Are newbies welcomed on this site?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello, my friends call me Cuda Ken. I am a 1:1 car guy but after a $12,000.00 motor taking a dump after 85 miles I decided it was time for a new hobby.

Around 1985 or so I got into HO slot cars, then it was packed up. In 1995 it was started again and track grew to 120 real feet. Then I bought the currnet house and got put up again, no room. Then the 12K engine went south and got back into HO slot cars. Track was a monster for a home layout, 210 feet of track.

While looking for HO tress I came across a cheap LL train set, well the rest is Cuda Ken History. I bought the frist set in Feb 2006 and sat up the small track. Had a GP-30 (I think) and 8 rolling stock and there cheap track with bulit in road bed. I found my self staring at the litlle train going around and around and did not run the slot cars? Hum, seem’s it did not take much to keep my intrest.

Well if one cheap LL set is good then another would be better, right? So I bought another and another. I posted about the trains on the Slot Car site I was a member off. Fellow member named Ranchero strated to fill my head with names like Peaco, Athean, Bachman, Atlas, MRC and Proto.

At last count I now have 29 engines, 87 rolling stock (mainly cheap LL) 9 passanger cars and around 12 cabooses. I am DC at this point with a mer MRC 1440 at .93 amps. I have learned alot in a short time but there is so much to learn. I can now strip a Athearn blue box and rebulid it, clean up truck and replace the axles and track laying skills are now just bad, not what the ---- was he doing[:D]

Board is in a U shape 19 foot long X 4 wide, one end is 8 foot and the other is 13 foot. But it looks like a 14 year old did it.

Hope this board is newbie friendly becaues I have not much of a clue to trems.

Guess I am not doing to badly. Running a Proto E-6 A 2000, Erie -Built powed B 1000, Dummy F-7 A and 39 cars up a 3.2 % grade.

Sorry my spelling is so bad and I need a new ke

2

[#welcome] Ken!
Sounds like your well on your way. Of course newbies are welcomed just don’t start with the Polls too early on. [:D]
There is a wealth of information on here, a lot of great people.
I have noticed that it helps to be real specific when asking a question.
Enjoy the hobby!
Peter

3

Ken,

[#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

Yes, newbies are always welcome…but in your case we can certainly make an exception. [:o)] (Just kidding.) Ask away. That’s how we all learn around here.

Hope you’ll feel welcome to stick around.

Tom

4

Around here, newbies are taken out and summarily executed. [:O] LOL [swg]

Honestly, newbies are warmly welcomed by most members of this Forum. [#welcome]

  • Ask any questions. There is bound to be at least one person who can answer them for you.

  • Bounce ideas off us. Many of us find it hard to keep our advice to ourselves so you’ll get lots.[swg] Seriously, though, this Forum is an incredible font of information, hints, tips and tricks (a lot of which is actually train related).

  • Post photos and plans of your layout. We’re all a little voyeuristic. [}:)]

  • Spell things any way you want. Most of the members here are American, so spelling isn’t one of their strong points. [:-,][:o)][swg]

Just a word (or two) of caution to make your Forum experience all the more enjoyable :

  • try to keep your discussion on topic (ie: train-related);

  • develop a thick skin (don’t take things too seriously or too personal); and

  • avoid flame-wars.

Note : Some of us have really warped senses of humour, so don’t take what we say too seriously.

5

Welcome aboard!

All of us were newbies once. Quite a few of us still are. Others are acknowledged experts in many facets of the hobby, anxious to share their knowledge and experience.

Since you’ve discovered the forums, the only thing I can suggest is that you read every thread, even ones that seem to be of no interest - but don’t accept anything here as gospel. There is always a different opinion, sometimes in the very next post.

When you have a suggestion, don’t hesitate to post it. If you have a question, check the threads to see if it has already been answered. If not, use it to start a new thread. Be as specific as possible. (“Can fill-in-the-blank take an 18-inch radius curve?” has an answer, which somebody here is sure to know. On the other hand, “What railroad and period should I model?” will generate a lot of smoke and heat, but very little light.)

Above all, have fun

Chuck

6

"Spell things any way you want. Most of the members here are American, so spelling isn’t one of their strong points. "

Like we can spell better here in the north, Eh ?? LOL

Wellcome Cuda Ken, hope you enjoy this forum!!

7

A year and a half ago I was a newbie, even though I’ve had trains since I was in elementary school. I came back to the hobby after a 40-year absence, to discover that a lot had changed, mostly for the better. I’m pretty comfortable with most aspects of Model Railroading right now, but there is always more to learn, and I’ve found that this forum can usually answer questions.

So welcome aboard. Glad to have you around.

