I have been working on a model railroad for almost 4 months now, but, i still find myself in the idea stages. No track, or anything down, no plans for anything. I would like to ask for any input or ideas to help get my blood flowing again for modeling.
I am a HUGE fan of the N&WRR. Already been to see old 611 in person, and saw her as a boy on what I think was one of her last fan trips back in the late 80’s or earlyer 90’s. I live in the Petersburg Va area and want to model the line in that area. So, call the line from Crewe or so to the east… I am a N scale lover and belive that will give me the most for my room. I also live in a apartment so, I till have to be built to move. I also love steam so, mid 1950s if my time frame!!
Get something up and put track down, plop a train on it and run it.
Anything to actually GET going on your railroad. Mine was a 5 foot straight track on a workbench for about 7 years before I finally got off my chair.
Get up and put something down today. THAT will motivate you faster than anything else. First a engine, then some wires and power then some feeders, then some scenery, perhaps a industry etc. Your first switch etc.
Got more done plopping track in 3 years than the last 30 in the armchair.
I agree with both previous posters. Reading and pondering is best done assiduously and up front. It doesn’t have to be 200 hours of it, but maybe 10-20? In the meantime, get some track down in something that you fancy for a layout, just tacked into place, wire it up non-permanently, and power some small trains around it. Find out what you don’t really want or like, and try to mesh it with how your learning goes. If you get bored with something like a loop or a folded loop, even with some sidings and a couple of industry spurs, then you at least know that much when it comes to settling on a firm track plan. But, you should begin to flesh out some ideas and play as soon as you can. Later, with some hard decisions, your spending (both time and money) will be more focused and you will get your dream realized quicker’n you think.
Remember, though, that even what you have been going through is part of your journey, and the journey is really 50-70% of any hobby fun. Don’t feel bad about what you have experienced so far. [:)]
Visit train club open houses and train shows in your area. MR has event listings here, and you can use Google to find them, too. These are great opportunities to see real layouts and look for ideas.
Download one of the free track-planning programs. I’d recommend Atlas RTS (www.atlasrr.com) for a simple starter. If you’re up for a bit more learning curve, XtrakCad (www.sillub.com) is a more capable program. These will let you start thinking about your layout space, and you will begin to understand curves and what can fit where. It’s a lot easier to throw out your layout and start again if it’s only on your computer disk.
Don’t be tempted to buy too much at the start. Most of us have shelves full of “why did I buy that?” items that seemed like a good idea at the time. Your layout will not all come to you in a brilliant flash of inspiration. Rather, it will evolve and grow slowly. Don’t worry if the tracks ahead look a bit foggy. It’s just part of the adventure.
What I do for layout design (have done so far) is define my area and benchwork first. Next I decide on a theme. (Mainline running, with a branch line(?) or other special interests.) Then I put in a mainline. I am fond of twice around the room types divided by scenery and grades.
Since I have gotten into operations, I also have a staging area of some sort, whether it is a lay-over for entire trains, or a yard that simulates an interchange yard. One track in staging is a through track for continuous running. If I put cars on it, the layout becomes point to point for operations.
Next I try and determine how many small towns I can have, and possibility one city with a yard and loco facilities, without them crowding one another. Usually small yards and facilities unless I have the room for larger ones. I will try to fit in a way-side industry or two just for variation as long as it won’t crowd things.
Then I go looking at plans for modular railroads. I look for ones that would make good towns or cities because their track plans are usually fairly compact, and most of the way they will be switched is already determined with a good track plan themselves.
Because I freelance, I don’t worry about town and city names etc., but if you want to model a specific prototype, you can name the towns as the railroad you are modeling would, and build or plan you scenery to suite the area you want to model. Also, some of the industries that may be recognizable in a town you choose to name from a real one may have to be built or otherwise implied to achieve the “feeling” of the real town.
When building starts, I try and get all of the benchwork built first. Then plan where the towns will go and install the mainline to get some trains running. Then I work on one of the yards so I can store stuff when not running. Then I plug along on the other track work and scenery design and continue from there.
Because I work in a limited space I use a short mainline from A the junction to B the industry and return… basically a branch.
Built the industry and moved the tracks around until I found a pattern of trackwork that validates all possible switching to a specific operation of that industry that works. Then I worked out onto the main, hammered out grades or no grades, passing sidings, staging etc.
