I started out with a 4x6 board and an Amtrak train[:)]. From then I now have a 4x8 or 10 board, a load of cars -very nice ones at that, like a CSX engine with spirit of Tampa written on it and a really nice Acela (which my dad has crashed twice) and a lot of buildings everything from European style 70’s apartments to a restraunt and auto shop to a Japanese train station (I cant read the instructions when they’re written in that chicken scratch). Bottom line is: I want to model my layout in; I want to focus on something, but I don’t know what, so your ideas help. Dad says we’ll take everything out some time soon… If only my neighbor would clean out her attic and find the other boxes of train stuff with the cool steam engine c’est la vie
First off, [#welcome] to the forum!
Have you done any reading? There are a number of books available from the library which provide histories of the various railroads. Have you watched trains? Do you prefer switching local industries or watching a long coal or grain or stack or manifest freight roll by? From your original post, you seem to like steam engines. Have you considered modeling the 20’s or 30’s? Do you prefer passenger over freight trains?
These are some of the many questions you will need to answer in order to determine how and where you want to focus your layout.
again, [#welcome] to the forum.
Tom
I feel your pain. I have a few industrial buildings from the sixties and seventies. I also have a european style building with a shop on the first floor. An example of what I’m doing. I am taking the european building and turning it into a german style pub. You can probably find a purpose for most of what you have. If it doesn’t fit into what you want, change it. Paint goes a long way in changing things. You will probably have to pick some sort of unifying theme to your layout though.
sell it all and buy brass LOL.
haha i was kidding!!! BTW [#welcome]
you have a 4X8 board. so do I. a number of modelers dislike the 4X8, but everyones got to start somewhere. i want to see some pictures or at least a better description of your layout. more details like a power system, track, and maybe your best locomotive.
so about the plan, sift through your collection and do some research on the roadname that shows up the most in your collection. if you want something a little easier, try finding a car that has an interesting paint scheme and do some research on that roadname. me, i started with a trainset and now i model the CPRail because the trainset had that roadname.
i’m also wondering about everything in general. is everything in fine condition (with just a few broken)?
hehe well apparently you have a great neighbor. she may give you some of those trains if you’re lucky.
i also forgot to ask: what scale(s) do you have? HO? N? O?
Since most of what you mention is passenger-related equipment, and some random buildings, why not start with a Northeast Corridor theme? Pick - at random? - some suburb between Washington DC and Boston MA. Look for photos in any book you can find that talks about the area. (You will be looking at the background probably, not the intended subject.) Read about the Pennsylvania Railroad, electric locomotives, Penn Central, and Conrail. As for a track plan, build the station and put it plus a few non-industry buildings on one side of the table. Put some industries and spurs on the other side. An 8’x2’ blue styrofoam insulation block runs $10 and looks like sky. Stand this on edge down the middle of the table. (You may need to cut a bit off one end to make it fit.) Now if you want to run passenger trains one day you can stand on one one side of the table, and if you want to do industrial freight switching tomorrow, take the control over to the other side.
A book titled 48 Top-Notch Track Plans may offer you some inspiration.
Based on my own experience as a kid, 4x8 is not enough room to run a classic passenger train in HO scale; the cars are too long to get around the curves. But for the time being - until you find out what really grabs your attention and sounds like fun - you can use them as an excuse to hear clickety-clack while you concentrate on learning other parts of the hobby, like how to make scenery and build kits and do research. Inthe long run, it all does balance out.
OK, for more info:
I do HO Scale and have actually probably more freight stuff than passenger and try to run them equally.As for freight cars, I have 2 CSX phosphate cars an old Chessie System grain Car, a few assorted cars like a Rio Grande boxcar a fuel car, some closed-top gondola car (top optional) a seaboard coast Line Engine (my Dad’s friend, not the neighbor does this hobby a lot and also helps me and in this case fixed the engine) an auto-rack car which I will stack match-box cars on[swg]. I see trains whenever I go to the YMCA usually 7-20 cars long and I don’t care what type of freight train it is-- I LIKE TRAINS!!! I use a Magnum power pack and as for passenger cars I have many 30’s style Pullman cars (5) and a normal Amtrak train. Everythings in good condition (dad’s friend helped me fix the Acela) My board is 4x10
Hi,
A good place to is my “Beginner’s guide to Layout Design” which you can get to in my signature. It takes about 5 minutes to read.
I have nothing against the 4 x 8, but after a while, I’ve come to realize that running loops get’s old. With the space you have, you can build a nice operational layout that will keep you busy for a long time. You may just have to build your 4 x 8 loop and run some other layouts before you figure it out. I did.