Hello, everyone -
Being a new participant in these forums, I understand that I need to submit a post, so here it is. I'm hoping to pick up tips and tricks that I haven't kept up with over the years.
Now that I'm retired, I'm looking forward to doing model railroading the right way. My dad made a 4x4 bare-bones HO layout for us kids many years ago, which we enjoyed like little kids always seem to do. Twenty years ago, I did a 4x8 bare-bones HO layout (notice a pattern here?) that never got done quite right. It was 1/2" plywood on a 2x3 frame, with Homasote on top. It weighed a ton and, having no other place to put it, I rigged a pulley system to raise it to the rafters in the unfinished part of the basement. Our current house has no space to put up a permanent layout, but I'm still holding out hope of a portable 4x8 layout, possibly based on a Woodland Scenics layout kit, or something similar. I'm looking forward to finally doing scenery, and will be working with my grandson on some of that (I'm more a technician, he's more an artist).
I will read through the posts and other areas of the site and see what information I can pick up. The last time I looked at the state of the model-railroading art, there wasn't any serious mention of remote controls for trains (at least not in my price range). We'll see how it all works out this time around.
I would appreciate any and all help in getting re-started in this great hobby. Any favorite getting-started books or other references? I want to start weathering and distressing some cheap rolling stock, just to get my feet wet. Any favorite techniques for making hopper cars more realistic? Thanks very much for any help you care to give me. I look forward to being an active participant on the MR site.
Welcome aboard.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
My Train Page My Photobucket Page My YouTube Channel
You may have noticed the post count below your name. You are one a trial period, and if you don't make 140 posts in the next two weeks, your membership will be revoked. Nah, not really. There is no requirement to post; you can read and learn.
I think you have the right idea -- read, read, read. MR magazine is a good choice, as are these forums. Pretty much any book on model railroading will give you some good ideas. Above all, though, resist the urge to run out and buy something. I would advise you to have a pretty good idea where, what, and when you want to model (i.e., Railroad name -- fictional or prototype; location you will model, and what era). Then make deliberate acquisitions that will work on your layout.
Although I favor HO myself, if your space really is limited, N or even Z will give you a lot more layout in the same space. Also, just because plywood comes in 4x8 sheets doesn't mean you have to make a 4x8 layout. You'd be surprised what you can do with a 2' wide shelf around the walls.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Welcome to the forums.
You've indicated that you are going to read the forums. I would also suggest that you read books on scenery and wiring. DCC is relatively new, but many folks like it. Scenery has many new products available, but old reliable methods still work well in some places. Reading will get you started on updating and you can ask questions here to help with what you don't understand.
You didn't say how old your grandson is, but getting trains rolling will help keep his and your interest up. Even though I only had a loop of track, it was something I could run when I got a little tired of scenery work or whatever.
There are some things you could tell the folks here that would help them make suggestions to you. Such things as era, location will help. With a 4x8 you are a little limited, but many of the folks here are enjoying small layouts.
Even experienced modelers tear down and rebuild whole layouts or sections of layouts as their skills improve. Don't be afraid of trying something. If it works, good, if not, try something else. You will get many types of advice on the same subject. Think about each one, try the one you think will work the best for you in your situation. It may work or you may have to make a second choice. There is no real right or wrong way to do things as long as they work out for you in the long run.
Do some reading, do some doing and ask some questions.
Have fun,
Richard
Welcome, Colin!! Enjoy the forum. You'll find a wealth of information from other modelers. But, watch out for that Johnny Reb... he's a rabble rouser!
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
as well from me!
