New To Railroading, Lots of Questions!

[Anonymous]

Ok, I used to have an HO scale railroad when I was a kid, and now im 18 and purchased my first home and ive got an extra room. So i thought id come back to it, but on a larger scale hehe :) But i realize after reading here I know next to nothing (which is probobly why the one i had when i was a kid never ran that i can remember) So for all you experts i have some questions:

BTW All questions are related to HO Scale (thats what ill be using)

Q1: What is the best track to use?

Q2: Can I use different brands of track or no?

Q3: Can i use different brands of cars and locomotives?

Q4: If you CAN use different brands together (track/cars/loco's) is it or isnt it a good idea?

Q5: Kadee #5 Couplers > To me looks like 010010001100 aka: What the hell is it?

Q6: How do you make track work at different inclines (i.e. hills) im wanting to setup a multi level track layout (for my underground coal mine)

Q7: What is the maximum degree of incline an HO scale locomotive can handle with say 2-6 cars

Q8: What is the maximum number of cars an HO locomotive can pull? And w/ that number of cars on it what is the maximum incline it can handle?

Q9: Where can i buy bulk amounts of track say 10-25 feet?

Q10: Any books that i can go get from a library or Barnes and Noble that you guys recommend Id love to know about.

Thank you very much in advance, i hope to have the room which is now being used as storage cleaned out and some benchwork up with some track and scenery by January so ill let you all know how it goes, and you'll be hearing alot from me :)

[Hawks05]

wow 18 and have a house. you're a year older than me. thats great.

yes you can use different car and locomotive products together. if you are asking if you can say have a Proto 2000 locomotive and Athearn cars, you can do that. just as long as the couplers are compatable. from experience and what i've heard Atlas makes the best track. wether it be flex track or snap track atlas is the best. i don't think it matters if you run different brands of cars and locomotives, just as long as they have compatable couplers like i said above. thats all i can answer as i'm just starting to.

[dehusman]

Q1: What is the best track to use?
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A1: Track with nickel silver rail, shiny silver. Don't buy brass or steel rail. Has oxidation and conductivity problems.

Q2: Can I use different brands of track or no?
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Yes. The important thing is the "code' of the track. Code is the height of the rail in thousandths of an inch. So code 100 is .01 in high. Code 83 is .083 in high. The most common are code 83 and code 100. Start off with all the same size. Atlas is probably the best buy from a cost per piece perspective. Other good brands are Shinohara, Walthers and Microengineering.

Q3: Can i use different brands of cars and locomotives?
======================
Yes.

Q4: If you CAN use different brands together (track/cars/loco's) is it or isnt it a good idea?
=========================
Yes. No one company offers all the the above components. You will have to mix and match to get what you want.

Q5: Kadee #5 Couplers > To me looks like 010010001100 aka: What the hell is it?
====================
Kadee is a company that makes couplers, trucks and RR cars. Kadee couplers are designed to look like real couplers. They have a little steel wire hanging underneath them that when it passes over a magnet, will pull to the side, opening the knuclkle of the coupler without manual intervention. In the last 5 years several other companies have offered similar compatible couplers, Accurail, McHenry and others.

Q6: How do you make track work at different inclines (i.e. hills) im wanting to setup a multi level track layout (for my underground coal mine)
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Several different ways. I suggest buying several books on basic model railroading. MR magazine is a good resource. Go to the kalmbach website and look for their books on the basics, wiring, scenery, benchwork, etc.

You can either build up ramps (woodland scenics sells preformed ramps) or bend the subroadbed (plywood) the railroad is built on.

Q7: What is the maximum degree of incline an HO scale locomotive can handle with say 2-6 cars
===========================
Depends on the type of locomotive. I would try and stay below 3-4% grades (3-4" rise in 8 ft of run). Shallower is better.

Q8: What is the maximum number of cars an HO locomotive can pull? And w/ that number of cars on it what is the maximum incline it can handle?
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Depends on the locomotive. Small ones on level track 8-20 cars. Large ones on level track 20-40 cars.
Depends on the locomotive and the grade. By the time you are in the 2-3% grade you have halved the pulling power. Put it on a curve and you are even less.

Q9: Where can i buy bulk amounts of track say 10-25 feet?
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Flex track is 3 ft sections of track. Buy and MR magazine and shop in the adds for flex track or look at some of the one-line stores.

Q10: Any books that i can go get from a library or Barnes and Noble that you guys recommend Id love to know about.
======================
Look at the Kalmbach site for titles and then search your local book store or hobby dealer.
"A railroad, what it is, what it does" by John Armstrong, at www.transalert.com.

