# new guy in town



## webxwizard (Aug 14, 2011)

Hello everyone,

My oldest grandson has just turned 2 and goes crazy every time he sees or hears a train, so I thought it might be a good time to start building him a set that would grow with him. I know nothing about this so I'm here to do some reading and learning. I have a barn with lots of room. A ping-pong table I made of MDU ( I Think that is what it's called, the sawdust and glue stuff, not chips.) I'm going to reuse for the layout. I'll most likely get stuff from ebay, one or two items at a time. (Grandpa works hard but he don't make a lot of money) He's only 2 so there is now hurry to go big fast. What's the best or most popular scale? Could someone give me a detailed list of what I need to start getting? Point me to some good info.

Thanks,
Larry


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

webxwizard said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> My oldest grandson has just turned 2 and goes crazy every time he sees or hears a train, so I thought it might be a good time to start building him a set that would grow with him. I know nothing about this so I'm here to do some reading and learning. I have a barn with lots of room. A ping-pong table I made of MDU ( I Think that is what it's called, the sawdust and glue stuff, not chips.) I'm going to reuse for the layout. I'll most likely get stuff from ebay, one or two items at a time. (Grandpa works hard but he don't make a lot of money) He's only 2 so there is now hurry to go big fast. What's the best or most popular scale? Could someone give me a detailed list of what I need to start getting? Point me to some good info.
> 
> ...



Hi welcome to the site.

As your building it I would suggest looking at Craig's list for Thomas the train wooden layouts.
I was looking today at all that were listed, you can get a fairly decent complete table with trains, track,etc and all cheap. (at least in my area)

It would keep him busy for some years, then you can sell it. You get something like this with the table, you can change the track around too if you want.









Make a nice Christmas present and keep him busy while your building.

If you have the room O is nice 1/48. Ho half the size of O 1/87.
O is better for a youngster to handle.

Did you ever have any trains?
First figure out what size you want.

Check out this site, a ton of info on different scales. (gauge)

http://www.thortrains.net/


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## webxwizard (Aug 14, 2011)

I think I'm going with HO. The only train I ever had was the one we put around the bottom of the Christmas tree every year, Don't know what ever happened to it, Mom might have it put away somewhere. We are getting him some Thomas the train stuff while I gather some items to get the other started.
Thanks,
Larry


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi Grandpa!

I'm with Big Ed on considering the wooden "push" style trains for a kid of that age ... and for the next few years. My boys are 8 and 6, and they still love to create huge layouts with our boxes of wooden track system. Of that, we have a mix ... only a few Thomas things (rather expensive, actually), some Brio, and quite a bit of basic track and bridge pieces from Ikea ... very affordable and excellent quality wood. And, I'm sure if you hunt Craigslist and the like, you can find lots of used stuff available.

As for electric trains ...

MDF makes a nice base layout surface ... very smooth and flat. Many guys cover this with sheets of rigid pink insulation foam, which allow for some topography carving, as well as noise/vibration dampening.

HO is readily available in a wide array of equipment/accesories/scenery, often with good stuff available for a low price on the used market. That said, HO can be a bit tricky to handle for small kids.

O is larger, of course, and perhaps a nice size for the kids ... if you have the room for a layout larger than the baseline 4'x8'.

Do you know about S? Halfway between O and HO. Best know for being produced by American Flyer. Could be a nice middle-road option for you guys.

In any case, you'll have to consider a choice of control systems: conventional control, with one train (only) on individual "blocked" sections of track; or modern digital control (DCC), where each loco has a "decoder" computer chip that recognizes and interprets commands targeted for that specific loco ... you can run multiple locos and accessories all on the same track.

Lots to consider! Enjoy the ride!

TJ


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