A sort of split off from the idea of the hobby is expensive comes this thread
A number of ideas...one being Industrial Switching layouts. How many locomotives do you need to run this?
I have one in my home office...with 4 locomotives...but you can get away with only one..
a few boxcars, flats and such..for a few industries...
What other ideas are out there?
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Buildings made from various materials - like currugated cardboard. The second story on the engine house below is from two empty Blue Box boxes placed side by side, with some wooden lists for the ceiling. That steel plant in the background from various bits and pieces - like shampoo bottles for the big round ovens.
The water outlets under the power plant is a bottle cap sawed in two.
Fuel barges made from planks - piping is sprues, Grey containers on leftmost barge are pried off from dump trucks, turned upside down, painted and glued to barge. The orange house on the rightmost barge is a cutoff from an old wrecked switcher bought at a garage sale.
Crushed cars made by wrapping tin foil around hotwheels cars, painting and crushing.
Elevators made from shipping tubes. There are many ways of saving money on a layout. These pictures are from a layout belonging to a fellow model railroader that I visited while on vacation in the Twin Cities this summer. Smile, Stein
LION builds on a shoe string. If you can imagine a large room-size being built on shoestring.
All lumber is used, mostly from buildings that we have torn down.
Find a roofer in your area, and follow him around, recovering sizeable pieces of 2" thick roofing foam. Actually it is fiberglass with a tar paper backing on both sides. You can use it for many things on your railroad.
Find an electrician who does telephone installations and get scraps of 25 or 50 pair cat 3 cables. Twenty foot length leftovers are useless to them, but a gold mine for railroad builders.
Another shortcut is to eliminate roadbed. It takes time, money, and makes alterations difficult. Slap down the tracks, move them as you need to.
There is another aspect to building on the cheap: Construction Methods. LION slaps things together rather than engineering fine table construction. It saves time. Time has value. Having fun has value. It is better according to the LION to build something quickly and have fun with it rather than to spend months building a perfect table. PUT IT TOGETHER and RUN IT, then make changes and improvements as you use it.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
EDIT. Too slow off the mark, two fingered typing doesn't cut it at times. Hats off to blownout cylinder.
Gidday, Do certain threads that seem to get far to much attention for what they don'tcontribute to making "Model Railroading Fun" make you want to ??
Sick and tired of the negativity?
Lots of good inexpensive tips are regularly posted quite often in reply to questions on this forum, but how many more good ideas are out there on how to have FUN on a budget?
(1) "The $ Car Projects" that "Model Railroader"ran through the 50s and 60s have always intrigued me, certainly inflation will have done it's bit but as far as I'm concerned time not money is currently my limiting factor.
(2) Similar to above, there are also many articles on kit bashing rolling stock for more specific prototypes.
(3) Do you want to run a unit train or cut of cars together, but put off with the price of converting them all to Kadees? If the cars came with Bachmann E-Z mate Mk 1 couplers, which don't have a great reputation, then don't throw them away, put a drop of CA glue on the plastic "whisker'' to lock the knuckle in place, fit Kadees to the cars at each end of the cut, and there you go, looks good and you can still remove cars individually off the layout if required.
Have Fun,
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I don't have any innovative ideas to save money other than to adjust my expectations. I wanted a passenger train but couldn't justify $40-$65 for each car. Instead I bought an Athearn, six car train off of ebay for $40. Then I spent a few dollars on new wheels, couplers, paint and decals to spruce them up. Does my train look as good as the Walthers or Rapido trains? No, but it looks good enough to me. Similarly, I fixed up an old, broken down Mantua Pacific with some detail parts, new motor and paint. It's not quite on par with the new, expensive locos on the market but it looks pretty good for under $100. All of my other rolling stock was purchased off ebay as mostly new old stock. It's all Athearn blue box or roundhouse. Basically I'm modeling as if stuck in the 1980's with the 2012 price equivalent. The trade off is I'm getting the basic detail level from back then as well as the price. The bonus for me is the modeling time I get per dollar spent.
There are entire railroads with just one locomotive. A modeler on a shoestring budget would be well advised to avoid ALSO being a collector! That same thinking extends to all aspects -- rolling stock, structures, scenery material. Many of us, even those who think of ourselves as penny pinchers, probably have enough stuff to equip three layouts if you include "TBBs" ("to-be-built").