8

[#welcome]

Newcomers are welcome. Most of us will try to answer any questions you have. Some topics we have different opinions, but you’ll see all sides. Usually there is more than one way to do something anyway. Spell as best you can and don’t worry about it.

Enjoy
Paul

9

[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]

(So long as you are a really serious modeller, ask really intelligent questions, don’t stray a millimetre off topic, model the same road as me in the same scale and can spell ryte).

Be warned… some of us are far too serious while some of us are just big kids. You’ll find that in any club in the world though. Guess you already did with the slot boys.

Two big suggestions that may help…
1.
Do as much reading as you possibly can. Getting all the old train and MRR (Model Railroad) mags you can find will give you lots of stuff to think about, plus pics of stuff “back then”.
No disrespect: plenty of reading of well edited mags will help your spelling… without you knowing it your brain gets used to the spelling that looks right.
Anyway, Americans don’t spell English, English anyway [#oops]… someone might flame me for that [:O]. (Oh yes… beware, we’re not all Americans on here… no-one’s asked to see my green card yet though…)
2.
Sounds like you’re open to change and willing to try something new. That’s good. Just remember that (same as slot cars and 1:1 cars) there’s always some that say you should do it different and/or that they cn do it better.
It sounds like you’re at a really good point to step back, learn a whole lot of ideas and figure out what you want to do next to move up a gear to making a model that satisfies what you want.
That is the important thing. It is your model RR. Not all of us can afford the best-of-the-best and all the trimmings… not all of us want perfection in miniature. Some of us don’t want to have a heart attack if the grand-kids get into the train room. (Which is no criticism of those that fit these criteria… 'coz, when I can afford it I get the best and I have to keep my rivet-counting tendencies in check… especially when it comes to ballast[sigh][sigh][sigh]).

Have FUN! [:P][:P][:P]

10

Stick around, there are people here that can just about answer any question you’ll ever have. Take time to check out Joe Fugates web site for terrific help on scenery, Art Hill for great construction pictures, many others. many people have web sites and photo bucket sites with pictures of their layouts, just looking gives you a lot of ideas.

11

I’m a big kid.

I started in the hobby a year and a half ago and I asked so many dumb questions even the most patient were thinking of taking a break from the hobby. Mostly there were enough people around that I always got an answer.

12

LOL, I’ve been there but it ended up being something minor. There are lots of car guys here that like trains as well.

13

[#welcome] to the forum!

There are many good folks in this forum to give you the answers you need, and the search feature helps too with finding questions already answered.

Make yourself at home and stop by the Coffee Shop if you like to chat about off topic items too!

Cheers,

Ryan

14

Welcome Cuda Ken,

Plenty of newbies, not-so-newbies and model rr vets out here, so don’t be shy.

15

Welcome to the forum Ken.

There are lots of people here that have “been there done that” so don’t hesitate to ask questions. This forum has been a lot of help for me since I started modeling HO in January.

Sounds like you came down a similar path as I did. I was into drag racing my 68 GTO in the 70’s and early 80’s until it became too expensive and time consuming. Now my son-in-law has the car. Got into racing radio control cars in the late 80’s and early 90’s. That hobby died in my area so I got into racing slot cars. The slot car track went under a few years later then I got into bass fishing which I still do when I get the chance.

I found a LL Super Power Charger train set while shopping for presents for my grandkids last Christmas. It was 40 years since I had a train set and seeing that one brought back a lot of good memories so I bought it. The rest is history.

This is a great forum with a lot of knowledgeable people ready to help newbies like you and me.

Bill

16

My welcome as well. Don’t believe everything those other guys say, but that you are welcomed is certainly correct. Our contract - We give advice, you decide if it is of any value.

How about a pic of the Cuda?

17

welcome !

sounds to me like you’ve progressed beyond newbie status but even if you were completely clueless you’d be welcome here . see the secret is that model railroaders love to talk about model railroading , but people who aren’t into it , well their eyes kind of glaze over when we get going on a subject . but give us someone who actually asks a question and wants to learn something and it’s pretty hard to shut us up [:)]

18

[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]

Ken, I was a Newbie a year ago and have been in Modeling almost all my life. But I still learn new things in this forum. Reason, everybody is willing to help.
Tell us a little more about yourself, ie, where are you living, have a family, etc.
Happy Railroading.
Neal

19

Here’s another one of those [#welcome] signs.

The only dumb question I’ve heard is when one’s teenage son or daughter has his/her hand on the door to the dishwasher and is starting to open it, looks up, and asks “Are these clean or dirty?”

Evereything else is fair game.

Tom

20

LOL!

Hey, wait a minute! I have asked that question before, and I was not in my teen years either!