Hello:
I'm sure, by now, you have read the replies. As mentioned, it could be overwhelming with so much well intended and very sound advice from experienced "train people".
Here's my :
Like all hobbies, as great as it is, one can easily spend a lot of $. (I would suggest that you just keep that in mind)
That being said, think about what you would like to accomplish.
Do you want to be a serious "modeler" or do you want to take a more casual approach ie. a layout that allows you to run a train and just enjoy watching it travel over the track in and out of scenic props?
Also, think about the space available and location for the layout.
Reading publications and viewing videos were excellent suggestions. Try not to get too involved with the deeper technical information (at least not for now).
Some mentioned that it would be a good idea to talk to your local hobby shop people (not too many around like there used to be) or attend train shows. I agree.
N scale lets you do a lot in a smaller space. HO worked great for me for over fifty years but I'm now "into" O (easier on this older body).
This is a great hobby.
Don't get discouraged if things don't go right at first. They will.
Ask questions. These guys and gals are fantastic and love to share their experience and knowledge.
Mostly, start slowly and enjoy the hobby. Wish you the very best.
Model Railroader used to say, "Dream, Plan, Build." The slogan has faded, but it's still a good one.
I used to dream of subways, real, nighttime dreams, recollections from my youth in New York. I really wanted a subway layout, or at least subways on or under my layout. When I was ready, so was the hobby. I found subway trains availalable, and bought them.
Then I started to plan. I found a couple of computer programs to help me create track plans. I spent so much time at this that I developed "analysis paralysis," the inability to get started. Finally, I went to Home Depot and bought lumber and pink foam.
Next is build. I found it helpful to lay things out on the floor, using pieces of paper for building footprints and roads. See what works and what really doesn't fit. I still have buildings in the basement workshop that didn't fit, 14 years later. Oh, well. Don't buy too much or too soon. But, don't worry much if you do. We've all been there, done that.
The rest you'll fill in as you go.
And welcome aboard.
By the way, I don't have subway dreams anymore.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
BigDaddy Not even a thank you from the OP. Have we been had?
Not even a thank you from the OP. Have we been had?
I bet he's just trying to process all the answers. Plus he may not spend as much time on model railroading as some on this forum do. He might just pop in to visit every so often. Plus, he did say thank you in advance in his first post.
Alan
Bubbytrains
BigDaddyHave we been had?
.
We might have overwhelmed him with long answers to a simple question, or maybe his response just has not been approved by the moderators yet.
I hope he will chime in again.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
OldEngineman So, spend the $$$ now and be done with it. After looking at "the obvious choices"
You do not need to spend $$$ for DCC equipment. Tons of DCC second-hand command station bargains can be found on Ebay. Second, (I do not know if this is common in the US) you can pick up a DCC starter kit. It usually contains the DCC equipment and a train set of regular quality, not the starter kit toys, and a track set of course. The Roco/Fleischmann z21 is also a clever way to go. Using a smart phone/tablet as a throttle reduces the cost of the hardware. Third, if you are an electronic freak you may build your own DCC command station around an Arduino for maybe less than 20$. Check Youtube, Instructables, Arduino community and other internet forums and you will find a flood of information on how to do it, from the very basic steps to just download a code and run. Speaking of Arduino, you can add wonders and cut the costs in the layout by learning and using Arduino (or any other Microcontroller) to control servos, lights, turnouts, train detection,...etc...etc. Subscribe to Rudy's blog:https://rudysmodelrailway.wordpress.com/He has always fantastic ideas how to make things in MRR effective and low cost.Regards
Walid
railXplorerHi everyone. I am new to model railroading. I want to use the "N" scale. I bought a few structures but didn't start yet. What should be my first steps into this hobby?
Maybe my "Just Build Something" post could have been better.
I see that the pick and choose train set seems to be the most popular advice... here is what I can say:
1) Since you are interested in N scale, go with Kato Unitrack. I use it in HO, and it is wonderful. The Kato powerpack hooks up easily, and it is very well made and reliable.
2) Grab a nice looking 4 axle diesel preferably also made by Kato.
3) Get an assortment of Micro-Trains brand freight cars.
That is all you need to start having fun, and it is all easy to find good looking stuff.
Then build something and have fun!
Tinplate ToddlerI am just glad that I am not a beginner seeking advice anymore! All that well meant advice we have dumped onto the poor OP has probably scared him off for good by now.
<--guilty as charged
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I'm going to go against the grain here a little.