It’s not all there yet. Just the other day i swapped a switch out and flipped two buildings after about 7 months of wondering how I could improve that particular dock area and free up 4 inches for a run around to fit?
ok, is there any way to find out with there are any layouts near were I live that I should go and see, like club lists or the like?
To tell the truth, this will be the 4th or 5th layout I have started, never realy got anything good out of what came before, planned and wanted more then what I could do, so I want to have a plan of what I am going to do before so I can have a hope in hell of making to a state were I would love to show it off.
I also have layout under construction but can’t run any trains yet. I joined an N-Trak club so I could run trains and get some great ideas for my new layout all of the time from the guys. And to tell you the truth, I’ve been in model railroading since 1977 but in the 4 to 5 months I’ve been in the club, I’ve learned more about railroads and model railroading in particular, than I had learned in the previous 31 years.
The best thing you can do, at least in my opinion, is to find a N-Trak, One-Track or similar club in your area and go down there and see what they are all about. If you find you like them, join. It’ll be money well spent.
I looked into that, but the only two that my loacl hobbyshop had known of have both closed down in the last year or so. Right now, closest one is about a 2 hour drive from my house.
I took some time away from planing, and came back to it last weekend, still nothing. I tryed laying some track, but, I am the type of person, that if I dont have a plan of what I am doing, then what I do, ends up looking like crap!
I know about the area and time frame I want to do, just cant plan HOW to do it or lay it out or build it. Thats what is holding me back!
Take a trip to a big box lumber store like Home Depot or Lowes. Dont buy anything, just walk among the wood products and think about what you could do with them to build a train table. Alot of good bits in a place like that. A peice of wood this long to that peice shorter. Then two more like peices make a rectangle. Now for plywood or other surface on top for a shelf. Voila! A small start for a layout.
Trackwork should not hold you back. Let’s say you have a engine. It needs a engine house or round house right? Maybe your space is too small for roundhouse so you get a two stall engine house.
Great. Now pick a corner and stick that engine house there. Grab some cheap sectional track and start laying. One switch to serve both stalls of the engine house.
Suddenly you want either a fuel rack or coal tower/water tower to go with the engine house.
And one depot later (Any size) you are now a headquarters of a railroad with a freight agent ready to take orders from local shippers and recievers.
Now you probably already have a million rolling stock. Pare down to about 12 or so, put them on the railroad with the engine and caboose. Suddenly you have a train.
Where do you want the train to go? Well? We can all never ever have enough money or space… so we make do.
Personally I cannot stand driving a train into the next town while the caboose hasnt yet left the previous town that the train departed from. I have a real problem with that. So I use just one town on my loop and call everywhere else “Beyond the house…” imaginary track connection to those points.
Maybe you have a coal mine in one corner. take empty coal cars up the track, swap for loaded coal cars, then take them to town on the other side of the railroad and unload the coal into a power plant or a harbor barge for export or off layout power plant.
Track patterns are either two around, oval, figure 8, out and back, dog bone, folded dogbone… simple stuff.
Have you looked at e.g. http://maps.live.com to look at the area - old or new tracks, lay of the land, landmarks etc. Tracks may have changed - but rivers and hills doesn’t move much.
Got any pictures of the Norfolk and Western in the area you want to model ? That’s a good basis for thinking about what you would like to see on your layout.
Have you thought about what exites you - coal drags? Passenger traffice? Switching boxcars? Adding and removing helpers to a train going over a pass ? Engine service area ?
Where do you picture yourself: trackside watching the trains pass by or on a hilltop half a mile away watching the trains pass around a curve or over the hill (the railfan view), driving the train (engineer view), planning switching moves (conductor view), planning where trains will meet and scheduling trains (dispatcher view), or something else ?
well, I have been to the local home store…both of them, god you have to love Home de pot and lowes!! All the crap you will never need and not one Ahole in the place that knows a nail from a light bulb!! HAHA. Sorry to those of you who work at those stores.
Mores to the point. im still at a loss for idea. My main stoping block is HOW I should set up my layout. With my wishes, N&W from around crewe or so to the eastern end of the line, at or just past petersburg Va, what would be the best way to lay it out. Island, around the wall or some other idea. The space I have is about 11x11 or so. Only two doors in it are both on one wall, in the corners. Shoting for N scale would give me the best bang for my buck and space I have.
Might I suggest you take a look at my “Beginner’s Guide to Layout Design” (Click below.) It takes about 5 minutes and might give you a few things to think about.