Dave H.

[DSchmitt]

Good answers from dehusman

John Armstrongs "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" from Kalmbach is an excellant book It covers many of the same topics as "A Railroad What it is and What It Does" (which is a college text book) but from a modelers perspective. Chapter 5 "Operating reliabilty throug standards" will answer a lot of your questions.

[Anonymous]

Q1: What is the best track to use?

A1: As far a what brand, they all are good. Each brand has its own small differences. I would suggest you get a small sample of the different brands of the same scale and gauge track to compare. This is what I recently did to decide what brand to purchase for my newly rebuilt railway. I wanted code 83 nickel-silver rail, so I got a sample of flextrack and a turnout from Atlas, Walthers/Shinohara, and Micro Engineering. I then selected the brand that looked the best to me since I was interested in appearance as well as functionality..

Q2: Can I use different brands of track or no?

A2: Yes, you can. On my railway, I will be mixing Micro Engineering flextrack and turnouts with Walthers/Shinohara components that ME doesn't make. I could do this just as easily with Atlas track components if I wanted to.

Q3: Can i use different brands of cars and locomotives?

A3: Yes. Any manufacturer's HO car or locomotive will run on any manufacturer's HO scale track. If all the cars and locomotives have the same kind of couplers they will all work together (you can change the couplers if they don't match). The same holds true for the other scales such as N, O and so forth.

Q4: If you CAN use different brands together (track/cars/loco's) is it or isnt it a good idea?

A4: No one manufacturer can produce all of the different varieties of locomotives and cars. Many manufacturers produce cars and locos that the others manufacturers are not making. Therefor modelers benefit with a large selection of products to choose from. This also promotes healthy competition among manufacturers. We modelers all want cheap equipment, but we also want it to be of good quality and good looking as well. There's nothing wrong with mixing brands together. In fact I'd recommend it.

Q5: Kadee #5 Couplers > To me looks like 010010001100 aka: What the hell is it?

A5: Kadee is a manufacturer of knuckle couplers for several different scales. In fact Kadee was the first to come up with a good looking HO scale knuckle coupler that actually worked like real couplers. Kadee had a patent on this design which kept other manufacturers from producing look-a-likes. Modelers really liked this coupler, and it became the standard coupler used by the more serious modelers. There were other coupler such as the X2F, aka. NMRA, aka hook-horn which up until recently was the predominant coupler included with HO scale equipment. Modelers would have to change the couplers on all their cars and locos to use the Kadee couplers.

Within the past few years, Kadee's patent must have run out, and other manufacturers jumped in and produced their own version of the Kadee coupler to varing degrees of success as you may have read in other posts. Kadee produces several varieties of their coupler in order to alloe their coupler to be used on different manufacturer's equipment. The different vareties differ in the shape of the coupler shank, and the material the coupler is made of. To distinguish between these varieties, Kadee gave them a number. The Kadee #5 coupler is the most commonly used coupler as it fits into most all of the cars made. It it metal with a centered shank. The 20 series couplers are plastic and are intended to be used wherever an insulated coupler is needed, such as on some locomotives to prevent electrical shorts through the couplers if two locos were coupled back to back, and both used the frame as part of the electrical circuit. Check out Kadee's website www.kadee.com for more on their different couplers.

Q6: How do you make track work at different inclines (i.e. hills) im wanting to setup a multi level track layout (for my underground coal mine)

A6: There are a number of different ways to introduce vertical elevation to a model railroad. I suggest you read some of the Beginner's guide books, as well as other model railroad publications. This subject will take too long for me to answer here.

Q7: What is the maximum degree of incline an HO scale locomotive can handle with say 2-6 cars

A7: Depends upon the locomotive, and how much effort it takes to pull the cars.
Heavier locomotives with more wheels can generally outpull lighter locomotives with fewer wheels. It is a balance between weight on "drivers" and amount of adhesion a locomotive can get that determines how much a locomotive can pull. There are other factors as well. Generally for my models, I would try to keep the grade/incline as close to flat as possible and still achieve the height you want. I would recommend 2% grade as max. Logging railroads might go steeper to 4%. (rise / run = grade% Use same unit of measure for both the rise/fall and the run)

Q8: What is the maximum number of cars an HO locomotive can pull? And w/ that number of cars on it what is the maximum incline it can handle?

A8: Again it depends upon the specific locomotive. I refer you back to the previous answer. I will also add that to pull more cars than a single locomotive could pull, railroads would add more locomotives to a train.

