After more than 20 years...

[Anonymous]

...I'm getting back into model railroading.

My grandpa had an impressive N scale layout when I was a kid. It was probably close to 12' x 20'. I remember playing for hours with that thing. And then I got my own HO scale set for Christmas one year. It was nothing fancy, just a simple figure 8 with a bridge. My dad bought all kinds of stuff and was going to turn that spare bedroom into a nice train room for me. But then my little sister came along.

Now I have a son who loves trains. A lot of that old stuff has survived over the years, and this weekend I went to mom and dad's and set up the old figure 8. Dad even dug up some old magazines, some from as far back as 1951. I spent most of the day looking at 4x6 layouts, trying to find something I could manage. It was a lot of fun getting back into this hobby, and I'm looking forward to getting started. I have a few questions, and I was hoping someone could help me:

1) Is there some sort of software download to design your own layouts? If not, can you direct me to a good site that has 4x6 layouts?

2) I'm looking for a brand(s) of freight cars and locos that have a lot of detail, probably even something model-like that I can assemble. Don't worry about my skill level of assembly, I'm more concerned with realism, but I don't want to spend a ton of cash either.

[Eriediamond]

Check out www.atlasrr.com. You'll find it very interesting for what your trying to do. They have track plans and I think a track planning program. Ken Also, welcome aboard!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

[#ditto][#welcome] as far as rolling stock ll p2k has a very good line of car kits,with great add on detail brake ,grab iorns,stirups there tank cars require a good bit of effort but is well rewarded in the end result.Branchline blueprint series as well as intermountain also make very detailed kits.If yo u want to build your own loco Bowser comes to mind and I am not sure of others besides older Carry kits I have seen on E-bay.Good luck Terry.

[Anonymous]

Check out product availability (,1000 + pages) through Walthers HO reference(catalog)book.
It doesn't include all the manufacturers(Athearn being the biggest) There are approx.
15 loco manufacturers and many more for rolling stock.
There are chevies, fords, chryslers, cadilacs, carmy,lexus and LEMONS.

Remember, in a nut shell, it's what's under the shell that counts.

Nickel silver track has replaced brass. Metal wheels have replaced plastic, knuckle
couplers replaced horn hook. DCC is slowing replacing DC.

Product availability & all these upgrades will be overwhelming so if you want to"save a
ton of cash" use your round trip pass and come on back & post you intentions before
you part with that hard earned cash.

[simon1966]

The Accurail line of freight cars are inexpensive and quite well detailed, yet simple to assemble. If you are planning to get your son involved in the assembly, they might be a good starting point.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link to the Atlas page and RightTrack 5.0. They've both been a big help! As far as the layout goes, I'm having trouble finding something that has everything I want. I'm really limited on space, which is a problem.

I have a lot of HO track, but 90% of it is brass. I would want all the track to be the same, so I'm going to end up replacing it all anyway. The kit that I got when I was a kid was from Bachman. It's pretty much a toy quality RTR kit, and not really what I would want. It's nice because I can spend a little time to lay some track, put an engine on it, and run.

I guess I'm mostly basing all of this off of the existing equipment I have. If I didn't have all that stuff, I would probably lean more towards N scale because of my space issues. I guess if I'm planning on replacing everything I have eventually anyway, maybe I should look harder in that direction and just start from scratch.

[fiatfan]

First off, [#welcome] back!

Here's a link to the NMRA beginners page http://www.nmra.org/#beginner . It will provide you with more information. If you are just getting started and have limited space, you may want to take a look at N scale. You can do a lot more in a smaller space. The trade off, of course, is the amount of detail. N is where HO was 20 years ago but is definitely improving.

Another great source of information is this forum. Here you will find people wh are extremely knowledgeable and very generous with their help.

Again, welcome back to you and your son!

Tom

[Anonymous]

Then take a look at the Walthers N scale reference book, 400 + pages. Kato, a premier manufacturer, I believe
has just released the CZ passenger train. N is definately but slowly catching up. It deserves your serious
evaluation.

[Anonymous]

After yet another day of mulling this over, I'm leaning more towards starting from scratch, and going with N scale. Here's what I took into consideration:

I'm going to be 30 yrs old in 6 months. I've loved trains since I was a kid, and always enjoyed playing with my grandfather's. I even remember going to a few railyards just to see real trains up close. I've also always enjoyed modeling. Things just progressed from Legos, to model cars as a pre-teen, to R/C cars, etc. My son just turned 3, and would be happy to sit and watch something just run in a simple oval at this point.

I'm not a homeowner, so space/portability is an issue. A 4x6 or 4x8 layout is going to be all I can do at this point in my life. Most likely, the layout would have to be folded down and stored when not in use, or at least be moveable. I am also not financially able to hand over a lot of money at once. I want this to be a hobby for me, and be able to continually add/improve my layout, possibly even add another 4x6 section one day.

While HO probably has the most availabilty, I just can't do what I want in the amount of space I have. I think with N scale, I will be able to have everything I want in a layout without the feeling of clutter. Ideally, I would want an unlimited budget with a football stadium in which to build...but that's beside the point. I've narrowed my list down to a few things that feel like a "must have" in order for this to feel like a layout:

1) Two continuous loops, with the ability to run two trains.
2) A small yard. I don't need to hold 180 cars or anything, just the feel that it's there and serves a purpose.
3) Industrial and residential areas along with some countryside for scenery.

[grayfox1119]

[#welcome] Cyb0rg!!!! Another source to add to your growing list from the threads above is of course the enet to find just about any company or product that you may be interested in. Just do a Google search on the web by typing in......Model Railroading and stand back!!![:O][swg] I was completely overwhelmed the first time that I did a search under Model Railroading. Get ready to add a ton of things to your "Favorites".

***