The best way to avoid being an "involuntary collector" is to learn about and think about what you want to model. And that is where the internet is great because you can do your research often for free.
I was going to say that a layout with one locomotive could remain DC and thus explore the many good quality used DC engines that are being sold by guys who have made theswitch to DCC, but interestingly I am now starting to see "first generation" DCC supplies hit the used/consignment market.
The aging of the hobby coupled with the technological and quality improvements means lots of great stuff is available on the used/estate sale market if you know where to look -- and who to ask to keep an eye out for you.
The end of the housing construction boom of 10 years ago also meant the end of lots of free lumber to scrounge for those on a budget but if you are lucky enough to live near buildings under construction, a simple conversation with the work crew might enable you to have what would otherwise end up on their burn pile. I know a guy who built a huge O scale layout entirely using burn pile material. It got so that the crew would actually set aside and sort his stuff for him!
Dave Nelson
Now this is a thread I like!
Three years ago, I lost my job and, as a consequence, our beautiful house, which has been home to my family for 15 years. Being 56 in Germany means finding a new job is just about impossible. We had to move into a small apartment in the dingy part of town and our monthly check pays only for a very basic live. There is no room for a hobby, in terms of space and funds.
I had to come up with a rather unusual approach to the hobby, if I were not to be condemned to armchairing for the rest of my days.
A long and tedious web search unearthed a web page of a Japanese fellow model railroader, who builds a mini-modular layout in N scale, consisting of simple and inexpensive modules. Each one measures only 6" by 12", that´s not much of a real estate, but enough to come up with something rewarding.
The modules don´t require an elaborate and expensive benchwork, the consist of three pieces of plywood, nailed and glued together. OK, you can´t really build sweeping curves and big yards. The track plan will always stay fairly simple, but heck, that´s better than nothing.
I also follow Japanese prototype - for a good reason. Locos, trams rolling stock, structures and building materials are a lot cheaper than anything I could get out of the US or Germany. Structures are in a price range of $ 8 - $ 10, instead of $ 25 to $ 40, which I see here in Germany. Scratch building Japanese structures isn´t much of an effort, as they are mostly simple box-like contraptions (unless you go for a shrine!).
Just a few pics:
I am right now finalizing my plans for some more modules, closely following the Enoden line prototype, connecting Fujisawa with Kamakura, not far away from Tokyo.
I admit, it´s an exotic approach to the hobby, but for me it is lots of fun:
Read more about this here:
My layout
Here are some more model railroading cheap cuts.
1. Go to train shows. Used rolling stock will be cheaper than E-bay (no shipping charges).
2. Spiff up some el cheapo trainset cars with new paint, decals and wire grab irons.
3. Hardware store rattle cans will do a better job painting rolling stock than a brush. In fact they are nearly as good as an air brush. A decent coat of paint will make silk purses out of sow's ears.
4. Sawdust, dyed green with RIT dye still works for scenery and is cheaper than ground foam.
5. Turnouts don't need electric switch machines. Make a hair pin over center spring from piano wire to hold the points against the stock rails. Throw the turnouts with your fingers.
6. You can live without DCC. We all did years ago.
7. Scratch build. It's fun, it's easy, and it's low cost.
8. Put your computer printer to work. It will make signs, brick paper, backdrop building flats, lotta stuff.
9. Scrounge, scrounge, and scrounge again. I have scrounged lumber, 2 inch foamboard, house wire, telephone wire, semiconductors, and trainsets.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Hi!
Goodness, I was on that shoestring thru the '50s, '60s, and '70s and know it quite well. Yet, I had a ton of fun with the trains, and frankly had a couple of decent looking layouts (in my eyes anyway). Here are some things I did, and suggest for today's MR with a small pocketbook..........
- Benchwork can be scavenged from construction sites, especially homes. Often they will have a dumpster you can go through, but I would certainly seek permission first.
- My cars and locos of choice were Athearn blue box kits. I still have a large amount from the 60s and 70s and run them regularly. With KDs and wheelsets (when you get the funds), and a bit of Dull Cote, they are just terrific for almost any layout.
