I am new to model railroading. I am a retired Conductor for Union Pacific (started on MoPac) of 40 years. I am building a Holiday season layout which is laid out directly on the carpeted basement floor. This year I bought the Lionel Pennsylvania Flyer (LionChief) and added about $200 worth of track (FasTrack) to the layout. During the upcoming year, I am going to purchase the Lionel Polar Express in a LionChief Plus set and around $500 or more track to make a layout around the outside of our main room in the basement. It will have a large outer loop approx 18'X20' with two Y switches making an inner reversing loop of approx 9'X12'. I also want to find a Missouri Pacific GP38 engine to run a 3rd train.
My question is, with the two Y switches (total of 6 switches) and trying to run 2-3 trains at a time, what is my best way (system) to throw the switches? Being new to all this, with the layout directly on the floor, I don't want to run wiring for 6 switches all over the place. And I think it would be a huge hassle trying to manually throw them. When I look at switches online, the remote switches don't really explain much and I don't have a Train store close to check these out. By Remote, are they simply wired to buttons OR are they REMOTE with the Remote control? If I find a Mopac GP, it will most likely NOT be LionChief Plus, probably Legacy, although I might settle for a Union Pacific GP-38 which does come in LionChief Plus. Would I need a transformer type (Legacy) to throw switches? Sorry this is so long!
