+Tips & Tricks+

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage

Finley,

To save money for now, you can always just purchase one knucker coupler for one end of one of your pieces of rolling stock. That can serve as your transition car for the other car with different couplers, and allow you to wait until you have enough $$$ to convert the rest of the cars.

Tom

I don't understand what you mean by a knuckler coupler can you explain??

[tstage]

Finlay,

Here's a couple of pics:


Micro-trains "knuckle" coupler (prototypical-looking)


Rapido coupler (non-prototypical-looking)

The Rapido couplers have been around for a number of years. What you can do is to convert your locomotive and one end of ONE of you rolling stock cars with Micro-train couplers first. This car will always be connected to your locomotive, have a Micro-train "knuckle" coupler on one end and the Rapido coupler on the other, and serve as a transition car to your other cars NOT yet converted over to Micro-train couplers. This will allow you to slowly convert all your rolling stock as the monies come in. Does that make more sense now?

Lava, here's more info on N-scale couplers:

http://www.nscaledivision.com/information_on_couplers.htm

Tom

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage

Finlay,

To save money for now, you can always just purchase one knucker coupler for one end of one of your pieces of rolling stock. That can serve as your transition car for the other car with different couplers, and allow you to wait until you have enough $$$ to convert the rest of the cars.

Tom

Yes thanks it all makes sense now I am considering going out with my last couple dollars and buying:
1.Cork Roadbed
2.Ballast
3.1 pair of knuckler couplers
4.And probably order online at wholesaletrains.com the railpower 1370. The reason being the Canadian dollar is so high it works out to be about $26.00.

[Anonymous]

Everyone has given good advice so far. I would just like to add my vote for the diorama. I am just getting back into this hobby and never did much scenery before. I made a diorama to try out the scenery materials and was very happy with it. It also let me learn from some mistakes without messing up a layout.

I just got my track laid and will be working on it for a while to make sure it is all working properly before even considering doing any scenery. As you lay your track test everything for proper alignment and operation....you will still find problems afterwards (well my engines did!)

The best prices I have found online so far have been at http://1stplacehobbies.com/ They are very reasonably priced and the shipping is mad fast.

Good luck, have fun, and show us lots of pictures! [8D]

[Anonymous]

Is there a big difference between Midwest roadbed and Woodland Scenics roadbed other than the $price$?

[chateauricher]

Suggestion 1: Change out any wheels on your rolling stock from plastic to low-profile metal wheels for these reasons ...

Low profile wheels have smaller flanges that won't "bump" or "chatter" along the ties of your code 55 track. Atlas makes some that you can buy in packages of 12 axles (enough to re-wheel 3 cars) for about $8.75 CAD (+taxes). I just bought my first pack last week, and re-wheeling 3 cars took all of 5 minutes.

Metal wheels tend to keep both themselves and the track cleaner longer than plastic wheels. The metal-on-metal action actually polishes and cleans the track slightly, making the need to hand-clean less frequent. Plastic-on-metal action builds up a slight static charge which attracts dirt, making it necessary to clean both tracks and wheels more often.

Suggestion 2: Be sure to test your track thoroughly and solve any electrical or lay-out problems BEFORE you even start thinking of ballasting. Many modellers leave ballasting for near the end, after almost everything else is done.

Suggestion 3: If you are thinking of eventually converting your layout to DCC, you would be very wise to wire your layout as though it will be DCC from the beginning. This will make any future conversion much simpler since you won't have to be crawling around under the layout nearly as much. http://www.wiringfordcc.com offers some good advice.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chateauricher

Suggestion 1: Change out any wheels on your rolling stock from plastic to low-profile metal wheels for these reasons ...

Low profile wheels have smaller flanges that won't "bump" or "chatter" along the ties of your code 55 track. Atlas makes some that you can buy in packages of 12 axles (enough to re-wheel 3 cars) for about $8.75 CAD (+taxes). I just bought my first pack last week, and re-wheeling 3 cars took all of 5 minutes.

Metal wheels tend to keep both themselves and the track cleaner longer than plastic wheels. The metal-on-metal action actually polishes and cleans the track slightly, making the need to hand-clean less frequent. Plastic-on-metal action builds up a slight static charge which attracts dirt, making it necessary to clean both tracks and wheels more often.

Timothy is correct, the lo profile wheels are a must. The clatter of the flanges hitting the heads of the the "spikes" drives me to distraction. Over the holidays I picked up a pack of Inter-mountain Brass wheel sets and a pack of Micro-trains plastic lo-profile wheel sets. Switching them out is just as easy as Tim said. The metal wheels roll so much easier than the plastic ones that if you like long trains they are worth the extra cost.

[tstage]

Not to mention keeping your track cleaner...longer.

Tom