New Member With Questions

[freescopesdad]

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

[djacobsen]

Hello & Welcome to the Forum.
This is a problem that many have faced with their trains.
IF you want to run the larger locomotives, you are going
to  have to go with larger radius curved track.
You can run on tighter curves, but if it doesn't jam up on the
curve, you will possibly be wearing out (grinding) either your
wheels or track.
It's Up to You, as an operator.
Happy Rails.
dave

Also working on uploader problem.