- Of course the early years were DC operations, and especially for the fellow with "few bucks", I recommend it highly. So, an MRC power pack and Atlas control switches, you are in business.
- For track, a good way to go is Atlas code 100 NS. I still use it today, and it works. It is the least expensive and viable choice out there.
- For structures, there were a lot of inexpensive Revell and IHC (and counterparts) kits out there that worked just fine. Scratchbuilding was also an option as well.
- For scenery, well you can start out with simple groundcover of foam or fine dyed sawdust. Yes, I have dyed my own and while messy, it works out just fine. Remember, you can add those expensive details later on, right on top of your sawdust fields.
- For rockwork, well wood scraps and nylon screening and paper towels soaked in Plaster of Paris is a time proven and inexpensive way to go.
So how does today's MR with short pockets get all of the above? Well, Ebay is a good place to start, and garage sales, train shows, and of course your local hobby shop (discount table?) will often yield good stuff at excellent prices.
But there is one very important point I would like to get across to that newbie that is frustrated by the $300 locos and $35 turnouts and $500 DCC systems......... Most of the MRs I know - me especially - started out on that same shoestring. I actually remember shoveling snow to get the quarters to buy some plaster of paris, etc, etc,. The expensive BLI locos and literally thousands of dollars I have in my layout today came about in my later years and I had to stair-step to get to them.
Hey, do what you can, and enjoy the ride! Believe me, I had as much or more fun with my 1973 HO layout as I have with the current 2008 double decker.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
We Americans like to succumb to the advertising that newer, bigger and high price is best. But, just like you can drive a $5 thousand car to get to the same place as a $50 thousand car a model railroader can have as much enjoyment with a few hundred dollars worth of used equipment. There are so many ideas on this forum and in the Model Railroader magazine to save dollars that only the uninformed can still complain about the hobby being too expensive. My grandson just visited for a month and I told him I would give him some of my excess track and rolling stock to get a layout started. He is excited and ready to roll.
I suggest buying locomotives on sale.
I just got great prices on two new locomotives from MB Klein--and they have a ton of stuff at discounted prices. One was $67 plus shipping; one was $76 plus shipping.
If one doesn't need DCC (it is a high priced, totally unnecessary luxury for some of us who are on a budget) there's still plenty of DC locomotives out there brand new.
Also, there are entry level DCC and sound equipped units for only $100 or so, readily available.
(I buy either DC or DCC depending on the engine in question, the price, and what's available. If they give away DCC engines for cheap, then and only then do I buy them).
I've learned I don't need huge mainline steam locomotives with ridiculous overhangs on my layout when a modest little 2-6-0 steamer or an F unit diesel will suffice quite nicely to do the same job.
Who am I kidding really? My railroad doesn't have to be a high density mainline with the locomotives to match.
Regarding passenger cars, I don't need full length scale 85' cars that look totally ridiculous on my 26" (and larger) mainline curves (and come without lights) when I can buy ConCor 65' passenger cars with LED lights that look pretty darn good for less money.
Respectfully submitted--
John
Try buying stuff from the opposite end of MR, the guys who have basements full of unopened cars and structures that they could not possibly use in 7 lifetimes, but for some reason they are reluctant to part with them, give them a try.
eaglescoutWe Americans like to succumb to the advertising that newer, bigger and high price is best. But, just like you can drive a $5 thousand car to get to the same place as a $50 thousand car a model railroader can have as much enjoyment with a few hundred dollars worth of used equipment. There are so many ideas on this forum and in the Model Railroader magazine to save dollars that only the uninformed can still complain about the hobby being too expensive. My grandson just visited for a month and I told him I would give him some of my excess track and rolling stock to get a layout started. He is excited and ready to roll.
Of course you have to have the bucks to actually succumb to the newer, bigger and more expensive is best philosophy. Where I live, seems every other car on the beltway is a Mercedes or Beamer so I guess they feel they do need the expensive car to get there. The locked thread that spawned this topic started out with the assumpsion that you needed to spend $200-400 to get a decent engine. I'd agree with the philosphy here in the shoe string topic that you can still spend well under $200, even under $100 to get decent engines. Heck, in the past 12 months I've added some 8 Athearn SD45's at about $85 each and they all have prototypical details which scream D&RGW and Southern Pacific!!!
