Hi, I am looking for a good HO scale steam engine starter set. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Do you want passenger or freight? That's the first question. But I would stay with a Bachmann Spectrum with a set that interests you. If you want a Plus set, make sure it is brand new, which is why I recommend a Spectrum.
Gene
I agree with Gene. Bachmann is very user friendly for beginners. If you get a Bachmann Spectrum set (Spectrum is the upper-end line of Bachmann's products) you will not regret it. You always get what you pay for.
My other bit of advice would be to get a train set that has a DCC on-board locomotive. If you expand and want to add more trains later you will want DCC - trust me! DCC allows you to run several trains independently of each other. Bachmann offers a few of these sets and they can be found on wholesaletrains.com. This is the least expensive site out there.
Check out this link. I wish this had been my first set: http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200429888
Good luck,
new guy
Thank you Steamgene and newguy123 for replying. I am looking for both passenger and freight for the layout I wish to do. I am looking to have a small loop with a freight running between a small logging village and or a mine going to a town and then a passenger train going between at first 2 towns and later expanding on this. By the way newguy, i really liked that train on the link you sent me. Something like that is what I am looking for. Thanks again for the suggestions.
geoffery
The explorer set is an excellent starter set.
Bachmann also makes a set similar to the explorer consisting of the same locomotive in a different roadname, and freight cars.
I'm suprised the Atlas starter set is :o NOT DCC. ???
Whatever you get, make sure it's DCC. Most here will concur that if you are just starting out, it's the only way to go.
EK