Have you ever seen a truly anchronistic layout? I don't mean one that (perhaps accidentally) uses 1950s locomotives and 1920s scenery, but a layout that incorporates dragons and castles, or dinosaurs, or the Eiffel Tower AND the pyramids. I'd love to see a link if something like this exists...

My son (almost 5) has been obsessed with trains since he learned to walk. We bought him a cheap ($30) HO-scale train set this summer; just a circle track with a diesel and 3 cars. My son has played with this train every day and to his credit (since the set is a piece of junk) hasn't broken any of the cars and lovingly fixes the track when it gets mis-aligned.

So, we want to get him a "nice" train set for Christmas--something better quality, that does more than go around in a circle, and that we can add on to and start building a full layout in the basement as a family project. My son loves trains enough that I know we'll be building layouts for years--this isn't a passing phase or something the adults pushed him into!

I'm interested in Bachmann's EZ-Command DCC system; it's included in some sets like "Bachmann Digital Commander Deluxe Set". However, I'm wondering if we're getting a DCC system too soon--especially because the DCC locomotives seem two or three times the price of non-DCC locomotives! So, should we buy my son a regular (non-digital) train set for this Christmas and then "upgrade" to DCC later? Or should we just buy DCC now?

Also, if you have other suggestions for buying a first train set, please share... I've read a lot, but since I haven't actually built a layout yet I'm still very interested in advice.