Hello everyone! Sorry if my posts get long (and I do mean looooooong), I tend to over-explain myself... a lot. Anyway, I kind of need some help. A few years ago, my mother gave me a Lionel General (1862) that she heavily hinted at wanting to see run again. The train and cars have been heavily neglected, so I'm going to be sending it off for a good cleaning and (for now) minor cosmetic repairs, just the minimum to get it up and running and looking decent. However, I've been trying to research this thing for a couple weeks now, but I'm reading from sites that contradict each other. I was told it was made for O track. Then I read that it was actually made O27. Then I read it can run on O and O27 track. Then I see in the Brasseur's website so many accessories that I get more and more confused. I am 100% new, and have only seen trains running only a few times in my life, even though I have entertained the idea of building my own layout myself when I was younger.

I want to start off with a small loop, so it can run around my mom's Christmas tree and because it seems to be preferred when starting out, as it's easy to troubleshoot issues. But I know almost nothing about all this. So I was wondering if someone could point me to the right direction, please? I read some newbie guides, but all they explain are things from differences in track gauges, the difference between pre-war, post-war and more modern sets, adding grades and the like. I'm really wanting to know what is the minimum items I need (as far as the track is concerned) to get this thing running while on an extremely tight budget?  Are there any "kits" available that would have everything I need (track that would run a loop, transformer, etc)? What is the smallest that the loop of track can be that will allow the train to safely run without derailing when running at full speed? What power transformer would I need? I am looking to expand, but upgrading transformers and track can come later. Thanks for any and all info and advice.