Midnight,
My thought for TZ was to make his initial transition into MRRing a little less formidable for him. Since we don't know his abilities (or capabilities) yet, sectional curves are easier to put together and, more importantly, rearrange.
I'm not saying that TZ can't nor shouldn't use flex-track on his layout. My point is, until TZ locks down his layout and track design first, using flex-track only makes things more complicated. TZ can still play around with it on the straight sections of his layout - bending it and curving it slightly to get a feel for it.
Midnight, we shouldn't assume that everyone is on the same skill or patience level - even when just starting out. It would be a shame to give TZ so much to learn upfront that we either frustrate him or throw a bucket of water on his enthusiasm. That's not to say he can't learn nor doesn't have the capacity to learn. I'm just being conservative since I don't know where TZ's skills are at.
Does that make sense?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage wrote: Does that make sense? Tom
I hear ya'. I'm a avid kit builder and supporter (now enthusiastic kitbasher and scratch-builder) and only buy RTR if I only absolutely have to. To me, it's sad to see more and more RTR and less and less kits on the market.
With that said, however, I do understand that not everyone has the patience nor ability to put kits together and that RTR does have it's nitch and purpose in the MRRing market. It appears that that nitch is getting progressively larger, as time goes by.
tstage wrote:Midnight, My thought for TZ was to make his initial transition into MRRing a little less formidable for him. Since we don't know his abilities (or capabilities) yet, sectional curves are easier to put together and, more importantly, rearrange.I'm not saying that TZ can't nor shouldn't use flex-track on his layout. My point is, until TZ locks down his layout and track design first, using flex-track only makes things more complicated. TZ can still play around with it on the straight sections of his layout - bending it and curving it slightly to get a feel for it. Midnight, we shouldn't assume that everyone is on the same skill or patience level - even when just starting out. It would be a shame to give TZ so much to learn upfront that we either frustrate him or throw a bucket of water on his enthusiasm. That's not to say he can't learn nor doesn't have the capacity to learn. I'm just being conservative since I don't know where TZ's skills are at.Does that make sense? Tom
Tom, you said it in a much nicer and gentler way than I could.
Joe
Welcom to the forums and to the hobby TZ!
Sidenote - He's going to be a bit tricky to differentiate from Texas Zephyr if we keep calling him TZ.
A word of caution to you about Tom (tstage) - if you aren't careful, he'll start slipping in pics of his own NYC equipment (along with comments about how amazingly smooth said engine is at slow speed), and drag you kicking and screaming into modelling the NYC. I know this from experience. I will admit however that I was on the fence between the PRR & NYC at the time..
However, he is, as (most) everyone else is a really great help for some information. Probably even moreso in the "just starting out" area, as he pretty much just started again in 2002(ish). Don't get discouraged if people tell you not to do something in a stand-offish manner - it's getting near spring (or at least I think so, never really can tell in Cleveland, OH) and many of the guys here are starting to get really bad cases of cabin fever. Most of the time they really do mean well, they just say it in a way that probably could have come out better.
Anyway, as for advice on starting the basement (or livingroom, bedroom, or whichever room) empire - start small! I'm in college, so my money prospects are probably as bad as, if not worse than, yours. What I've found (as others have stated already) is that going to trainshows is a great way to pick up new equipment. Ebay works too, but you have to know the value of the item in question and set a rigid limit on what you'll pay so you don't get caught up in a bidding war. Best way to get things I've found is to get 1, maybe 2 cars (in my case kits) every few months, with a new loco thrown in there when funds allow (ie loco in favor of 4-6 cars). You'll have that empire soon enough
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
NSlover92 wrote:But a steamer is pretty expennsive and buying while building a layout will be a hard thing to do money wise, well it is for me.
Michael,
It can be, but not if you know where to find the bargains. That $80 for the Proto 2000 0-8-0 that I mentioned earlier is a steal and probably one of the nicest running (as well as looking) steamers you'll find on the market.
Early diesels look cool and everything, I have a EMD GP-35, Fairbanks and Morse H16-44, and EMD F3A.
Agreed. Early diesel is pretty cool. I have a few S1s, a VO-660, and an FT. The former is a Proto 2000. The latter are both Stewart locomotives. Each one of them runs very smoothly. The S1s can be picked up for as little as $29.99 from either Trainworld.com or M.B. Klein.
tstage wrote: NSlover92 wrote:But a steamer is pretty expennsive and buying while building a layout will be a hard thing to do money wise, well it is for me.Michael, It can be, but not if you know where to find the bargains. That $80 for the Proto 2000 0-8-0 that I mentioned earlier is a steal and probably one of the nicest running steamers you'll find on the market.
It can be, but not if you know where to find the bargains. That $80 for the Proto 2000 0-8-0 that I mentioned earlier is a steal and probably one of the nicest running steamers you'll find on the market.
I agree with both of you... sort of. I can pick up a (Spectrum) diesel for ~$160 (DC Only). A (Spectrum) Steamer is ~$250 (DCC w/ sound). I just grabbed random locomotives, so there is definitely a spread of prices for the locomotives - and I'm sort of comparing apples to oranges with the two different locomotives (DC vs DCC). However, if I found a DCC/Sound diesel, it would probably cost about as much as the steamer did.
My vote is that you should grab a steamer if you want one. Sure it might cause you to be (slightly) set back as far as track or cars or something else that you may have spend the money on, BUT you have a loco that you really wanted, not something you settled for.
Having recently been a noob myself (and still a lot to learn!) I agree with TStage on sectional track for your curves. My rationale is twofold: 1. It's too easy to kink the joints and too easy to make your radii too tight. One of the biggest turnoffs for all of us are derailments' and it takes some skill and practice to do the flextrack right. 2. You're likely to redo your first layout 4-5 times, as you learn what works, what doesn't and what you really want. I find it frustrating to cut and solder flextrack, only to pull it up again. That being said, flextract is great for straights and for broad, sweeping curves (which don't really fit on a 4x8. Try to use 22" radius curves on your mainline, and 18" curves only on sidings. Don't even bother with the 15" curves - they are too tight.
You might consider the foam insulation board option. 1" blue or pink foam board glued to 5/8" plywood (or just laid on an available table) is a good start. Avoid the white beadboard, it's too flimsy. With a foam base, you can easily spike down your track, run trains, then pull up the track and try another configuration. Eventually you will want cork roadbed under your track, but until you figure out just what your layout configuration will be, you can just spike the track directly to the foam.
You might want to look at e-Bay for used Atlas track. There's tons of it out there and it can be purchased for a fraction of the price of new. You can often find people selling large lots of track, including turnouts. Get nickel silver track (not brass), and sitck with one track code (rail height). Code 83 track looks more realistic, but there's a lot more code 100 track out there, and you can get it really cheap!
Lastly, stick with short cars (40' or 50') and short locomotives. Streamlined passenger cars and 89' auto racks look great, but don't work well on a 4x8. Good luck, and have fun!