I realize new MSRP prices announced this year and going forward are sharply higher, but if you hunt around at swap meets, HO Interchange at Yahoo Groups, Ebay etc... you can still keep the cost down.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
A lot of fine ideas have been expressed already. Much of it comes down to some imagination and modeling skill. And more comes from the type of layout you wish to have. My own personal taste favors simple room sized layouts, whereas the club style full basement layout just seems too complex to be fun. Again, that's just my personal taste. As far as cost, its fortunate that my personal modeling taste happens to be the kind of layout that tends to cost less.
I like buying used structures, preferably poorly assembled ones; that are easy to dismantle, repaint, and either reassemble as intended or use as bashing fodder. Poorly assembled used structures tend to go for dirt cheap on the secondary market. Card stock or sheet styrene are good products to use for custom roofs for the new footprint of the building.
My habit of collecting locomotives I don't need tends to be my biggest waste of hobby dollars, but I have fun with that too.
- Douglas
If one is on a shoestring budget, and wants DCC, there are still Bachmann E Z Command systems out there. Here is an example:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?Scale=HO&Item=RGBVCW&ID=200401356
with diesel loco:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?Scale=HO&Item=RGBVCW&ID=200401358 alos comes in NS, and WM, and COnrail
OR with a steam loco:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?Scale=HO&Item=RGBVCW&offset=25&ID=200429902 also comes in GN, and UP.
ANd others in both diesel and steam.
Other diesel DCCs ca be had from Bachmann for around $50, adn steamers from Bachmann for around $100-$120. THey have worked hard to improve qualtiy and detail.
Chances are if one is on a budget, one will NOT likely have an expansive layout to run 20 locos at once in DCC anyway!!! SO there is entry level easy-peasy DCC on a budget. SO a cheaper system cna serve well!
-I used to use cardboard when I was a kid to build RR buildings on the my child/teen O/O27 layout and later on my Teen N scale. Cardboard buildings are great if you have nothing else to work with.
-MOuntains/scenery can be built with rolled up newspaper/paper towels/napkins and soaked in plaster of paris for topping was a time honored tradition, and a box of Pof P lasts a good long time that way.
-Pick up oopsy paints at the hardware store, or as I did when i was a kid: i had a gallon of brown and a gallon of green, that provided all the under-painting I needed. Those were the only two scenery paints i had. Brown went under sand/dirt sifted out, and green went under all "grass" that came in big bags that were spread and glued with diluted whilte school glue.
-Cheap temepra or laytex paints...even watercolors came out of crafty stuff for painting every thing else, and for Xmas we always got new paints and craft papers and scrap books to "create with".
-I used sand sifted from the childhood sand box out back for the O/O27. work fine glued down with cheap diluted white school glue. Finer sand was used on N scale when I got to it.
-I actually hand scored and cut siding boards one by one out of thin balsa wood to build a "half built house" with matchsticks, carelfully burned off ends and sanded down the burn away as structure beams..who cares that the siding would have been last thing on it! It looked VERY similar to the kits of the day to build!
-cereal boxes are endless sources fo carboard for buildings. so did clothing boxes. Matchstickes made great structure beams...forget Plastruct!!!
My father bought a roll of stranded wire that had 5000 feet on it when he was young. He didn't know what he would ever do with all of it, but he thought it was cheap enough at the time...$5 in the fifties to buy. that lasted for ALL wiring of the 2 4x8 boarded layout with track wiring to run 3 locos on 3 loops with boosters, to light the town and yard, and to do anything else that needed wiring..like the wiring for the remote controlled switches! He STILL has some of that wire left on the spool today!!
I am sure I will come up wiht more as I go to sleep, but there are a few ideas!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Wow! Give an opinion that some people disagree with and I'm accused of drive-by flame wars! What a load of GARBAGE! I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! Simply put, I want the hobby to be the way I want it to be and I see absolutely nothing wrong with having that opinion, even though that might be considered controversial here in La La Land!
I'm having fun with the hobby the way I want it; but, feel it certainly could be better and more affordable and I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder!
