Just post your questions and some one will reply, we are here to help.
Welcome to the forum, Charlie.
Maybe it was just a pass through joke. Some people have a lot of time on their hands.[zzz]
Houston to Charlie… come in Charlie… over.
static
Charlie, this is Houston… come in… over?
static
‘Spring’ comes up to the 'puter—sniff sniff—sees a blank post—paws at post----“Min–min–megh megh?”
Like—where’d he go?
… he is just using white letters on white ground… [(-D]
Or he found out that he has more questions then there possibly will be answers…
This guy is awesome, he didn’t even ask a question on his post, and already has 8 replies! (laughing)
Thanks, I’m wondering if all track is the same or should I stay with same manufacturer. Also how many engines on set of tracks?
Welcome, Charlie!
First of all, we can help you most by asking a few basic questions.
What scale are you modeling in? Do you have anything yet? What do you want to do?
As for track, most any brand of track can be connected to any other brand of track, the problem lies in track that has plastic ballast attached to the ties. This type of track usually comes in Trainset boxes. Most of those are brand specific and don’t play well with others, although Atlas brand will connect to its own and any non ballasted track. Most modellers use regular (non ballasted) track. Just beware that some brands have a higher level of quality than others. Bachmann has 2 grades of quality in their ballasted track. The track with black ballast has steel rail and will have problems with rust (which will cause your trains to not run). Their track with grey ballast is nickel-silver rail which will give you much better service in the long run. Old track was made of Brass and looks yellowish when new but will look brown when it gets old and tarnished. Tarnished rail (like rusted rail) won’t conduct electricity very well so your engine will not run well. New track is made of Nickel-Silver and is much more reliable conducting electric power to your engine. Most of the Life-Like brand is also steel, so rusting is a problem with their track products. Life- like is the least expensive brand, which attracts a lot of customers because of it’s price, but I recommend you avoid it. If you have a Hobby Shop near you, check with them on different brands of track. If not, ask away here and someone will be glad to help you. Read all you can and enjoy yourself. There is an excellent guide for beginners that you can read- very helpful. http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beg
From your questions you are new and we have all been there so this isn’t a put down in any way. You have some homework to do first. Namely what is it that attracts you to the hobby? The cheapest start for you would be an HO set. I would reccomend one by Athearn. Also get one or two turnouts and a couple of pieces of extra track and set it up on a hard surface like a floor to test everything and gain some experience. Then look at as many pictures of real trains and models and make a list of what you like: railoroads and colors. track arrangements and buildings, etc. Then you can start to zero in on what your goals are. Just remember that most of us have dream railroads in our heads that would fill an airplane hanger if we had the time and money. Some of us have been at this for fifty years or more and are still striving to get to where we don;t get glue all over everytying or other annoyances. Build a small layouit to gain some experience and then move on as time, money and space allow. As to your question you could have twenty engines on the same track or more or less dependent on what your power source and control method will allow. I would start with a switcher and small freight cars. You can’t go wrong that way.
For any newbie, they should check out the NMRA’s “Beginner” page at:
As for the specific questions, for a beginner, I would recommend that a beginner stay with the same manufacturer and the same “Code” track. Track “Code” is actually it’s height in thousands of an inch. So Code 100 = 0.100" tall, and Code 83 = 0.083" tall.
Atlas (www.atlasrr.com) makes a wide range of quality track products, and has for decades. Generally, it’s a little more crude but it is more robust than other brands. They offer beginner snap-together track called “True-Track” as well as more advanced flex track for more permanent layouts.
Walthers/Shinohara track (www.walthers.com) is more fine than Atlas and at least twice the cost, but is more fragile and harder to work with.
Kato track is nice (www.katousa.com), but pricey. It’s only available in snap-together sections, which makes it easy to put together, but limits you to their track shapes and sizes.
Other snap-together track companies like Bachmann and Life-Like are okay for running trains around the X-Mas tree and on the dining room table, but are quite limited and one will soon outgrow their track system if one gets more involved in the hobby.
As for how many engines on a set of tracks? Depends on how much room you have and how much power you have available to move them around. Real railroads generally use as few as possible to save money. We modelers like to use as many as possible because, well, we like engines. [:)] For just about any train, I’d say 4 locos would be about the max. for most model railroads, with two being a lot more common. Either way, there’s
Welcome Charlie … I can attest to what the others are advising - you need to know what it is you want to do/accomplish and it is advisable to do your homework so you can be clear on what scale you want, on how large or small you want your layout to be, and on whether you want to run multiple engines.
I am running an HO DC board which, as one person had mentioned, means that you typically can only comfortably run a single engine/train. In my case, I have a grouping of six diesel locos that are stored on storage tracks that attach to the turntable. I am using three transformers to manage two main lines plus a series of sidings using a series of switches. It can quickly get very busy which is OK with me 'cause I like a lot of action. I sometimes run two trains on a main line which requires the locos be fairly well matched in terms of speed and acceleration. But as has been mentioned, they both need to go the same speed and cannot be varied individually. I am now beginning to think more of using the DCC control system - gives a lot more flexibility especially with a number of engines.
It would also help if the original poster on this thread added some specific geographic location info to his/her profile. By doing this, we can help direct you towards a good local hobby shop (LHS) and nearby clubs for good sound advice.