I all so second looking at shelf layouts. 4 X 8's are just to awkward to store unless you have a decade spaces.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Being an OLD geezer; in and out of HO over 50 yrs., I present my two cents, for what it's worth. Yours truly was fortunate enough to get into HO modular railroading, by starting a club in 1987, which eventually had 11 total members; all good folks! We built over 26 modules, learned as we went, attended many, many big trainshows with our layout, met even more mrr'ing friends and HAD A TON OF FUN, which is what it's all about! THEN, had to put 40+ yrs. of accumulated HO into long-term storage, due to serious health problems in my family. Now that it's all back out, am going into NARROW SHELF LAYOUT modeling, because it fits VERY WELL with my lack of space, can walk with MY trains and switch industries, just like 1:1 does[ using only Caboose Industries ground throws, so I don't have to contend with all that switch machine gobbeldy-gook w /arthritis in my hands, now], save a TON of $ on that AND on scenery material, as I DON'T NEED OR WANT a large, wide, hard-to-reach into, table area at my age, to achieve the enjoyment level I wish, simply by using the KISS principle [ keep it simple, stupid! ]. Only using 3 short, 50s era HO switchers, as freelance, shoestring branchline switching railroading doesn't need any more, in my case. AND, portable staging cart(s) save even MORE pike space; still allow a good variety of rolling stock to appear and then diappear on my small layout. I'm done! BEST OF LUCK TO YOU WITH WHATEVER YOU DECIDE!. TTFN......................Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH
Hi, Colin - Welcome to the asylum. Good advice on the layout size already has been given, but no one addressed your weathering question. I LOVE weathering chalks. For hoppers, a dusting of black all over followed by a spritz of clear flat to hold it on does wonders for realism, since it's basically black dust, just like coal dust. Search the forums and you'll find lots of info on the chalks.
A note on "remote control" - Direct Command Control is here, it works, and it's great (I think). You CAN go pretty cheap nowadays, and that's a fine way to start, but most people get tired pretty quickly of the very basic setup. Do your research (what do you want to be able to do) and your budgeting beforehand.
Glad you're here.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
Welcome back to the hobby. I took a 40 year hiatus and returned a few years ago after feeling the need to have something to do when I exit the hamster wheel at work. Much has changed although many still believe that plywood and homsote are a great foundation. DCC and sound have been a game changer IMHO.
Use the "Search our Community" box to the right. Trust me, almost every possible question has been asked here and answered with numerous responses. If you have a good local hobby shop (lhs) or store that deals in model railroading exclusively (even better), go there because you need them and they need you! The good ones have staff that can answer your questions and are well stocked. What they don't carry, they can get in short order. Kalmbach has many good books starting with the basics and going all the way to advanced. Visit as many clubs and public layouts as possible and ask questions there.
My advise is keep your wallet closed for at least a few months until you decide what era and road(s) you want to model. Visit all of the forums on this website espcially the DCC forum if you choose to go that route. Do go out and purchase a Walthers catalog. They are $20 and come out once a year usually in the summer. Visit the Walthers, Atlas and Athearn websites and sign up for their e-mails. Join up with the Yahoo HO Yardsale and Weathering Group and when you're finally ready to buy, look for some local swap meets and train shows where you can pick up stuff to practice your weathering techniques.
Hey Colin,
Welcome to the forum, as you can see, I'm also new to the forum and joined be cause of all the wealth of information. I'm sure you'll find everything you need here. I, like a couple of others, would suggest a self layout, it doesn't take up much space, and also with your grandson being an artist, there's the opportunity to paint the back wall. He could add mountains, trees, buildings, a blue sky and some clouds. Combining the backdrop with elements on the layout would give it some depth. As far as weathering techniques, youtube is a great place to look, you can see how it's actually done rather than reading it.
Edward Davis
Contributor @ Model Train Hobbyist Blog
Thanks to everyone for the very warm welcome and all the excellent advice and technical references. It will take me some time to absorb all the information you've provided. I checked at my local library today, and they had one (count 'em, one!) book on model railroading, and it was 40 years old if it was a day. I will continue to explore the web to find books on modern modeling techniques. I'm particularly interested in figuring out whether DCC is appropriate and affordable for a relatively small layout. If anybody knows where I could find a copy of "DCC For Dummies," I'd sure like to know
In the meantime, I plan to buy a few cheap pieces of rolling stock to play with - weathering, replacing trucks and couplers, and fine-tuning them. I would appreciate knowing your favorite web sites and books on weathering and scenery in general.
As far as online videos are concerned, they're pretty much out of the question for me. The fastest Internet connection available to me is satellite, which not only is quite slow, but also is metered - I can only download 450MB a day. Kinda hard to do much streaming video under those conditions.
Again - thank you all for the gracious welcome. I'm sure I'll enjoy it here.
"... If anybody knows where I could find a copy of "DCC For Dummies," I'd sure like to know..."
LOL. I found "The DCC Guide" by Don Fiehmann to be a pretty good intro for a dummy like myself. It's sold by our forum hosts (use the Shop link on the banner near the top of the page) and elsewhere.