If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Huh??
I thought you got a lot of good constructive ideas to address your concern. Other than the groans of "here we go again" as yet another "this hobby is getting too expensive" thread started up. I don't recall any hostility or accusations of flame wars? Must have missed something. What is the point of placing an opinion on an open forum if you are not willing to accept contrarian opinions or even willingly accept other peoples ideas on how to make the hobby more affordable?
NP2626 If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
You did, and you can. The thread getting locked was not aimed at you in particular, simply to stop what amounts to a dog chasing its tail. The initiation of the modeliing on a shoestring thread is a very postive result of you expressing your opinion.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
NP2626I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! .. I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder! If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
Re: "wet behind the ears: I think if you were to take a poll, you'd find quite a few of the members here are as old or older than you, and many more not much younger. You know what they say about assumptions...
simon1966 I thought you got a lot of good constructive ideas to address your concern. Other than the groans of "here we go again" as yet another "this hobby is getting too expensive" thread started up. I don't recall any hostility or accusations of flame wars? Must have missed something. What is the point of placing an opinion on an open forum if you are not willing to accept contrarian opinions or even willingly accept other peoples ideas on how to make the hobby more affordable?
Agee'd. I think this is a good topic and many feeling the pinch can benefit!
Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
My Blog
I live on a shoestring budget all the time. I buy cheap cars to experiment on all the time. This lets me perfect my techniques. Here are 2 pictures if identical cars that I paid $2.99 each for. The are both lower end Bachmann.
and
I buy 2 to 6 cars like this at a time and just work with them. Before Lifelike sold to Walthers I bought them for $1.99 so I have several of the same road number. You can patch them, change the road number or just leave them alone if you do not care.
And here is a Bachmann Plasticville ranch house that I paid $1 for out of KB Toys clearance bin!
There are ways to keep cost down if you look hard enough. I have given up on keeping up with the Jones. Another thing is using Athearn dummies in you consist instead of powered locos. No extra decoder, no power requirement. My trains are all really short and it is just like hauling around another car.
I buy cheap DC locos at train shows to do a number of things like cleaning track, testing cars to see how the connect and roll. Some of them get lots of time just running rolling stock around in a circle while I read. I bought an AHM C-Liner for $2 and it is now my main test engine. I use it to look for rough spots in the track.
I do spend good money on the things I determine deserve it. I have 10 Proto 2000 E Units. Half the fun is seeing what you can do with what you can get on the cheap.
RMax
NP2626 High prices of decent Locomotives High prices of decent Locomotives The High prices of decent Locomotives. Wow! Give an opinion that some people disagree with and I'm accused of drive-by flame wars! What a load of GARBAGE! I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! Simply put, I want the hobby to be the way I want it to be and I see absolutely nothing wrong with having that opinion, even though that might be considered controversial here in La La Land! I'm having fun with the hobby the way I want it; but, feel it certainly could be better and more affordable and I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder! If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
I was one of the posters who poked some fun at the thread you started. I don't know how long you have been reading the forum, but your topic fell into one of the more common discussions often taking place on this forum. Even after only 600 or so posts, I can see the way certain threads will take off. I can imaging those with a 4 or 5 figure post count get a bit frustrated with some of the repetitiveness of several topics, including how expensive the hobby is now compared with back in the day.
I don't think any real disrespect was intended. Your concern is legitimate.
Great collection of tips and things guys!!
blownout cylinder A sort of split off from the idea of the hobby is expensive comes this thread A number of ideas...one being Industrial Switching layouts. How many locomotives do you need to run this? I have one in my home office...with 4 locomotives...but you can get away with only one.. a few boxcars, flats and such..for a few industries... What other ideas are out there?
The elephant in the room is that there are an awful lot of people for whom mainline high density railroading is the only way to go. It you want to reproduce Sherman Hill in the 1950's (or 60's or 70's......., it's gonna cost money even if prices were to drop by 50% or more.
I was in the UK last month and picked up 3 months worth of Railway Modeler and the July issue of Hornby Magazine (apparently the name is licensed by Hornby and the publisher is not affiliated). Would have picked up more, but these things ran 140 to 160 pages on A9 paper. They're HEAVY.