First of all, rather than spending a bunch of money buying books use the Internet. As previously mentioned, NMRA has a good getting started section, and you will find others as well. But as soon as you get a notion of what is involved, turn to YouTube. There you will get tons of videos that will show how to do each of the things you have learned about. Morever, you will see people struggling with the process.
Take track-laying, perhaps the most critical skill you can learn right of the bat. There is nothing more off-putting and discouraging than having to rerail a train everytime it makes a loop. Now there are a lot of ways of laying track and getting it right. On YouTube you may see 5-10 different methods of laying track. If you watch them, you might think "I can do that" or "that looks difficult." A book will only tell you one way. If you see a lot of different ways, you can choose the way that feels comfortable--which may be a hybrid of several methods.
That said, there are quite a few model railroad start to finish videos. Watch a couple. They may be a series that last 10 or more hours. But it will show you step, by step what you are getting into. Now I wouldn't take anything you see as gospel. There's as many ways of skinning a cat as there are cats.
There is a place for books, like the previously mentioned, must read, Track Planning for Realistic Operation, by John Armstrong. But without a couple years experience, it will probably seem like gobbledy-gook. This is a good I'm-about-to-start-my-second-layout book.
If you are healed like Bill Gates this won't matter, but at this point you don't know enough to spend a lot of money on locomotives and equipment. Reading won't solve this part, it takes experience. As you operate on your layout, you will discover things you like and things you don't like. Your preferences will grow and change as you go along. It is very likely that the equipment you purchased for your beginner layout will not be appropriate for your "real" layout.
For this reason, I suggest joining a local train club. There you will be exposed to a lot of different modelers whose preferences range from watching trains running through pristine scenery, to those who enjoy the mental challenges of prototypical operation. More importantly, you can experience this diversity on you own as run on the club layout.
I am just glad that I am not a beginner seeking advice anymore! All that well meant advice we have dumped onto the poor OP has probably scared him off for good by now.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
The big kick in model railroading comes from actually seeing your trains running. You can always improve things, make the layout bigger, add fancy electronics, scenery, structures, a whole bunch of stuff as time goes on. Nothing is set in concrete, you can always change things.
Unless you are young enough and flexible enough to enjoy carpet running, you need benchwork to get the track off the floor. Which means you need space somewhere, basement, garage, spare bedroom, attic, somewhere. If you are married, you need to negotiate space with your wife.
The simplist benchwork is a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood with a 4 by 8 sheet of Homasote laid on top. Set on saw horses or those two drawer file cabinets, or anything about table top height. The Homasote takes the tracknails well and deadens the sound. If your carpentry skills are reasonable, an around the walls layout will get you more railroad into the same space. But plenty of us have built 4 by 8's. You do need to get John Armstrong's book, Track Planning for Realistic Operation.
With some bench work up, lay some track. Sectional track is good to start with, because it's easy to change the track plan, just pull up the track nails, re arrange the track and go for it. Flex track is good but it's a more permanent kind of installation.
You can buy a train set, which has locomotive, power pack, cars, and track all in one box. Or you can buy everything separately. The buy separately option will get you nicer stuff than most train sets come with, but it's not mandatory, the train set stuff is good enough to get started with.
Take a subscription to Model Railroader. Check out your town library for railroad books. Go to a train show nearby.
Traditional DC locomotives and DC power packs work just fine. The Digital Command Control (DCC) allows multiple operators independent control of their trains running on the same track. It's great if you plan to have multiple operators, but if you are building a home layout of which you are the only operator, DCC is overkill. DCC requires a $35 decoder installed inside every locomotive. In N scale, fitting the decoders into the locomotives is harder than in HO scale.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
railXplorer What should be my first steps into this hobby?
What should be my first steps into this hobby?
1- Estimate your financial limit (A silly joke, I know ).
1.a- Get Wife's permission
2- Estimate the available space for the hobby.
2.a- Get Wife's permission
3- Define your area of interest (time period/era, location, favourite rail company,etc...etc...).
4-Based on the above, choose the scale (I see you have already done), theme, etc...
5-Plan your layout: modest, feasible plans are 100 times better than a never ending project. Bear in mind huge club layout are the work of a group for years. You as a single individual can hardly beat them. You cannot imagine how many details can go in a small layout.
6-Go to 5
7-When you are finished with 6, Go to 5
8-Hobby is fun. Therefore, by all means, try to avoid sliding in the collector and/or revet counter categories. You will never have the chance to enjoy your models because you will die young and your lovely collection will be given away on Ebay and flea markets for peanuts.
9-Bear in mind your MRR empire will be neither realistic enough nor perfect enough. Accept to live with compromises.
