Several Newbie Questions...

[Anonymous]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on the internet as a newbie, so y'all forgive me, as I am just starting out.

Had a great train layout as a kid, dad did it all, all O-scale, and have very fond memories of that. Recently was dragged to a train show by a friend, and started thinking about slowing getting back into the hobby.

I've been a scale modeler for years, mostly aircraft, so my modeling skills are very high, so I'm quite experienced in a similar hobby. But being experienced in that hobby has led me to a few basic quesitons...

1) What are the big model railroading sites (non-commercial) - for scale modeling there are places like Hyperscale, ARC, missing-lynx, etc. I'm assuming that there are analogs for model railroading? Obviously this site is a good starting point.

2) What are the big model railroading retailers? When we were all kids, there were hobby shops on every corner, in every small town. But now, they're a dying breed (MOST unfortunate). Again, where scale modeling has Squadron, Great Models and similar, I'm assuming there are a similar set of analogs.

3) Research is something that I enjoy most, and while I can tell you all about the development of the P-47, I couldn't tell you the first thing about what railroads run now, ran then, ran where... Obviously, I'll start googling a lot of this, but I'm guessing there are publications, books, whole libraries on this stuff. For example, how do I learn what lines ran where, and when?

Let me ask it a different way, since this is the crux of where my collection and maybe layout will start...

Trains are largely a nostalgia thing for a lot of us, I grew in southern Michigan, and saw trains all the time, I remember a little about what ran there, but not much. Since a big piece of this is nostalgia, one of the things that I'd like to do is to put together some trains and maybe even layout locations based on what I would have seen as kid - 1970s in south-central Michigan - Flint, Ann Arbor, Fenton, and similar areas. Surely there are likely whole sites on this topic, books, videos, and simlar?

I think I'll stop there, this is obviously a slow learning process, and whole new world to learn.

Thanks for humoring my basic questions, who knows where this may go?

All the best,

Paul

[Don Gibson]

In railroad modeling you'll have to decide on a SCALE because it will run on a track. . For example 'what' size is "Big Model's". (What scale?)
Try 'G' scale for starter's.

[Anonymous]

O.K. I guess I should have stated somewhere in there that "N" is the likely choice, and maybe "HO" but only if the next house has a bigger space that I can dedicate to the layout...

Will not go to any of the larger scales due to space...

It would be hard to cross over this with my other hobby, as none of the scales match up, save for "O" which is 1/48 (which corresponds to a very popular aircraft scale) - that's just too big for any kind of layout. Otherwise, nothing really matches up as the next sizes down for military modeling are 1/72 and 1/144, both close to "HO" and "N" respectively, but not a match.

But in the end, "N" is probably the starting point for me...

Paul

[Don Gibson]

'N' gauge is approximately 1/4th the size of 'O'. Good choice for those wanting to run passenger train's.

HO (1:87) is a better size (bigger) for 'modeling'.

[jimrice4449]

For your area and period you'll probably want Penn Central (or NYC slightly earlier or Conrail slightly later), Grand Trunk & Western or Chesapeak & Ohio. Thetre's a whole series of books covering various RRs in color that can give you a general idea of the paint schemes, equipment and such, but they're a tad pricey, in the $40-$50 range. You might try Kalmbach's Classic Trains magazine. You can probably find out in the index on this site what issues cover your interests. Model Railraoder and Model Railroad Craftsman magazines will also be a big help. I would advise doing a lot of reading in the above before you start buying a lot of stuff so as to avoid having a lot of items that don't fit your needs when you get more into it. On the hard cover books, you might try Amazon.com for the availability of used copies

[Anonymous]

If you'll pardon my interpreting your original question...

It seems to me (to some extent from experience) that you need to ask yourself a big chunk of what you want to do...

If you have been BOTH modelling at a high skill level and doing lots of high detail research you MIGHT want to consider scratch building railroad items... whether it's locos, cars, buildings... whatever. This can involve loads of research into the specific prototype AND developing the skills unique to your choice... building a passenger depot from scale lumber will be a whole different challenge from building a Mustang (That was a P45? ... did you see the film about the one they pulled out of the ice? Incredible...SCAREY... and I used to go potholing and looking in mines). {Just remembered... it was a Lightning P?}.
Model Railroads doesn't have to be about building a layout. Nor does it have to be about running trains. In scales from miniature engineering on 10 1/4" gauge track to N (if not Z) people enjoy focussing their attention and time on building just one thing to the nth degree of accuruacy... as I'm sure you're used to with aircraft.

Then again (you might want a change - or a parrallel) you might want to whack down some track, get some RTR (Ready to Run) out of a box and play trains... which is great... you could even leave a train trundling round while you make a 1902 boxcar from scratch.