To the point. Of the 4 magazine issues I schlepped back across the North Atlantic, No fewer than 3 had articles on Great Western Railway themed branch line termini (or the British Railways Western Region 1950's equivalent). Two of the layouts were 8'x2', the other 11x 1'8".. None of the layouts had more than 8 turnouts. Motive power was restricted to small, mostly tank engines (2-6-2T's, 0-6-0T, 0-4-2T, etc. with a Collett 0-6-0 thrown in for variety). The biggest layout was P4 (OO scale with 18.83mm gauge - the correct gauge for the scale) while the other two were HO/OO primarily populated by Bachmann engines. All were straight DC. Quite doable on a budget.
Hornby Magazine, July, 2012. Layout: Much Murkle (GWR in the 30's). Found this YouTube clip which shows most of the layout (there's a cider factory in the right background you can't see): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7fCpwDSzqI
That's the only decent stuff I could find online about any of the 3 above named layouts. Nice layout. Looks reasonably interesting to operate.
GWR or ex-GWR branches aren't the only thing going. In the same issue (May RM) that featured "Woodstowe", on of the GWR branch termini was a diesel era, freight only 8'6"x 1'6" layout called "Millfield Road", pics of which can be seen starting at about 1/2 way down this page: http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5247.
One of the things that distinguishes the British magazines from those over here is that the ratio of small to large layouts featured favors small ones by a large margin. Now I'll admit that the Brits (and even modelers in Continental Europe) have something of an advantage in that their rolling stock tends to be smaller than ours, especially the farther back you go. In the steam era, a lot of rail systems outside North America used a variety of tank engines (the Germans even had some fairly sizeable 2-10-2T's).
Want a small layout? There's always the overseas option (Britain or otherwise). British outline would probably be cheaper than anything from the Continent. Both Bachmann and Hornby have a wide range of products and more and more of them are using the NEM coupler pocket which means you can use the Kadees which are designed for that pocket. You can get a GWR 45xx small Praire tank for the equivalent of just under $100. from Hatton's in Liverpool (they have 4 in stock - BR lined green with the late crest). You won't have to pay the VAT, which would knock the price down to about $84, but air-shipping it costs about what you would pay in VAT, so it's a wash. Even so, $100 isn't a bad price.
Don't want to cross the pond? How about an American branch terminus, like say Rockland, Maine around 1950? Four passenger trains in each direction every day. Through Pullman service from Boston in the summers. Light Pacifics for power pulling 4-5 car trains. Then there's SP 's Clovis Branch: http://www.spmogul.com/ using steam (mostly 2-6-0's) well into the 1950's. Andy Sperandeo did a track plan for Santa Fe's San Jacinto Branch around 1980. Steam era would have used 1950 class 2-8-0's (probably the most numerous loco ever produced by PFM and usually easily available at reasonable prices). A couple of GP7's from Athearn would take care of the diesel era.
Maine Central's Bucksport Branch serving a large paper mill would be doable in a relatively small space. In the 70's, the trains were usually handled by a trio of MU'd SW9's. Today they use whatever PanAm Railways has available. Most of the paper mill could be flats and/or part of the painted backdrop.
Here's another one. Bangor & Aroostook Searsport branch in the 70's. They used to ship potatoes out of Searsport to Europe and there's a sizeable oil terminal there. In the 70's, you could see F3's, GP7's and BL2's . Just down US 1 in Belfast, there was the Belfast & Moosehead Lake. After about 1946, they used GE 70 tonners, before that ex-BAR 4-6-0's. You could use either a couple of Bachman 70 tonners or a couple of 63" driver Bachmann 4-6-0's. The B&ML also ran a mixed train to Burnham Junction using old wooden passenger cars resembling the old Ambroid wood B&M coach and baggage.
Of course, if you've got some change in your pocket, you could get a brass model of an N&W M class 4-8-0 and do some section of N&W's Abingdon Branch. It wouldn't be all that expensive. You'd only need a single engine. Y
Andre
blownout cylinder Great collection of tips and things guys!!
And the pictures of actual projects using budget materials or techniques are very enlightening.
andrechapelon One of the things that distinguishes the British magazines from those over here is that the ratio of small to large layouts featured favors small ones by a large margin.
