I haven’t model railroaded since I was in college (1982) - I have a bunch of HO track, locos, rolling stock, accessories from middle 1960’s through 1982. For many years I’ve considered getting back into the hobby with my children. Every once in a while I’d unearth my stash of trains when pulling out Christmas decorations or otherwise reorganizing my crawlspace. Any child who might be helping me would ask about my old trains and they’d inevitably ask me to pull them out to play with them. I never did - partially because they were younger and probably wouldn’t treat the trains well, partially because we don’t have a great spot for a layout, and finally because I remember the huge time investment I used to make when I was a kid (you can really lose track of time when modeling).
This Christmas the issue came up again - but in an unexpected manner. We have a new neighbor who happens to be into model railroading. And quite to our surprise on Christmas morning they left a gift on our front steps… a collection of HO trains, track, miscellaneous buildings, accessories from the same era as my trains… [:)]
Now there was no getting out of it… a few days after Christmas, the unrelenting pestering of my 8 year old son had to be satisfied, so I pulled out my old stuff and cleared off the ping pong table to merge train sets. The combined collection is comprised of a variety of nicer and cheaper equipment… As you might expect a lot of the stuff is broken beyond repair (but potentially useful for parts), some is repairable, some is in great condition…
I made a pilgrimage to my local train shop to figure out the best approach to getting this mish-mosh of equipment rolling. The first thing that I noticed was that the couplers on the new trains were different… to me this meant no easy addition of new rolling stock to the collection or a complete switch out of the old couplers from my existing trains. Switching over about 75 cars/engines seemed like a lot of work (expense), especially considering
First off welcome to the forum and back to model railroading!!
You can just convert one end of a car to the new style couplers and use it be able to run both styles while you convert cars to the new style if you want. A set of jewelers screwdrivers will get you into most coupler boxes. I think there is a thread here that isn’t too old on internet retailers other people like. Keep reading other threads here and many of your questions will be answered.
I’m sure others will have more suggestions. Have fun and remember it’s YOUR railroad!
I was going to make the same suggestion. I did the same thing to one of my cars & I can use it as an “adaptor” between the 2 styles of couplers. Now I don’t feel “pressured” to get them all done at once.
As noted earlier a transition car is the way to go so you can use the old couplers with the new. Over time if you find you’re going to stay in the hobby you can change them out over time.
Also take the loco’s apart to give them a good cleaning and re-greasing/oiling.
The track can be cleaned with a briteboy for now.
Good Luck and have fun.
Your 8 year old will be much happier if you simply get up and running quickly. The details can happen after the initial excitment is over.
Welcome to the forums and back to model railroading.
As mentioned, if you have some small spot where you can get something rolloing, interest will be held more easily. It can be used to check out your refurbished locos and rolling stock. I have a car with different type coupler on each end for my wife’s N scale Christmas layout. Someday I’ll finish the conversion. You can purchase couplers in packs of 100 (50 cars) much more reasonably than in the small packs. There are several online stores that carry them. I do like to support my LHS and some will give you a good price if you order through them. However some small ones don’'t order often, so when such a bulk purchase is needed you may have to go online or to the telephone. MB Kline, online as Modeltrainstuff.com and Trainworldonline.com and Modelrailwaypo.com have been mentioned in recent posts and have treated me well when dealing with them. You can find their ads in Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman. A little reasearch will find you the best buy for the items you are after.
I would suggest that you do some reading about new methods and techniques before you spend much. MR has a good set of basic books on benchwork, trackwork, wiring and scenery as well as more advanced. My reading skills have improved since I started reading things that “I” wanted to read. (Wish my teachers had figured that out years ago.)
With some reading behind you, you are in the right place to ask question. Many knowledgeable folks here ready to share their experiences with you. You will find that there are several methods for some things. You can give each a try and see what suits you best. (Another good use for that small, get your train rolling, layout.
I too just returned to the hobby to find all the same issues you’re dealing with. That being said…
+1 on all of the above.
I have started converting my old Tyco rolling stock to knuckle couplers and steel wheels. Specifically for the couplers, I have purchased:
-Kadee #212 - Talgo Truck Adaptors
-Kadee #10 - Bulk Pack no.5 couplers
The other packs allow you to address specific applications where you might need to mount a coupler box on your stock.
Along with the screwdrivers mentioned above, you’ll need a SMALL file to do these conversions. After one or two, they go really quickly.
For wheels I purchased:
Kadee #520 - 33" Smooth Back Freight Wheels
You may want ribbed back depending on the era you’re modeling. In general, steel wheels just sound and look good and your track will stay clean longer.
Also get yourself some LaBelle #108 lubricant from your hobby shop. Use sparingly on your trucks. I also got some Kadee “grease-em” for my coupler boxes.
A transition car is definitely the way to go to avoid a massive coupler changeover.
The best couplers are made by Kadee Quality Products. If you go to their website. they have guides for converting just about anything to one of their products. The guide is here: http://www.kadee.com/conv/ho.htm
To clean up the track, use a lint-free cloth dipped in denatured alcohol. That will remove all the accumulated crud.
And I agree, get something up and running soon, or your kids will lose interest again. You can refine it and improve it later. But most importantly, don’t expect your kids to all take a shine to it… especially not if you convert them into drudge labor, doing things like converting couplers. Do the drudge work yourself, and let the kids have fun.