I promised to start asking questions in my introduction, so here goes.

I have built the 6X16 table, gotten the beginning of a track plan using Fastrack and I'm pretty happy with it.

My wife offered to buy me the Cab 1L / Base 1L for Christmas. I'm really good with that present. But I need to know what kind of power I'm going to need. I've looked at the catalog, but would like to hear from someone with some experience.  The layout will probably never run more that 2 or 3 locomotives, the switches and the barest number of accessories. 

This brings up a 2nd question. I will probably not ever run any conventional engines on the layout. I just don't need the block wiring headaches I had years ago in HO and frankly, being somewhat of a techno-geek, I like the digital world. Oh yes, the question. Aside from Lionel engines, are there other manufacturers that make engines that will run with this control system? Sometimes the advertising copy is slightly less than clear when looking online.

I will say some of the the train forums don't seem to help. As a newbie at this, I sometime get the feeling beginner questions aren't appreciated and that I've offended someone since I don't want to run trains in the manner they feel is proper. (Sorry, editorial comment). The phrase "use the search, this question has been answered a thousand times" is not helpful when maybe you don't really know what question to ask.

Anyway, thanks for reading. If you can help with the questions, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks
Brian