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Frustrated Newbie and what to buy first!

4860 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  Big Ed, 
R
Hey guys. Kudos to all of the people on here who have given me advice on my other posts. I need more...lol
Going through the HUNDREDS of posts and getting the Model Railroader and other mags, surfing the HUNDREDS of websites, I'm looking for help on what to buy first in the loco/steam engine dept. I have NO clue and the prices on some of these things are CRAZY... at least from a newbie on an honest cops salary...LOL
I'm not doing anything extravagant but would like to add a nice 1800s/early 1900s steam engine plus a separate diesel loco to my table. I have nothing set up other than a basic set where I like to watch it go round and round for now. I have a single Sante Fe Red/Silver locomotive now that was part of a starter set. I could care less on new or used as long as it runs and is ...well... CHEAP...lol Its overwhelming with what is available out there and with the economy and whatnot I can't see spending a car payment to buy a HO engine.
Your thoughts and suggestions Please!
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Pton46
Rambo K9,

My advice would be E-bay or now that the weather is nice maybe even garage sales etc. I'll Tell you I was in the same place around 2 years ago. I had a 5 x 9 Tabletop (the previous owner painted it Green to make a Ping pong table) and a Bachmann Starter Set. 2 years later....I have 2 additional 4x8s with a Mountain through a temp wall in my basement. I went DCC and currently run 3 Loco, 2 Freight one passenger.:eek:


Start small, build in stages....it is yours to do what you want.:thumbsup:
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shaygetz
A Mehano 4-4-0 American from about 1900 can be had NIB for around $35, it runs great and can be easily converted to DCC...
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tjcruiser
Hey Shay -- I LIKE (!!!) that 4-4-0 ... I'm amazed that's only around $35!

Rambo -- you can't go wrong with something like that at that price. But do spend some time poking around ebay and the like. You'll get a good feel as to loco and rolling-stock types, vintages, mfrs, value, etc. You'd could certainly jump in with a full set, but sometimes it's more fun to piece together your "little finds" one car at a time. Do start to think about your layouts theme, setting (city, rural, etc.), age period, etc. and try to gather pieces that mostly fit within that. There's no hard rules, though ... it's your "little world" creation, and whatever suits you is exactly the way it should be.

Other considerations ... DC or DCC down the road? Track type? Manual or auto switches (turnouts)? And ...

In choosing locos and cars, you really need to think about your layout size and the proportions of the track radius that you'll have. Not all big locos (and cars) do well navigating around tight (say 18" radius) turns. That 4-4-0 above wouldn't have any problems, but some bigger (more driving wheels) locos might. (Though I suspect that won't come into play for you if you stick to the late 1800 / early 1900 theme.)

Get yourself a decent transformer ... used is OK ... maybe others here can offer more details.

Think a bit about required pulling power ... lots of cars in tow and/or steep incine grades?

And, most importantly ... have fun, have fun, and HAVE FUN!

TJ
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tooter
rambo_k9 said:
Hey guys. Kudos to all of the people on here who have given me advice on my other posts. I need more...lol
Going through the HUNDREDS of posts and getting the Model Railroader and other mags, surfing the HUNDREDS of websites, I'm looking for help on what to buy first in the loco/steam engine dept. I have NO clue and the prices on some of these things are CRAZY... at least from a newbie on an honest cops salary...LOL
I'm not doing anything extravagant but would like to add a nice 1800s/early 1900s steam engine plus a separate diesel loco to my table. I have nothing set up other than a basic set where I like to watch it go round and round for now. I have a single Sante Fe Red/Silver locomotive now that was part of a starter set. I could care less on new or used as long as it runs and is ...well... CHEAP...lol Its overwhelming with what is available out there and with the economy and whatnot I can't see spending a car payment to buy a HO engine.
Your thoughts and suggestions Please!
Click to expand...

Hey Rambo, :)

I I also like the old fashioned look and get most of my stuff off of ebay. This new Mantua Classics was $65...


Also Check out Mantua Classics for 1860's ready to run freight cars and passenger cars... really nice for under $10 each...




If you want to try some light crafting, there are old Roundhouse kits on ebay which are quite inexpensive. I've got a bunch of them and they're lots of fun to assemble. :)
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M
Rambo...

I am cheap as well. I went with Bachmann E-Z Command DCC ($83). The Bachmann trains are cheaply-priced...even in DCC (around $35 new). I don't know much about Bachmann steam engines. I own one, which is a DC train. I hardly ever run in DC anymore now that I converted to DCC. I have found that the Bachmann's are decent runners for the cheap price they come with! Good luck!