I guess that the first thing to try to do is to not box yourself in with one idea. If you can take a bit of time to see what options there are out there.

You might even build that depot from individual boards and then go on and furnish it. You could model to the same scale as your military stuff. I figured out years ago that 1/35 gives a combination that falls close to metre gauge... closer than O Scale does to 32mm = (it doesn't = ) 4'8 1/2". There's really nice metre gauge stuff from Belgian Street trams to 2-6-0+0-6-0 Mallets (Burma if I recall correctly).

The important thing is to take time and enjoy yourself... and don't be afraid to change...

[Tom Bryant_MR]

Welcome Paul [:D]

Suggestions.
1) Go to your local library and check out what's available
2) Go to your LHS (local hobby shop) and just browse
3) I you haven't already, while in the LHS pick up a recent copy of MR Magazine so you can get an idea of what's possible

These will get you started on your item 3 above, research. This part of the hobby can be fun for some. The MR mags are full of advertisements from most of the big providers. This will help you with your item 2 above.

Best of luck and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Guys for the answers - and the thoughts - I'm hitting the LHS on Thursday to see what's there.

Just to clear one thing up - I'm not as much thinking about precision scale modeling with this as I am the nostalgia factor - combining hobbies just doesn't appear all that practical, especially considering that the scales just don't match, except for "O" which seems to big for me...

I think I'm going to enjoy the layout aspect as much as anything, which is why N appeals as I feel like (and this may be mistaken) that I can do more with a layout without having to have a huge space.

At first I really will be into the basic stuff, probably laying down some track and running off the shelf products, but I'm sure it won't be long before the super-detailing bug bites, or I find that car that I can't find anywhere else - and need to scratchbuild.

Did a little googling last night and found as Jim mentioned above that C&O and GT are the two main lines that I would have seen as a kid - again not trying to box myself in there, but it's a starting point as that's what will really satisfy the nostalgia kick.

I think what's most fun is that it's still all very new, so there's a lot to learn, which I like...

Thanks for humoring my basic questions, I may have more as I continue to do the initial bits of research and learning about what direction I want to go...

Best Regards,

Paul

[rolleiman]

Norfolk and Western, Penn Central, Conrail had begun to appear, Grand Trunk Western, Ann Arbor Railroad... Early 70s you may have also seen a limited amount of Wabash equipment (though in serious dis-repair), Nickel Plate Road, Pennsylvania, New York Central, Michigan Central.... Detroit Toledo and Ironton (DT&I) which was Originally, Henry Fords railroad intended to service his auto industry but has been owned either in part or in whole by other local railroads since the 1930s I believe... Most if not all of them are now parts of either Norfolk Southern, CSX, or Canadian Pacific.. You can start some research here...

http://www.cwrr.com/nmra/

A lot of dead links but also some useful ones on both prototype and model info..

Another place, I always forget to mention, is the United States Library of Congress.. A LOT of thier photo collections are online as well as old maps and a huge wealth of other information..

http://loc.gov/

Good luck,
Jeff

[Anonymous]

Suggest you trawl through a lot of the material in this forum as well... from what you have added you will probably gain from the many Newby questions... also the clinic on designing for operation. Suggest that you try to avoid a spaghetti bowl design... same way as you would not attempt to put all the D day beaches into one 6'x1' module.

Have fun.

[Jetrock]

In terms of the major sites (websites) for model railroad discussion, well, you've already found one of the big ones! I can also recommend the Atlas forums (www.atlasrr.com) although traffic can be kind of high there and, at least in my opinion, the crowd isn't quite as friendly. The Gauge (www.the-gauge.com) is a smaller but friendly bunch of modelers.

Manufacturers: Walthers is one you're going to run into a lot. They print a catalog that used to be the standard of the industry--since the acquisition of several companies by Horizon Hobby they aren't quite the standard anymore but still a pretty good "wish book." Horizon doesn't do a catalog for the general public, and they now own Athearn, Roundhouse and a few other mainstays of model railroading. Other large companies include Life-Like (whose Proto 2000 line is really nice), Bachmann, and Atlas. There are a lot of smaller hobby companies as well, just as in model building--many of them are different parts of the same companies!

Precision scale modeling is no different in model-railroad scales than in military modeling: the numbers and focuses are different but the techniques are the same. Precision modeling is what differentiates model railroads from toy trains: those old three-rail Lionel sets are toy trains, not scale models--but model railroad equipment IS scale modeling. Confused yet?

About the nostalgia: Modeling railroad lines remembered from youth is a common pastime for model railroaders. I model a line that ran in the city where I live, but is now gone, although the period I operate is actually before I was born and I have only the dimmest memories of its operation from my childhood--I'm modeling the place as much as the railroad.