10-We are in the 21st century, not in the 198X. Hence, start with DCC, at least in mind.
11- Although less critical in N-scale, modern trains with long passenger cars are somewhat a problem in MRR. They look awful in small alyouts and more awful in tight curves. As a role of thumb the exposed track should be at lease three times as the longest train. Try to choose a theme that involves short trains with short cars if you can.
12-Go ahead and buy your first model and have fun with it.
Regards
Agree with Steven. Gain information. Use the internet, books and hobby shops. Give thought about what you think you want to do (that could change over time). Some guys buy locos and rolling stock because of the way the trains look. Other guys, will buy locos and rolling stock from a railroad, or railroads, they are interested in, do to where they live or whatever interests them. For instance I have always liked the eastern railroads, so I model the PRR, Lehigh Valley, and Reading. Being born in the late 30's I chose the Transition era, 1940's thru late 50,s. Giving some thought early on can help determine your purchases. It ain't rocket science. The more informed you become the more confident you will become.
If there is no hobby shop close by, I mean a real one, a train set can be cheaper (due to shipping and handling costs). But if you have a real train hobby shop that is close to your home, get the owner to assemble a set for you, with the Road name of your choice, etc. Check prices first on the Web (e.g. model train stuff.com), and don't forget to add delivery costs in the math. On the plus side of a train set is that it gets things running quickly. And you can always test your painting skills later on the cheaper rolling stock if you go with higher end stuff later. I honed my weathering skills on train-set cars before trying it on expensive rolling stock.... Enjoy!
Simon
One thing no one has mentioned is train shows. If you look at a site like Trainshows.com you could see if there are any in your area. Some like the Greenberg shows are kinda like giant flea markets for trains and toys others like the National Train Show are more hobby centric but either type is a good way to meet other hobbyists exchange ideas and see operations in action.
Joe Staten Island West
RideOnRoadMr. Otte, I hate to do this, but I am going to have to respectfully disagree. While it is true that some starter sets are low to mid-quality components, some are collections of exactly the same higher-end components that you would get if you bought them separately. (This is the case with the Kato sets.)
I'm going to support Mr. Otte on his recommendation - sure you can get better starter sets in recent years than years of yor, but if it is a complete set, then some components such as a power pack are still going to be sub-par. Add to that you get what comes in the set rather than chose what you like. I've seen some better quality sets that look like the got caught in a Star Trek temporal rift and have rolling stock which was selectively pulled from vastly different era's and thrown into a box.
Many past "Christmas" issues of MR magazine have gone the route Steve recommended, to basically cherry pick engine, several freight cars and a caboose (if you model caboose era) and buy Atlas sectional track and usually an MRC power pack for DC operation. KATO Unitrack is another good choice to set up a basic oval and a couple of turnouts. The "pick and choose" set will usually cost more, but long term satisfaction will be greatly increased.
Some of the "better" box sets have been made by KATO, Athearn and Walthers, but it's still better to buy seperate pieces so I'm going to have to respectfully disgree with RideOnRoad.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Hi RailX
All the above is great advice so if I can add to it, I have a couple of free/gratis/ nothing to develop an obligation to articles which I have sent you links via your private messages...
Welcome to the hobby!
Regards from Australia
Trevor
railXplorer Hi everyone. I am new to model railroading. I want to use the "N" scale. I bought a few structures but didn't start yet. What should be my first steps into this hobby? Thanks for your help!
Hi everyone. I am new to model railroading. I want to use the "N" scale. I bought a few structures but didn't start yet.
Thanks for your help!
First off, you're N scale. So there's hope. Welcome to the hobby and the forum.
Second, are there any clubs in your area? Hobby shops? Shows or events where modelers might hang out? Reading is good; watching videos is good; chatting on forums is good. But nothing is as good as real, live, 3D hands-on activity. Clubs and show events are the best place for that. If there're available. Otherwise, you'll just have to go with what you got. You're off to a good start. Going from zero to one is a very big step.
Good luck.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Welcome to model railroading!
I think using N scale is a good choice to start with. It generally takes less space and resources than an equivalent amount in HO and larger scales. Atlas and Kato both make excellent products and have excellent reputations for quality.
They both make N scale starter sets, but it's become hard to find the Atlas Trainman starter sets. Kato N scale starter sets are easy to find, but they are a little pricey.
If you are an EBay user, you can find a variety of discontinued train sets that were made by Micro-Trains years ago. They typically have an Atlas or Kato locomotive, three Micro-Trains cars and a Micro-Trains caboose. All of them equipped with the world-class Micro-Trains knuckle couplers. A loop of track is included.