Chad
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shaygetz
tjcruiser said:
Hey Shay -- I LIKE (!!!) that 4-4-0 ... I'm amazed that's only around $35!
Click to expand...
They are sweet...I've run it for hours at shows with nary a peep, pulling a string of old Life-Like Scene Master coaches. They are shortened versions of heavyweight cars first put out by Varney back in the '50s but they look great behind this beastie.

Here is a listing...

http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-Scale-IHC-4-...ewItem&pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item45f271e8d8
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tjcruiser
OK Shay ... naive question ...

I picked up a "Mehano" 2-6-0 HO loco a couple of years ago at a train show, well before I started building my HO layout. I really didn't know what I was buying, but it looked great, and the price was right ... cheap!

Flash forward ... I love the thing. It runs great. But ...

I'm still clueless as to who/what Mehano is ... "made in Slovenia"?

Is Mehano and IHC one and the same ???
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Reckers
tjcruiser said:
OK Shay ... naive question ...

I picked up a "Mehano" 2-6-0 HO loco a couple of years ago at a train show, well before I started building my HO layout. I really didn't know what I was buying, but it looked great, and the price was right ... cheap!

Flash forward ... I love the thing. It runs great. But ...

I'm still clueless as to who/what Mehano is ... "made in Slovenia"?

Is Mehano and IHC one and the same ???
Click to expand...
If I may....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehano
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tjcruiser
Ohhhh ...

My little "nobody" loco is now a "somebody" ... this has made my day! :) I love that little thing!

TJ
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shaygetz
tjcruiser said:
Ohhhh ...

My little "nobody" loco is now a "somebody" ... this has made my day! :) I love that little thing!

TJ
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Yep...yer little nobody is part of a long tradition of "poor man's brass steamers" since the daze of Rivarossi...quality, affordable, relatively accurate steam locomotive models...I was sorry to see it all come to an end with Mehano.
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Reckers
tjcruiser said:
Ohhhh ...

My little "nobody" loco is now a "somebody" ... this has made my day! :) I love that little thing!

TJ
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Odd. My girlfriend makes similar comments about me. *L*
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tjcruiser
I'm glad somebody loves ya', Reck!

So, is this right: Mehano is still making trains in Europe, but with IHC recently going belly-up, there's no real distributor for Mehano here in the US ???

TJ
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tankist
trains can get expensive (as in anything you need to pre-plan purchase off), even not going into exclusive route one sertainly can get a sticker shock "what?! how much for little piece of plastic??!".
with that with some exceptions you usually get what you pay for. i am cheap, i usually look for good deals as well. not sure about cheap steamers but for deisels look for blue box athearns on bay. those can be found for less then 30 (more IMO is just to much) being abundant. and they are good runners when properly maintained.
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R
Great information guys... keep it coming. Bid on a couple of things on Ebay but Ebay frustrates me. Keep me posted and don't be afraid to send me a PM if you are looking to sell something... Thanks again. Its great to know I can get some straight answers!!
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R
Ha

Reckers said:
Odd. My girlfriend makes similar comments about me. *L*
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HA!!!!
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bradimous1
rambo_k9 said:
Great information guys... keep it coming. Bid on a couple of things on Ebay but Ebay frustrates me. Keep me posted and don't be afraid to send me a PM if you are looking to sell something... Thanks again. Its great to know I can get some straight answers!!
Click to expand...
take a look at the evil bay thread... you have to be careful with these guys... they are snipers:laugh:
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Reckers
tjcruiser said:
I'm glad somebody loves ya', Reck!

So, is this right: Mehano is still making trains in Europe, but with IHC recently going belly-up, there's no real distributor for Mehano here in the US ???

TJ
Click to expand...


TJ,

Somebody else will have to field that one. I just looked up da Wiki and acted like I knew something!
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tjcruiser
Reck,

It's funny ... for the 2 years I've owned this loco, I didn't really know who made it. There was a name on the bottom, but it was such a graphic-stylized font, I couldn't actually read the word. I (stupidly) thought it said "EHNO" ... for all this time, I thought my train was made by EHNO. And all my 'net searches turned up zilch. Dohh! It's "Mehano" ... who knew?!? Now ... I know! (Can I get a "Duhhh!" from everyone, please?!?)

TJ

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tankist
rambo_k9 said:
Great information guys... keep it coming. Bid on a couple of things on Ebay but Ebay frustrates me. Keep me posted and don't be afraid to send me a PM if you are looking to sell something... Thanks again. Its great to know I can get some straight answers!!
Click to expand...
i have pair of GP35 for sale here... and i have a older GP60 BB loco i don't really wan't... :rolleyes:
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