Tomathee

As far as I remember it's valid for 'one checkout', including multiple items from multiple sellers as long as they're in your basket, rather than 'one item'.

Thank you for all the input and discussion, many useful pointers. I'm not going to attempt a 'multiquote', but in summary; Metroland I looked at the specific models you suggested and they both look good and at a price I could live with for experimenting as a beginner. John and others thanks for the tips re. the Bachman boxing. I've also begun to wise up on picking a tender drive out if they put a picture of the underside on the advert, either a cog sticking out in the middle or some of the wheels looking different (like an elastic band around it?). I've also 'had a word' with myself that the purpose of all this was to see how it went with my son, as it felt like I was sliding towards it being my hobby given the amounts I was starting to spend in my head and that it would end up with 'no touching' being barked as he tried to play with my model railway, rather than the 'trainset for a 4 year old' initial brief. So I'm still looking at what I mentioned but I'm also looking for a cheap oval set for him, quite like the GWR mixed traffic type sets when I see them come up. Then I might have his oval and separately do myself a bit of a smaller end to end/shelf type shunting area that I can do as more of a model railway with, and an optional link up to his. Obviously if he then gets bitten by the bug we can go bigger and get a proper layout going.

Cheers, I've started looking at DCC ready as I think I'd have that sooner if not from the beginning so it's helped to filter, however as with the tender/loco drive question an NEM coupler isn't usually identified in adverts. I tried a different tack of picking an example era/region/loco and trying to find which brand/version/specific code number(s) were best but I didn't have much success. I'd hoped that by searching something such as 'best 00 gauge LMS black 5 model' (google or here) I'd find a review or discussion on which ones to avoid or go for, so that I don't spend £100 when I could have won a lucky auction and spent £30, just because I wasn't sure the cheaper option was decent.

Thanks guys, Ade that's exactly one of the things in the back of my mind every time I think about bidding on one. Some are easy to tell the age due to logo on the box etc, some I can google and get an idea, and some I have no clue on. I guess as most things it's not that simple, someone that has looked after a train for 40 years might have it running better than someone that has neglected one only a couple of years old. Added to that some of those that I've looked at completed with a selling price a third of that if I went through the second hand section of some of the main websites that get mentioned a lot, which makes it tempting for a first foray. I've been thinking a lot about area/era, I never really paid any attention to it when I was younger so a lot of it is new and interesting to learn for the first time. Unfortunately it hasn't helped as I like examples from all four regions and I can equally see myself being happy with either the chosen area in its BR or pre-BR colours. One train of thought was go for what would have been local to me e.g. LMS/the BR locos that would have been in the area. But then I miss out on the nice LNER and GWR classes. I had thought about a work around in using or making up an area or if I end up with a station that borders two regions but I guess that doubles the types of any carriages I need to get at a later date. Might try and involve son in this part although he changes his mind before the end of the page, will report back. Thanks again

Hello folks, as promised in my introduction post here I am with a query. I'm getting into (or re-entering from childhood 20 years ago) the hobby as my son has shown an interest. Given how changeable children are and that they grow up at a faster rate than ever I'm under no illusions that this might only be a short term thing (few years out of it would be nice) for him, and at the moment there's no telling if circumstances would permit me to continue the hobby on my lonesome (aka if its not in his room then there may not be a second option). Thus I'm looking to keep it cheap and go second hand for some areas, definitely to begin with. I've been looking at ebay alongside some of the sites that sell used, I'm not new to ebay and identifying dodgy sellers or a 'bad deal', however things get muddy for me with the specifics of appraising a loco(s) to buy. I've a rough idea of what I want (e.g. steam, 00, probably small shunting/tank engine first) and I've been going through watching several dozen to see how they go, to look more closely at and get an idea of the final prices. In terms of narrowing down shopping criteria, obviously the description and photos can filter out a lot, and the other main thing I've heard is avoid those with the motor in the tender (if they identify that), but I'm not really sure what else to look for, do I avoid older than a certain age, go by certain codes (Horny R.....) and so on. I'm not so bothered about those which go up and up out of price range as those which seem like a bargain, run well and look fine but do not sell and why that might be, so that I know what to avoid and what to take a chance on. For instance from recently completed on my watch list a Bachman 2-6-2 (V3? still not fully up on the codes and numbering) described as excellent, boxed with nothing wrong from the pics listed around £30 and didn't sell, whilst a 4 wheel loco that I'm sure was around when I was a child sold around £50 after several bids. Cheers Tom

Hello, thought I would try a different approach with this forum and create an account before I start lurking... I'm Tom, 31, had a basic layout when I was a child but nothing since. Brought here via recommendation from my other hobby forum (britmodeller.com) as my three year old is well into his trains, always been into Thomas and since a visit to Severn Valley a few months ago he likes the real ones too, will happily read a magazine or watch some grainy footage from 50 years ago. We've been thinking about getting him something for Christmas so I'm doing some research into it, mostly around cost and appropriateness for his age. It's something I'd probably take up as a hobby as well if we did go for it and help push it on a bit further than my childhood layout managed. I'll see you around with my threads full of questions and pleas for help once I start digging into it Cheers Tom