You can set this up on your kitchen table, and take it down when you are done. When you want something more permanent, a hollow-core door provides a great base for many model railroaders, and it's an alternative to having to build a lot of bench work.
All of my suggestions use a traditional DC power pack to run your N scale trains. Wiring for basic set ups is simple and reliable.
I'm a firm believer in the KISS method for most things, and model railroading is included.
Good luck, and remember, it's supposed to be fun. When it stops being fun (and it happens to many of us from time to time) take a break and go do something else for a while. Eventually the model railroading "bug" will bite again and you will come back refreshed.
Th best advice offered so far is to read.
When I first started out (as a teen in high school), I couldn't afford anything more than a blue box kit or two. In retrospect that was probably a good thing because it forced me to spend my time reading everything I could about model railroading and prototype railroading. I read my brother's MR and RMC magazines cover to cover until the covers came off the staples!
There's no substitute for actually doing something, but it's always good to prepare yourself ahead of time by reading all about it. It won't keep you from making false starts or mistakes, but at least it will give you a better idea of what's available and what your interests are.
when I started as a kid, I bought things that struck my fancy, but today sit in the attic unused.
When I started later life, i had
i would suggest you realize that your first layout will be a learning experience and will be replaced with one more permanent and thought out.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
BubbytrainsMy jaw dropped when I read the comments from Steven Otte.
You had me doubting my own advice, then I looked at modeltrainstuff.com
https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/trains/ready-to-run-train-sets/#sort:calculated_price:desc/filter:custom_scale:N
For $150-250 you get a power pack, track, engine and 3 to 5 cars for an era I am not interested in modeling and a railroad 1000 miles away from me. They could be rivet counter standards, I still wouldn't want them. We don't know anything about the OP's aspiration, maybe it works for him or her.
I am not a newbie and have an advantage over the OP in that I can go to a train show and spot the (HO guy here) KD couplers and the metal wheel sets on a used but appropriately weathered piece of rolling stock and I am not fearful of flextrack or buying a used MRC power pack on Ebay.
Even if I were not experienced, why would I want a Sante Fe or UP train set, if I am an east coast guy that would prefer NSC, B&O, NYC, WM or Reading.
Read as much as you can, and then start small.
mbinsewi The equipment in todays "train sets" have come along way since the early Life Like, Tyco and Bachmann sets that had the pancake style motor. Any of the modern sets, like what Kato, and Athearn offer, the locomotives, cars, and track can be used as the lay out grows. No money thrown away. Mike.
The equipment in todays "train sets" have come along way since the early Life Like, Tyco and Bachmann sets that had the pancake style motor.
Any of the modern sets, like what Kato, and Athearn offer, the locomotives, cars, and track can be used as the lay out grows.
No money thrown away.
Mike.
I couldn't agree more.
My jaw dropped when I read the comments from Steven Otte.
My You Tube
RailXplorer looking at your profile, we don't know if you are 11 or 71. There is nothing wrong with either but the finances are likely vastly different. Neither is the above advice necessarily wrong for either age group. However money matters and if you are a kid, it's likely you are on the low end of discretionary income.
If you are dependent on your parents generosity to finance this hobby, well...as a parent, I've seen my childrens' interest change quickly, as did my own, when I was younger. In that case, buying the best and the greatest might not be ultimately a cost savings.
If you are an adult and the theory is too much to bite off and you should start small, I have this story. I met a guy who was a Civil War collector. I'm not sure why, but he jettisoned that hobby (yes he was a mature adult) and become a BMW motorcycle collector. What you see here is one of the premier BMW collections in the US and it was acquired in 7 years
https://tinyurl.com/y7bajpn4
He is no more an ordinary BMW owner, than Howard Zane is an ordinary model railroader (also one of our forum members) but both of these guys put their pants on one leg at a time, just like me and you and Hillary Angela Merkel (all potential domestic political misunderstanding removed)
Steven OtteCount me in the group who doesn't think a "starter set" is a good place to start. If you're not sure about model trains, a train set isn't going to have enough going for it convince you; if you're serious about the hobby, you'll soon find yourself discarding your inexpensive train set components as being inadequate for you. Either way, the money you spent on the train set ends up being wasted. . .
Mr. Otte, I hate to do this, but I am going to have to respectfully disagree. While it is true that some starter sets are low to mid-quality components, some are collections of exactly the same higher-end components that you would get if you bought them separately. (This is the case with the Kato sets.)
Richard