Hello & Welcome to the Forum.

Your choice of track is an individual thing..
Fast track can be noisy if laid straight on a base
without some form of sound deadening material laid first.
The Gargraves is good track and more realistic looking.
Again its up to you.
Happy Rails...
Dave.

Greetings...

My first post so please take it easy on me. I figured joining a Lionel train forum was the fastest way to get some good answers about Lionel, Fastrack and O scale layouts in general. I'm not new to model railroading, as I have an extensive n scale layout in my garage, but haven't owned any Lionel equipment since I was 8YO in the 50's. But my granddaughter is 3 and 1/2, is hooked on trains, and I want to put a Lionel layout around the Christmas tree. I've actually put together a track bill of material using Anyrail software, but due to space constraints I am using 031 radius curves throughout. Still, it does what I want in a 58x46 inch footprint (inside outside with 45 degree crossover).

Here is my problem, and I'm open to any and all suggestions. I can save some money on rolling stock by buying a trainset, but they all seem to come with 036 radius track and a consist that is not my first (or second) choice. And buying a specific locomotive and rolling stock, plus electronics, seems to be prohibitively expensive in comparison. I like the newer electronics that Lionel offers with bluetooth, railsounds and the like. And that BNSF ET44AC has caught my eye as well (I have several in n scale).

So is there a sweet spot anywhere here, or is this just the cost to play these days? I know, n scale isn't cheap either. Anyway, thanks for listening.

Ron

Purchased a few trains missing model numbers.
They are all 2-4-2 style, 027 trains.
They closely resemble 2034 but with hand rails.
How and why would they be produced in 1952 with obviously older cast bodies?
I see a few on ebay,with numbers 2034,with hand rails.
Thoughts?

Hello.
Your power supply should be enough.
You will probably want to add an extra feeder line or two so you have steady power around the loop.

happy rails.
dave

Okay thanks.  It's a large track.  I thought layout would be appropriate.  I will try over there.