Colin B. ... I'm particularly interested in figuring out whether DCC is appropriate and affordable for a relatively small layout.... In the meantime, I plan to buy a few cheap pieces of rolling stock to play with - weathering, replacing trucks and couplers, and fine-tuning them.
... I'm particularly interested in figuring out whether DCC is appropriate and affordable for a relatively small layout....
In the meantime, I plan to buy a few cheap pieces of rolling stock to play with - weathering, replacing trucks and couplers, and fine-tuning them.
First a hearty to the forums!
Second I selected two topics of your post here on which to comment.
The first is about DCC and a "relatively small layout". I have a 3.5 foot x 5.1 foot HO scale layout with an inner oval interconnected by Atlas snap switches to an outer oval, with a 4 spur mini yard and a 2 spur engine servicing facility inside the inner oval. I opted for DCC when I got back into the hobby 6 years ago as I could run this layout and two trains on it with just 2 wires from hte DCC controller connected to the whole layout. {I have added a few feeders to be sure of strong signal}. Mindyou, there are NO reversing loops or ohter shorting spots on my layout!! I can run one train forward on one oval and run the other train the ohter way on the other WITH ONE CONTROLLER. I can play anyway I want with the two trains on any part of the layout with ONE CONTROLER and TWO WIRES connected. That is why I choose DCC over DC. Bachmann makes some decent priced and decent quality DCC OnBoard locos that have served me well over the years.
The second topic I choose is the "cheap pieces of rolling stock". I did that too. Then I decided I really wanted the better quality pieces so I have a bunch of cheapo rolling stock I really don't need and evena few DC locos I don;t use, SO I would recommend you start withthe better quality pieces to begin with maybe? I wasted a lot of money. I even bought a cheapo $4 car that had horn hook couplers on it and asked the hobby shop owner about replacing them. He recommended McHenry couplers at $1.50 over more expensive ones {KaDees} because "you will waste $4 on coupers to put on a cheap $4 car!" I took it to heart. I see and understand you want to fiddle with them as practice, but Keep in mind not to spend too much on them or you may regret it later.
Just my opinions, experiences and ideas, others may vary.
Again to our exciting hobby and the forums!
-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.
Hi Colin!
I'm a Newbie too, to the forum as well as to model railroading. I've been working on my layout for a little over a year now. About a year before I started on my layout, a new club started up here in my community, and that gave me a wealth of experts to get advice and ideas from... they've been great. I built a room in my basement and installed a shelf all the way around the room with a lift gate at the door. The guys from our club came over a couple of times to show me how to lay the track and get me started on the wiring... you can tell I knew nothing to begin with, including what I was getting into. But I have to say, I love it. I like going to shows, getting my magazines in the mail, working on the scenery, and running the train.
Under my layout, I built a table with a Thomas the Train layout in HO for my grandson. It's 5'x6', 2' tall with an opening in the middle where he sits to operate his train. He's only 3, and he's a train guy all the way. He'll be doing this as an adult, and so will the rest of my grandkids. His layout fits so nicely under mine, gives him plenty of head room, and I can still reach my layout easily.
People are always suprised to see my layout, mostly because I'm a woman, and people don't think of this as a woman's hobby. But I think what draws me to model trains is that my Grandpa worked in the yard up in Green Bay Wisconsin and he loved what he did. I'm also an artist, and I like creating the scenery.
I've learned a lot so far, but I've got a lot more to discover yet. I hope you have as much fun with your layout as I'm having with mine!
Sue
Welcome, Sue!
While it's true enough that most model railroaders are male, there's nothing inherently un-feminine about it. In fact, when my wife sees me suddenly painting "landscapes" (aka backdrops), she teases me about getting in touch with my feminine side.
My youngest used to be very into Thomas as well, but fortunately I built his layout very generically, so that now he runs C&O / Chessie / CSX equipment. He now (at the ripe old age of 8) declares Thomas to be "stupid". But he still loves trains!
Be sure to ask if you have any questions: this is an equal opportunity advice and abuse forum.
Thank you CTValleyRR! You'll probably be getting questions from me every once in a while. I'm working on putting down ballast right now, and it took a couple of different tries before I finally figured that out... with the help of the hobby store owner in LaCrosse WI and the members of my local club. I'm learning that everybody does things a little different, and you just have to experiment to learn what works best for you. But in the end, it's always great to have some friends to fall back on! Thanks!