Greetings from sunny Cheshire

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Just introducing myself. My last encounter with model railways was over 50 years ago, when it was a 00 three rail layout that worked when it felt like it. The reason I find myself getting reaquainted with model railways is that I have a number of interests that are all outdoors and not much fun during the winter or when the weather is bad.

I ride motorcycles, a Honda 500 for work and a Triumph 1200 for fun. The Triumph doesn't go out when the roads are wet so it is laid up most of the winter. I keep bees who more or less look after themselves from September to March. I sail a Laser dinghy but can only race midweek evenings as I work every weekend. That means from September to April I am grounded. (And frankly I think my days of racing a Laser must be numbered - it's a young man's boat.)

I used to fly competition aerobatic model aircraft and enjoyed building during the winter and flying in the summer. Last time we moved there was no local airfield big enough to fly my models so I left modelling about 12 years ago. I enjoyed the building side of the hobby but these days most models come ready assembled so that side the hobby has declined.

So having an indoor hobby to tinker with over the winter is what draws me to model railways. I'm looking at N gauge and beginning with something like a small board layout - say 4x2 or slightly larger if necessary. I think I want a couple of loops with some siding area so I'll be looking at suggestions on here before I venture anywhere near a model shop.

[dtb]

welcome to the site (from a Macc lad )

[Brian]

Welcome to the forum.
We look forward to reading more posts from you as you begin your new venture.

[teedoubleudee]

Welcome to our forum MB

[Walkingthedog]

And a warm welcome from me.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Thanks for the welcome. I’m afraid I’m likely to ask a lot of silly questions!

[Walkingthedog]

No such thing. You might think it is silly but many others will learn from the replies you get.

[Stese]

Hi,

Greetings, also from Cheshire here

the only silly question would be one you don't ask!

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I've asked about baseboard size and material in the relevant section. Starting from scratch means I have a variety of things to ask at this stage. Once I get started I can put everything into a layout thread - but for the time being is it ok to ask questions in different places? Some forums are ok with that, others aren't.

For example - beginning from nothing I need to decide whether to go DC or DCC. I'd like a double oval with crossovers and sidings, I've figured my original 48"x24" idea needs to expand a bit because of the radius size. I could keep that to two DC controllers or go DCC. If I go DCC I'm tempted by the option of sound. Would the Castle Pullman starter kit from Graham Farish be a wise buy? I know the track isn't the right radius for what I want but it can be used elsewhere. But is the EZ Command worth having for a small double loop layout?

Or would I be better buying things separately and looking at a different controller?

I only want the controller for the locos. I think I'd prefer to operate points etc separately.

[Bandit Mick]

Welcome to the friendly forum - lots of good advice and humour too. I too ride a large motorcycle and also started this modelling malarkey from scratch. I’m no expert and learn as I go along. I chose dcc for ease of wiring and control points manually (I use insulfrog points - not the choice of many I know) but so far so good. However, many people will advise live frog from the start. I haven’t used sound but may at some point back track and get sound fitted - I only have 3 locos at present as I’m both tight and very poor!! No, but on a serious note I didn’t invest heavily at the start in case my layout (now layouts) didn’t take off. You’ll get some great advice here but beware, modelling is very addictive.
PS Brian’s book helped me an awful lot at the start and I still refer to it.