Have you ever seen a truly anchronistic layout? I don't mean one that (perhaps accidentally) uses 1950s locomotives and 1920s scenery, but a layout that incorporates dragons and castles, or dinosaurs, or the Eiffel Tower AND the pyramids. I'd love to see a link if something like this exists...

Thank you everyone for your opinions. I appreciate having a lot to think about as there aren't many days before Christmas. I'm sure that Santa will come through again this year and he'll obviously make the right choice in control system.

My son (almost 5) has been obsessed with trains since he learned to walk. We bought him a cheap ($30) HO-scale train set this summer; just a circle track with a diesel and 3 cars. My son has played with this train every day and to his credit (since the set is a piece of junk) hasn't broken any of the cars and lovingly fixes the track when it gets mis-aligned.

So, we want to get him a "nice" train set for Christmas--something better quality, that does more than go around in a circle, and that we can add on to and start building a full layout in the basement as a family project. My son loves trains enough that I know we'll be building layouts for years--this isn't a passing phase or something the adults pushed him into!

I'm interested in Bachmann's EZ-Command DCC system; it's included in some sets like "Bachmann Digital Commander Deluxe Set". However, I'm wondering if we're getting a DCC system too soon--especially because the DCC locomotives seem two or three times the price of non-DCC locomotives! So, should we buy my son a regular (non-digital) train set for this Christmas and then "upgrade" to DCC later? Or should we just buy DCC now?

Also, if you have other suggestions for buying a first train set, please share... I've read a lot, but since I haven't actually built a layout yet I'm still very interested in advice.