Greetings one and all.
I've been a fan of railroads all my life and arounde various German train sets off and on over time. I've always wanted to have a set of my own, and when I saw my uncle a few years back, playing with his son's Maerklin set more than the son was, I figured.. I might finally start looking into a set of my own. When my copy of "Ticket to Ride: Maerklin Edition" came in a few weeks ago, with the latest Maerklin catalog CD Rom, that was the straw that broke the long stale-mate.
So in looking for things, especially since I intend to look for used trains if I can, and am looking for more of Epoch IV and early V, I thought I'd start seeing whats what and how best to go about it. I don't want to just jump in and bid on ebay or buy from a shop until I know what proper prices should be for the market and what is available.
So I've been looking around for things like an FAQ and a Price Guide, but cannot seem to find them (for the United States that is). Is there one available someone can point me toward? I'm sure others ask the same questions. By the way, I'm interested exclusively in H0 scale, probably Maerklin Digital system (oh, the fun with computer control once the system is set up in a decade or so)
If not, here is what I'm curious about:
1) Prices - what are good prices to go by? How do I know if I'm getting a fair price, a good deal or being screwed? With no reference point, I'm stuck. Sure, in Germany there are dozens of shops you can visit and you get an idea... here in the US, its a different thing. How do I get a baseline?
2) My plan is to slowly now start building a collection. I don't see actually setting up the trains for probably at least 5 years or maybe more, down the road, as I first have to buy a house get it in a state of usable space for a train, and then have some free cash flow to pursue the hobby fully. However, there is no reason not to (or is there) to start buying bits and pieces now.
My interest is Digital Maerklin. I thought I'd buy one train (engine) per year; that way I spread out the aquisition costs. I'm probably looking at 5 or 6 locomotives I'd like to get (to cover those that I grew up with in Germany... the actual trains I rode on as a child, youth and adult). I figure its a modest way to get things moving as I can shake loose a few hundred every year without the wife going nuts.
Is this a bad idea? When I finally get the last parts 8-10 years from now (say, switches, lamps, rail yards, etc) will the digital system still be the same, or will I likely have to then upgrade the controllers in all of the locomotives? I figured the chances are that things would be stable enough for a long time.
3)What order to buy things?
As I said, my goal is to buy bits over the years, and I really don't want to end up with a bunch of extra parts I cannot use. If I start with a basic starter set, are those a 'better deal' than buying the parts individually?
I'd thought I'd just buy the locomotives or trains one at a time, and wait with the track and such things until I get around to actually building my layout 5+ years from now. However, without at least a loop of track and a basic controller, I cannot test each new acquisition to make sure it works right, before boxing it up and putting it in storage... so that speaks to buying a starter kit first. Does that sound reasonable?
4) Explain this pricing again?
In looking around, I thought, a good place to start is with an ICE train. So I see that I can buy a complete 5 car ICE3 train (no track or controller) for $752, OR I can buy a short 3 car ICE3 train with a loop of track, a side track, power supply and basic digital controler for $362. Now I'm sure the extra cars on the ICE3 are not cheap, but how much of that 2x price is for the 'newness of the ICE3 train' vs actual material value. Can someone clarify this for me?
5) Digital controlers. Ok so say I go with the ICE2 based starter set that comes with a simple controller (1 knob) and power supply. How easy is it to expand that system, without having to remove parts. Can one add power supplies in parallel as needed to provide juice (or stack the power supplies in some way).. or does one buy a bigger supply and get rid of the old?
Same with the controllers. If I later buy a dual engine controller (with 2 knobs) can I run that in parallel with the 1 train controller the basic set comes with to have manual control of 3 trains? The older generation digital system I saw in Germany at my uncles place in 2001 was not LCD based, but had basic push buttons where you would select a train ID, then issue a command to it, then change the train ID, etc.. I assume the new controllers do the same sort of things, but more and more user friendly.
I envision having a PC or some computer as a 'master controller' but also would like to have some manual controlers sprinkled about the layout for a hands on ability to play, and allow guests to play, so having a 1 train controller is not a bad thing, as its always something that can be placed in a remote spot on the layout, if it can work simultaneously with a more complex master control panel for the head engineer. ;-)
6) Quality
Do they make it the way the used to? I have visions of a turn table and train yard with engineering shops, garages, switching yards, 3 or 4 or 5 towns with stops (maybe some on a loop that goes through some walls and around the house). Do I look to get the older stuff and upgrade it to digital, or has Maerklin quality been relatively good over time and if I buy track and building and rail yards 5 years from now, its likely to still be good? Yeah, who can know about the future, but how does todays 2005-06 stuff compare with 2000 stuff vs 1990's stuff?
7) Where to buy?
Is there a good handfull of definative US places to buy ONLINE? I live in the Seattle, WA area and can certainly look around there for shops, or drive to Vancouver, BC, but are there key online shops beyond what one finds on ebay?
Thanks for answers, feedback, and constructive comments form anyone on my above rambling questions.
Minok 