i recentley started my HO railroad, which consists of 2 amtrak mail cars and 1 F40PH. I also have a p42dc, but the couplers need to be fixed. Any tips on anything? How can i find a certaint model i want? How can i fix ho size couplers If the knuckle fell off? How can i find the creator of a model if idont see there name, etc.
One of the only railfans who gives a crap about the MMA, despite not living IN the northeast.
Big Tip-- Go to the Model Railroader Forum !!
Yeah the Model Railroading Forum is better. To answer that question would take a little back and forth. I just got started again after leaving the hobby in 1988. DCC makes it a little more challenging with setup but also fixes a lot of issues with shorts and reverse loops from the 1980's. Also, beware, most newer cars choke on 22 in radius back in the 1980's it was only an issue with some cars.
Hello there,
A couple of links that might be of use to you...
http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=5310&forum_id=149
and
http://xdford.freeasphost.net/stag16.html.
If you care to PM me with your private email, I have a couple of articles that may be of use to you but bear reading anyway. The Your Model Railway Site although mainly British has a lot of input from many modellers and you could learn a lot from just reading the different pages...
Enjoy the Model Railroading Journey and see if you can define your questions a bit better rather than the can of worms you could have opened! The help will be there!
Cheers
Trevor
to the forum, I suspect you posted somewhere else in the Kalmbach Empire and they moved your post there, possible without telling you.
Any tips is too vague. Many of us have been modeling for decades, and while we could type pages about what we know, most of us are not going to do that. Make the title of your post specific as you can. Give us as many details as you can.
A coupler needs fixed, might mean it uncouples unexpectedly, it's too high, too low, you dropped it and the knuckle spring went flying.
A certain model...current production, out of production? We need more to go on.
Eventually you are going to want to show us a picture, either because you have a question, or you want to show us something. There is a sticky that tells you how to do it, it is not like other forums.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Welcome to the forum!
Model railroaders have an association called the NMRA. It has an excellent Website with info for those who are new to the hobby (https://www.nmra.org/).
Good books are available from Kalmbach publishing, that can be found on this site. For purchasing equipment, apart from your local hobby shop, you can shop online either for new stuff, or through Ebay. If you do searches on this site, you will find some advice on how to do this. Here is one thread about buying on Ebay :
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/248509.aspx
If you need to replace a coupler, the best is the Kadee coupler. The Kadee website is a good reference to find what you need.
You did the right thing by getting a loco and some track. That's how it starts...
Don't hesitate to ask questions here.
Simon
snjroy You did the right thing by getting a loco and some track. That's how it starts...
Yep. Welcome to the wonderful world of model railroading.
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -Lin Yutang
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ThamasTehTrainAny tips on anything?
Move your mouse right over the black banner in the header at the top of this page.
Click on the "Get Started" menu and read away.
Later move to the "How To" menu and fill in the blanks.
Good Luck and
Cheers, Ed
Welcome aboard! No two people starr in this hobby or approach it the same way. With many having decades of experience, expect a dizzying amount of information. You can easily suffer from analysis paralysis! Of course read but not to the point where you get confused or lose sight of what you want from the hobby.
Techniques people develop over time often requires a lot of learning. Learning is part of the fun with this hobby. You also can expect some frustration with every aspect. I've had plenty of crow; dessert is often a healthy serving of humble pie.
Before jumping in, I suggest finding a local NMRA club or hobby shop. Those two great resources can provide a lot of suggestions. You might also find a mentor who can answer questions far faster than online.
gmpullmanClick on the "Get Started" menu and read away. Later move to the "How To" menu and fill in the blanks.
I had to check that out.
I think it is a great place to start, and another good resource. I forget about all the stuff in that banner, all hidden in plane sight!
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewi I forget about all the stuff in that banner, all hidden in plane sight!
There really IS some helpful ideas and information there. Some of it in .pdf formats you can print and read like people used to do before smartphones
ThamasTehTrain i recentley started my HO railroad, which consists of 2 amtrak mail cars and 1 F40PH. I also have a p42dc, but the couplers need to be fixed. Any tips on anything? How can i find a certaint model i want? How can i fix ho size couplers If the knuckle fell off? How can i find the creator of a model if idont see there name, etc.
There are two ways to identify models using the internet. One way is to use a search engine's image search like google images. The other way is to use eBay. Simply search for the item with as much information as possible. Many items are only made by one manufacturer. However sometimes more than one company makes the same item. If so they almost never use the same road numbers. Your Amtrak P42 is likely an Athearn model. If so you can replace the broken couplers with Kadee #148 couplers. Your F40PH is most likely to be a Walthers model, but these are only guesses since I can't see them. The rail cars I'm not sure if you mean Railroad Post Office (RPO) cars or if you are talking about material handling cars or express boxcars. If they are material handling cars or express boxcars they are probably Walthers also. Anyway like I said above the best way to identify your models is to find them on eBay. However sometimes eBay sellers misidentify items so make sure you find more than one reference.
Athearn P42 also known as AMD-103
Walthers express boxcar
Walthers F40PH
Along with all the good advice your getting, may I add that you need to find a photo hosting site that you, like to put pictures in.
Then go read the locked sticky note at the start of the General Discussion forum, on how to post pictures in here.
We all will be able to help you a whole lot more if you post pictures.
Since you will be doing a lot of searching and people giving you links, organize your bookmarks to track all your links. You will accumulate many. I back up my list every so often but I think FF does that now.
I have been searching for over eight years and still have trouble remembering many of my links.
I use Google and Dogpile for searching, mostly Google.
You can find a lot by searching with the correct words.
Store data on the Cloud or an external hard drive or flash drive. The Cloud is nice because you can access your data from anywhere.
I have a 1 TB external for data. You have no idea what it is like to have a laptop PC hard drive fail.
I use to use Photo Bucket until they wanted to charge so I dumped them. Still have all the photos.
Someone just mentioned a photo hosting site doing something different now. The discussion is nearby. It is imgBB.
Good luck.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
The f40ph is actually bachman
Bachmann Spectrum?
It just said bachman on the bottm of the F40PH