I’m just getting back into the hobby after fifteen years off, and want to get started right. I’m planning a 100+ sq.ft. layout (n scale) and don’t want to fudge the groundwork. What are some things I should do before I get to far along with trackwork and scenery.
[#welcome] back
I would switch to S scale first thing. [:D]
Actually there really is no right answer, it depends on what you want to do. Since you’re undecided, I’d get some track down and start running trains. Do a little scenery, some switching, etc. Just don’t spend a lot of money until you get a feel for what you like. Consider this first layout as a learning experience and try out different things.
Enjoy
Paul
Spend more time ensuring the roadbed is smooth and free of little dips or humps or twists. I have only made spline roadbed once, and I am happy with the method…but not with my execution. I know to take more time to smooth it in long strokes and to take more time in lining up the individual pieces so that they don’t make ridges next to each other. I mostly got it right, but some spots were a bit sloppy.
If I am allowed a close second, it would be to not have any grades steeper than 2% as a hard and fast upper limit.
-Crandell
[#welcome]
I agree. Step one build solid benchwork. Step two get some trains running. Then build your empire.
If you haven’t picked up a couple of ‘how to’ books this might be the time. So much has changed since you were into the hobby 15 years ago and information would be helpful. Also take time to develop a workable track plan that is pleasing to you.
The first thing I would recommend is rock solid benchwork - absolutely level and it will make later steps like level road bed and track work much easier. Then put down some track and proceed a run a few trains as you go.
Other people have asked similar questions and the one response I have seen several times is that this first layout may be a ‘throw away.’ In other words, this one is a ‘learning experience.’
Good luck and welcome back!!!
I would have bought a house with a basement or a larger outbuilding [:)]
But that’s a limitiation I need to work around. My advice would be to:
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Do some thinking about what you want to accomplish with this layout, and develop a list of your “givens” (things that can’t change or must be worked-around) and “druthers” (things that you want, but can be changed if need be). These will help guide your design.
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Do some reading - there are several excellent sites to peruse and books to read. One page I would suggest is professional layout designer Byron Henderson’s questionaire.
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Develop your patience, but beware of analysis paralysis.
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Give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them.
Have fun, and keep us posted!
O scale
grizlump
I think the 1st thing is to realize this layout will be a learning experience , things have changed in 15 years… I built my present n scale layout 20+ years ago , it was the 4th i built… I learned what i did not like about the 1st 3 and went from there
There are several good answers already (I really like the one about switch to S or O; wish I’d done that before I invested so much in HO & N). There are probably two things I’d do first (they can be done in parallel since one is “doing” and one is “thinking”). Before even benchwork, I’d fully prep the room – paint, lights, ceiling, wall board if needed, flooring if needed, that sort of thing. These are very hard to go back and do once benchwork is in.
The other thing I would do is get a solid idea of the layout concept – how it fits in the world, how it operates, types of locomotives, cars, towns, industries. Someone a couple years ago did a good article in the MRP on laying out and comparing all these factors. Getting the concept down can save a bundle of time in the track planning stage since you won’t be trying to fit in one of everything and an even bigger bundle of money since you won’t be buying one of everything (though even the most hardcore modern container train modeler secretely yearns for some obscure steam locomotive).
Make sure the thoughts of the layout in your head match up with available room. I’ve grabbed a roll of blue-masking tape and put the outline of a section on the floor and put tape down as tracks and paper building footprints. From that, you can set a train on the tape to get a feel for what it might look like, too busy, too open, plain wrong, great, etc.
Change the design to an around-the-room shelf layout. Mine is a folded “dogbone”. After seeing many shelf layouts, I can see where it’s a lot easier to make a backdrop and look more prototypical in the process.
Welcome back. As everyone has said, a fair bit has changed over the last few years but if I can paraphrase from the others…
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Grow your layout and enjoy running your trains so you keep the end goal in mind. If it is a point to point layout, do what the real railways did and get trains running so far while you build the next section. If it is a large oval for want of a better term, do small sections and have temporary sections to enable continuous running and go larger.
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Don’t make it a maintenance frankenstein… you can have a lot of fun with a small layout too!
Enjoy your return
Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com - where you may find some other stuff useful to you!
Three things immediately come to mind.
First, as others have said, the supporting structure, or framework, is critical to the success of your layout. Some years ago, we had a room addition built on the back of our home and the foundation proved faulty because of the way that the footings were poured. As a result,…(too painful to continue).
Second, make sure that the track work is flawless. Test and retest every piece of track that you lay for alignment, lack of “humps”, etc. Seven years after first constructing my layout, I finally got it right, but I could have done that in the first year.
Third, if you are purchasing new engines, thoroughly test each one as soon as you get it and I emphasize the word “thoroughly”. My mistake was accumulating engines as I built my layout. I would take a new engine out of the box, make sure it ran forward and backward, checked the lights and sound, and put it off to the side. Once out of warranty, you wind up forking over more moeny to repair what may well have been a problem right out of the box.
