We started around that age, he has to know when he has been or needs to go iykwim... It was unsuccessful until he was almost 2, then he went to hospital, and things didn't pick up til around 2yr2mth then we moved, backtracked again, 2yr4.5mth started again all by himself. He's 2 and a half now and the only real "issue" he has is he's not quite on the ball with poo. He can tell you as he's doing it, just not before yet. He's also dry at night, so no nappies here at all now

wrt training pants, we bought 2nd hand undies from garage sales/ op shops and a few new ones from best and less/kmart and put him straight in them.

We have a Fisher Price talking potty toilet thing. It sings and has a flusher and a roll of "toilet paper" that make noise. Prefers this one over any other potty! Also he has toilet inserts and a wee man. Depending on if he's just waken, or it's the middle of the night then he'll use the insert, but he normally is starting to use the wee man (it's like a urinal for little boys)
hth