Hornby Hobbies Ltd R1126 Mixed Freight 00 Gauge DCC Electric Train Set

Firstly, the time now is 6.30am and I have been up all night enjoying this train set!I bought this set as it looked like a fairly gentle introduction to the wonderful world of Hornby Digital. However, I was shocked to see that it was delivered without any outer packaging. Everything I have bought from Amazon usually has 3 trees worth of paper packaging but this was the Hornby Box with my name and address on it. When I opened the box I could see that I was missing the advertised shunter. With their usual efficiency Amazon have agreed to replace it.I'm very happy with the quality of the equipment. There are excellent instructions and manuals. The DCC Select Controller was easy to set up and I was pleasantly surprised that I could use the controller to to control some old Hornby stuff I bought for my son over 20 years ago. This set is, I hope, the first set for my grandson so that he and his dad, my son, can enjoy railway modelling. It's a plus mark for Hornby as the old engines (Eurostar, Class 30 Diesel, a little shunter and Thomas The Tank Engine) worked first time even though they have been boxed up and unused for over 20 years.The Mixed Freight set is expensive but bear in mind you get enough track for an oval layout and a siding, a DCC controller. a power track, a set of points, 4 goods wagons, a DCC fitted locomotive and (hopefully) a DCC fitted shunter and the Hornby trackmat. So you've got enough kit to park up one train in the siding and another train on the oval. I parked up the loco and 4 wagons on the siding while I ran Eurostar on the oval and then I had the great fun of bringing the loco out of the siding and bringing Eurostar into the siding, all done on the very easy to understand Select Controller. It may be a reflection of my sad life in retirement but I found that to be great fun and I can't wait to see my grandson's and my son's faces when they visit later today to see it. I may have to hang on to the set just a bit longer! Bad grand dad!!!OK I've blethered on so I'll finish by saying that I fully recommend this train set especially if it's your entry into railway modelling and Digital Command Control.

I bought this for my son , he was very disappoint when he discovered the loco was damaged. Train set is very expensiveI expected much better from a reputable company like hornby. I do not recomend this product.

Well after much deliberation about which manufacturer I finally took the plunge with Hornby.There is from what I can gather nothing wrong with Bachmann and the local modelling club are making good use of Bachmann.A train set as a Christmas present for a young boy I think is going to be a huge success.First things first. Just unwrapping the present and seeing the pictures on the box made his eyes light up.Be prepared to be pestered for best part of the day , Dad can I have the train set out....nag, nag, nag.Setting up the track is easy enough. Getting the fish plates to interlock is a little tricky at first.I tended to miss one side a lot. This is easy to spot if you gently twist the track clockwise then anti-clockwise to make sure both rails are engaged in the fish plates.Once the track is set up then the controller is an absolute doddle.Two trains and four goods wagons. They are typically light and could do with a bit more weight to them.My memories of playing with a train set some thirty years ago serves me well now.A technical point - as I understand it, Hornby track is now made from nickel/silver. An important point as it used t be made of steel and prone to oxidation (rust).Read the quick start guide for the engine set up. Shunter re-addressed within minutes followed by the black loco.A technical point - whilst the engines are digital, they operate at the most basic level. There are no lights, whistles or bells. This is a starter kit. Don't waste your money on the more expensive models until you are sure the child is interested in playing with a train set. Train sets are built up over many years. I know, been there, T-shirt etc...Running two engines independently on a single loop with one siding is no problem.I was not the train driver. Five and half year old was doing the speed control and changing the points over. Picked it up very quickly. Swapping between loco speed control selections via the buttons after being shown.The controller is easy to use and it was initially a bug bear of mine. I am now happy to say that having used it and seen the boy grasping its functionality so quickly I see no issue with it.My bug bear was simply this - when changing from the shunter to the loco, I did not know how the speed control would be affected. It does require an element of memory from the train driver.The speed change is easily over come by setting up the acceleration/deceleration of each engine. It is in the instruction manual and takes a couple of minutes. Once set, the swapping between engines and the speed is less noticeable. A compromise me thinks. The boy does not even worry about it.I also bought extra track to provide an inner loop. It is not essential but if you do have more than one child then I would recommend it.The controller does both engines so it is a good way to get siblings to share. I had too!Alternatively, there is a 'Walkabout' unit (up to eight units if you read the spiel) which plug into the master controller and allows two or more people on separate controllers to play.Not seen or experienced it working but I can see no reason why it wouldn't. Yet again, until proven that they have an interest in playing with a train set, hold off buying those extras.Does my son enjoy the train set?Yes he does, plays on it for about half an hour a day. He makes the chuffing/whistling whoo whoo sounds and is generally lost in the imaginative play time it provides.We have put to use the tunnel that we made from cardboard some months ago. Creativity.After another read of the manual and two minutes later, the two engines can be run together and has some novelty value at first. It is better to have them separately controlled.After another read of the manual they are back to running independently of each other.The track mat does provide a useful background and a layout to aspire to. Over time you can design your own layout. That is the idea of playing with a train set.The best part of the day was getting the old GWR Castle Class out of the box. The DCC will operate an analogue engine. Only one though. The manual says it is not recommended so I was rather dubious about trying it out. It ran like a dream and my boys excitement at seeing that loco running around the track was a joy to see. Old Bessie as he like to call her.A great little starter kit for any budding engineer and it gets them away from those console games.Needless to say 'we are well chuffed with it'

Very disappointed when the train set arrived. The rear coupling on the steam loco was damaged, and the clips holding the diesel loco body to the chassis we're snapped off, so it just balances on top and wobbles of course. Its a real shame as everything else was fine. I wouldn't recommend buying due to this

Very disappointed to find after setting up the track and unpacking everything that the mains power transformer supplied was two pin euro - continental.Searched on line for over an hour looking for the correct UK mains power unit (P9100W), but either not found or not in stock.In the end had to upgrade to the P9300 Digital 15V 4 Amp Transformer direct from Hornby’s own website, at £37.99.Not such a great saving, after all from Amazon, so be aware before clicking to buy this one.This is an expensive purchase, and very disappointed with Amazon that the product description did not mention this, - I assumed that any electrical product purchased from Amazon would be supplied with a UK plug / transformer.