H Scheg,
1st let me thank you for your life of service to our Military and US Constitution,
and welcome to the OGR, the best run forum on the web.
Because you are just getting back into our train hobby and technically things have upgraded and changed, especially with the advent of DCS and Legacy/TMCC control
you might want to invest in Barry's Book and the OGR Video Guide to DCS, along with watching the instructional Lionel Videos on Legacy/TMCC. The remote control advancements have been fantastic and they make your trains come into the modern era, along with still being able to run them in a conventional manner also. You may want to check into all the different kinds of track & switches now available also.
Welcome aboard the OGR.
PCRR/Dave
Barry's DCS O gauge Companion book and the OGR DCS Video Guide, the Legacy/TMCC
instructional Video's can be referenced on the web thru Lionel Legacy.