How old you are can play a big part in the trains you'll select. Very young kids may be fascinated by electric trains, but they surely won't be able to put a set together and run it. A lot of people think that children shouldn't be given electric trains until they are nine years old or older. I personally think six is a good age to go from toy trains and battery operated trains to real electric trains.

I recommend GeoTrax to a lot of people with young children since the curves are designed so that no matter how a child assembles them the track pieces will always assemble correctly. It's the only product I found that had this capability. With GeoTrax children can easily learn about laying out the tracks without the frustration of having to redo sections of it because the pieces don't fit properly.

Model Railroad Scales

When picking a scale, its significant to remember, that the larger the number in the size the smaller the model will be. Case in point, HO is 1:87.1, or roughly half the size of O gauge at 1:48.

If referring to a narrow gauge railroad, it’s normal to see n3 or in the case of O scale there's "n3", "n2" & "n30" The “N” refers to narrow, and the next number refers to the gauge (or width)

The stronger supported scales are HO, N & O common scales have a larger commercial presence, thus making it slightly easier to find.

Space becomes a large concern when picking a scale. It's important to pick a scale that will work well in the space you have. Don’t choose a O scale if you only have two square feet of space.

You can find a lot of layout plans on the web. Model railroaders' home pages and model electric train manufacturers websites are good places to look. If your looking to buy a model electric train, parts and supplies have a look at http://electrictrain.org/.

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