Q9: Where can i buy bulk amounts of track say 10-25 feet?

A9: Your local hobby shop can get as much track for you, as you may need.

Q10: Any books that i can go get from a library or Barnes and Noble that you guys recommend Id love to know about.

A10: There are many, many books on how to build a model railroad. You will generally find these at your local hobby shop or your library instead of at a Barnes & Noble or Borders book store. If I remember correctly, model railroad books would be classified under dewy decimal number 625 at the library.

I also recommend you check out past issues of Model Railroader magazine from the library, or purchase current issues from the hobby shop. There are other good model railroad perodicals such as Railroad Model Craftsman that you can read as well, but MR often has articles for beginners just getting into the hobby.

Also check out the books published by Kalmbach at www.kalmbach.com

Also see www.worldsgreatesthobby.com and www.nmra.org

I hope I answered your questions. There is a lot to learn, much more than I can easily put into this post. And no one knows it all. I recommend you read up on the subject, and keep reading this forum. There is a lot of good information here.

Dale B.

[swknox]

Q #1. All are good but Atlas is Probley the best. Code 83 represents what is used on the main lines in the USA. Code 70 is what you would find say on a branch line.

Q #2. Yes but keep in mind flex track and snap track. The track with the Plastic Roadbed underneath you can't mismatch between different companys.

Q #3. Yes, even the knuckles are compatible say between McHenery and Kadee but not with the old horn hook or X2F couplers. If you are doing HO scale as long as it's for HO it should work but don't get nothing thats for HO proto:87. That is a fine scale of HO and is not compatible with regular HO equipment unless thats what you modeling but doesn't sound like it.

Q #4. Most New cars and locos run good together. Good rule of thumb if it was made in the last 5 years it should work, watch out for cheap sets that have the old X2F or horn hooks - these are usally attached to the truck instead of the body of the car or loco and you can't switch them with a kadee or other. If they are attached to the frame with a screw than it should be possible to replace with a kadee.

Q # 5 & 6. Same as above answers.

Q # 7. If you have only 2 - 6 cars than you should be able to tackle any modest grade although most proto grades are between 1-4% and Southern now Norfolk Southern has one that is at least 5%.

Q #8. I know what the mag's say but from my own experience a switcher will do about 10 to 20 the normal, road switcher say GP 38 or 40 will do about 30 to 45 the normal, and a 3rd Generation Diesel say a Dash 9 will do about 50 - 70 on straight level track. This is the normal on my layout but I don't have much as far as grades or sharpe turns either. That will be a factor.

Q # 9. Flex track is sold in 36" lengths and section snap track is about 9" lengths.

Q # 10. Buy a Model Railroader which I'm sure you have and look inside to see other books by Kalmbach Pub.

I don't know everything but I will share anything I know If you have any other questions just ask or contact me from my MSN or email.

[Anonymous]

Pick up a copy of the Walthers reference book, the HO catalog of 1,000 pages listing thousands of products. \www.walthers.com Also go tp www.nmra.org and scroll down to the beginners page.

[Anonymous]

Thanks alot guys, i appreciate the help :)
@Hawk05 - the house isnt anything special heh, just a mobile home but its mine and i can do whatever (like cut holes in walls and run train through the whole house! MUWAHAHAHA, the wife will love that one :) ) Well again thanks guys and ill be in touch :)

[Anonymous]

What road are you modeling? I know it's a coal mine.............. By the way, WOW 18 years old and your married and have a house! That's awesome. I'm 13 and planning to build a 5x8 HO layout.

[Anonymous]

I agree with everyone but I prefer code 100 Atlas track. It is out of scale a bit but after paint and ballast is added it looks fine. Also the height of the track makes it easier to solder too(more surface to solder on) and easier to keep ballast out of. I do recommend buying a good quality locomotive like Kato or Proto 1000 or 2000. They are all low maintenance locos which leads to less frustration when you are starting out.

Hope this helps,
Jeremy

Go Packers!!
even though they lost to Detroit

[Anonymous]

im not modeling after any certain railroad, just making my own :) using my imagination. A coal mine is just part of my design, i intend to have a city w/small suburbs and a mountain town. Only thing im trying to figure out in my head is how to make the incline grades work. 2% optimum 4%most is what you are mainly saying and that is alot less than i thought i could do :) so im working it out in my head how to incorporate multiple levels to maximize the space i have :) well im off to bed the wife is calling me. Once again thank you all for the help I greatly appreciate it.