Hi Mark,

Like John I go for Viessmann signals for their realism rather than the Fleischmann ones with their ghastly surface-mounted drives.

I tend to buy mail order from Germany, especially ebay from both shops and private dealers. The postage is expensive (about €8 uninsured) but it's generally cheaper and quicker overall.

However if you can find a UK dealer, either locally or via mail order, who stocks what you want at a competitive price, then fine. My local dealer doesn't do any German stock, so I just tend to get the scenery from him.

As a general rule, it's a good idea to narrow down your scale, era and general location before starting a layout, otherwise costs mount quickly and you can end up with a lot of stuff which you are later unhappy with. Fleischmann do a lot of good Epoch II-V stuff, and have a particularly wide range of Deutsche Reichsbahn Epoch II steam engines.

Useful links may be found here:

http://germanrail.8.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=4
http://altezeitgruppe.com/links.htm

For sites on German Railway signalling and practice try these for a start:

http://www.sh1.org/eisenbahn/s.htm
http://joernpachl.gmxhome.de/German_priniciples.htm
http://www.worldrailfans.info/Articles/Europe/GBriefHistory.shtml

HTH,

Paul, of (formerly Prussian-occupied) Lower Saxony