visit a train show if there is one in your area. A pair of working used locos are great to start with. Cheep and will get you up and running. I say a pair because it becomes very discouraging when you need to determine if it is the track or the loco that has an issue. Also it is a good excuse to buy to sets of rolling stock. 

If I had it to do again I would eliminate all hard to reach areas and get a running portion even if it is a simple loop going first. Then go from there. The loop is nice for the times that you want to watch and work slowly.


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