We are finally buying a house in the fall with a basement (our friends house) so my next question is power units? Is athearn a decent brand to go with and is dcc ready mean its all there or do you need the board still? i know i wanna go wireless for sure so i can expand as needed, i want automatic switches which i will learn as i go to hook up properly, i want decent locomotive quality and i like the lights option is that standard or do i need to add them? I walked into hobbytown and saw some athearn rolling stock with metal wheels i like those over plastic but is 23.00 too much? Thank in advance Byron
Athearn, Kato, Broadway Limited, and MTH are all great brands. DCC Ready means you still need to plug a DCC Control Board into the Loco, but it's usually plug and play. There are many options for automatic switches. I went with Kato Unitrack, simply becasue I'm familiar with it, and I don't have a permanent layout. It's very good quality track. If you're going for realism I'd go with another brand with lower code rails and proper tie spacing. I went with the Duplex Empire Builder for my DCC controls, Digitrax is very common, if you plan on participating in a local club it may be worth finding out what they use, and go with that. Most Locos will come with basic lighting, and get more advanced with DCC lighting. As for rolling stock I would suggest checking out some of the forum vendors and online stores, as much as I like to support my local hobby shop, I also have a budget and I like getting all I can for my money.
$23 is pretty typical for much of modern rtr rollingstock. There are some kits and smaller items under $20 and much high detail stuff over $30.
Depends where you get it.. My LHS I can get pretty much anything Walthers or Athearn RTR for 12-19. For engines I would recommend Atlas, Kato, Proto 2000 (newer versions).. Try to avoid Athearn Genesis especially for their SD70ACe's.. Warped trucks are a massive headache.. MTH is very good.
It really depends on which Walthers or Athearn you want. By typical I mean average price and $23 is for sure it. Most of the Athearn RTR which is just BB or MDC kits that have better paint are under $20, but most of the newer stuff is more. And if you need modern, then forgetaboutit. Accurail is really your most consistent lower cost option. And those are kits. For engines, I recommend all manufactures with the caveat that Bachmann Diesels, especially the non-Spectrum ones can be a bit hit or miss. You're not going to avoid Athearn most likely, They make everything under the sun and their basic DCC ready RTR is solid. Atlas and Kato have much fewer options and Proto2k is, in my mind, pretty, but less solid under the hood. Also, I'm a big fan of BLI, if you can afford it. The MTH units are nice, but I avoid them due to DCS and the fact that I've heard a lot of negative things about MTH. Back to rollingstock, The best way in my opinion to bulk up your fleet, and this is espeically true if you're looking at 1940s-1970s but is also true for more modern is to shop swap meets, shows and used/consignment racks. There are thousands of unbuilt Athearn/MDC kits out there and thousands more that have been built and are now trying to be resold. Regularly you can find this for under $7 new or under $10 built with KD and metal wheels. There are also the old Walthers Kits which are a pain to build, but offer more modern prototypes at very attractive prices. I see these out there regularly as well. I am lucky as I have a Local Hobby shop that deals almost exclusively in used and old stock, but most LHS do have the used and consignment shelves to look through.