Thanks for making me relive the pain.[%-)]
Rich
Hi Dave!
Welcome to the Forum!!!
I’ve been playing with trains since the mid '50s, and the last “completed” layout was built in 1993-4 and taken down in late 2008. At this time, I was in effect, starting over. At 64 (at that time), I realized it was probably my last layout, and I wanted to do it “right”. Fortunately, money was not a constraint, and being that I was retired, time wasn’t a constraint either.
I did a huge amount of planning and second guessing my choices. The good folks on this Forum were a tremendous help in so many ways, and were instrumental in making some of my decisions.
Some of the first steps were pretty obvious to me. My train room is an 11x15 spare bedroom, and I began be painting the walls/ceiling, and painting a new backdrop. I kept the 2x4 ft masonite corner coves, but extended them to 30 inches high.
Meanwhile, I drew up scale drawings of the benchwork and track design, and structure placement. If you stay true to the scale, and use a template for the turnouts, you should get really close to what you can install in the room.
Of course I already knew that I would retain HO “big time” railroading with the ATSF (and a little IC) as it might have been in the late '40s and '50s. My specs included 27 inch mainline minimum curves, 2 percent max grade, # 8 turnouts for the main, #6s for the loco terminal, and # 4 for the yards/sidings.
The biggest change - and frankly most difficult decision - was to make the move to DCC. After a year with it, I can still say I am very glad I did!
Anyway, to recap, I would advise you to get the room in shape - including lighting and outlets, and then work on a scale plan. Take your time, and do a good job. If your “good enough” standards are not really that, they will come b
Good one. Personal example: the shade of blue I thought was perfect for my backdrop turned out looking way too pale under the layout’s lighting conditions. Luckily I have no track laid, and removing the shelf benchwork is trivial at this point, so I am re-painting in a darker shade of blue. If I had track and scenery down before installing the final lighting, it would have been a major pain.
Don’t be afraid to back up and correct something like this early in construction. I am anxious to get tracks down, but my mantra has been “fix it now or be forever regretting it”.
While I agree that planning before proceeding is a good idea, you have to be very careful. I know people who have planned and modified and re planed and changed eras and replanned…
Then one day they realize that they have been planning for three years and have yet to lay a single piece of track. Then boredom sets in and it just ceases to be a priority until some life event resurrects it. And it never got built.
redoing lighting after the fact sure is a pain … and good lighting makes your hard work shine!
First step is to find what you really like to do, do you like long trains, what kind of trains, are you a collector that just wants a loop or are you an operator? Once that is done, that will help determine you scale (also consider the amount of detail you like (super detail should probably be O scale even though it can be done in lesser scales but one must remember that most people like to show off their work and a larger scale accommodates more people). Next plan the layout to be portable (even though you may never move it if you plan for it’s cutting apart it is best as people tend to move more than they used to and sometimes it is not their choice). Next chose you benchwork, I like framed best and build up with foam (if WS did not have their inclines this might be a different answer). Chose you track (I use code 70 in HO but would go code 83 if I was to start over) and brand (I use Shinohara but it is not for the ones that want to slap things down)
I’m currently adding my Phase 2 extension on to my basic layout. So, I’ve got the opportunity to not make some of the mistakes I did earlier.
Nobody has brought up the subject of wiring. I really intended to do a neat job the first time around, but if you look under Phase 1 of my layout, you’ll see the typical ratty maze of wires criscrossing all over the place. One reason for this is that it’s difficult to do a neat job while crawling under your benchwork, trying not to snag other wires while wishing your bifocals were upside-down. So, before I start gluing down the foam on Phase 2, I’m doing a lot more planning. The DCC control bus went in first, and then the track bus. I recently wired up the secondary track bus for the reverse loop to an auto-reverser. At this point, I’ve decided to wire the remaining track bus in sections so that I can easily isolate sections of it with circuit breakers. I don’t have a set of breakers yet, and right now I don’t plan to buy any for a while, but planning the wiring to allow easy, single-point connections to the breakers will make that task much easier in the future. And, doing it from above before laying track and scenery is a whole lot easier.
Think about the possibility of moving your layout. My original layout is a box frame, free-standing on legs. It’s 5x12 feet, and the layout of the house is such that it could probably be turned on its side and carried out, after removal of the legs. However, that would be a difficult job. For Phase 2, I’ve broken the new section into 3 distinct box frames. The pink foam base is separated at each seam, and I’m planning on track joints at each seam as well. The wires go through barrier strips. I plan continuous surface scenery, but that’s light and can be cut and repaired easily. The frame sections are all screwed together tightly, so they’re solidly attached, but
Start with - it will be DCC
Hang out with folks to see what you have missed - This is a great place
And look at buying these
http://model-trains-video.com/index.php
ratled