One fundamental choice, which depends on how you view the hobby, is whether you intend to model things yourself or draw heavily on off-the-shelf and ready-to-run (RTR) items.  A lot depends on whether your interest centres on the modelling itself or on running trains.

Yeah, I'll get onto that, there is the RTR kato stuff and alternatively there is a very DIY approach via code 55 etc. Here every track piece requires some modification or soldering or cutting and trimming!

It's certainly a big decision to make at tthe start before you start buying.

22 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

 A lot depends on whether your interest centres on the modelling itself or on running trains.

A very good point I suppose, that would really drive a lot of choices over themes