One of the things that distinguishes the British magazines from those over here is that the ratio of small to large layouts featured favors small ones by a large margin.
Andre, the printed magazine simply reflects the reality that very few people in the UK have room for anything large. An attic layout, or a garden shed converted for the hobby is about as big a space as anyone has. There are very few basements, and even if there were, the sq footage would be much smaller. Train-shows tend to be populated by small modular point to point layouts with highly detailed scenic areas and hidden fiddle yards on one end or both. Through necessity folks tend to model branch-lines as it is hard to do justice to a mainline passenger terminus like Kings Cross or Paddington on a small board. Not to say that budget is not a constraint in the UK, but the greatest constraint by far is space.
NP2626 The High prices of decent Locomotives. Wow! Give an opinion that some people disagree with and I'm accused of drive-by flame wars! What a load of GARBAGE! I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! Simply put, I want the hobby to be the way I want it to be and I see absolutely nothing wrong with having that opinion, even though that might be considered controversial here in La La Land! I'm having fun with the hobby the way I want it; but, feel it certainly could be better and more affordable and I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder! If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
The High prices of decent Locomotives.
I wish I was retiring, then all I would have to worry about is stuff like this.
There are many "seasoned" people here with vast experience in many things outside of the hobby, your not the only one around that is a self made man, so you might want to throttle down on the ego trip a little bit.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
RMax1 I live on a shoestring budget all the time. I buy cheap cars to experiment on all the time. This lets me perfect my techniques. Here are 2 pictures if identical cars that I paid $2.99 each for. The are both lower end Bachmann. RMax
This is a bit OT but not entirely since those Swift reefers (I think mine was a Tyco swap meet special) are more than decent models. The OT part is that years ago Swift donated just such a car to the Illinois Railroad Museum. When a few years later during a grain rush either the BN or C&NW badly needed cars for grain and they borrowed (leased) the Museum's Swift reefer temporarily, since it had been donated in full running order and still met interchange service.
My point I guess is that these very common, inexpensive, and decent looking cars played more than one role.
Got this neat vinyl plastic warped indetrminate-scale log cabin toy with no roof for ten cents at a garage sale. Made roof from used tinfoil.
It was warped out of shape so I stuck popsickle sticks inside it, corner to corner, to square it up.
It is fun turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Here is a FREE N scale building for you-- free in price and inexpensive in space.
print, cut out, cut out gray door opening, glue on heavy cardboard.
This is the image of the interior to be slightly seen through open door.
Here's how it goes together.
Well you do need a soda straw or something for the stacks...
And this is how it looks when all put together.
Hope you enjoy this on your layout.
riogrande5761 NP2626: I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! .. I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder! If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it! Re: "wet behind the ears: I think if you were to take a poll, you'd find quite a few of the members here are as old or older than you, and many more not much younger. You know what they say about assumptions... simon1966: I thought you got a lot of good constructive ideas to address your concern. Other than the groans of "here we go again" as yet another "this hobby is getting too expensive" thread started up. I don't recall any hostility or accusations of flame wars? Must have missed something. What is the point of placing an opinion on an open forum if you are not willing to accept contrarian opinions or even willingly accept other peoples ideas on how to make the hobby more affordable? Agee'd. I think this is a good topic and many feeling the pinch can benefit!
NP2626: I'm 62, been involved in the modeling hobbies longer than most of you have been alive! .. I really don't need to listen to a bunch of wet behind the ear one- worlders-super-kinder! If I can't express my opinion on a Forum, than I feel that forum isn't worth much, so the powers that be, can ban me from here if that's how they want to play it!
simon1966: I thought you got a lot of good constructive ideas to address your concern. Other than the groans of "here we go again" as yet another "this hobby is getting too expensive" thread started up. I don't recall any hostility or accusations of flame wars? Must have missed something. What is the point of placing an opinion on an open forum if you are not willing to accept contrarian opinions or even willingly accept other peoples ideas on how to make the hobby more affordable?
Not any younger? I am 14.
Samuel A. Kelly
I can draw pictures with my keyboard!
-------- ( It's a worm)