[hairyhandedfool]

If you can't get to a model shop that will let you test the available systems, I suggest you read some reviews, but in reality nothing is as good as hands on experience.

The absolute musts to buy are the controller and the locomotive decoders, everything else is optional.

If you're on a budget, you can get Bachmann's Dynamis for as low as £85, but many have claimed to have had problems with it and it is a little basic, I have not had problems with it yet. NCB's Powercab is widely regarded as a good controller, but sells for around £135. ZTC also have some controllers with good reviews.

Decoders start from around ten pounds for the basic Hornby and Bachmann efforts, but can cost much more for the all singing all dancing decoders from speciallist suppliers.

Some older models and quite a few Heljan models require the better quality decoders as the power drawn is higher apparently.

It is generally recommended that you have as many power feeds from the controller to the track as you can, right the way up to one per piece of track, using a power bus running under the board and around the layout. On small layouts one feed may be enough, but larger layouts will be served with more.

Just remember, no matter what the instructions say, NEVER USE DC LOCOS ON DCC POWERED TRACKS.

Well that's a start, hopefully someone else can add more help, or if you have specific questions fire away. Equally, most model railway web forums have DCC sections which may contain many of the answers you may need.

Good luck with it.