Hi I have just recived my first model train layout from my parents for Christmas and I need help fixing it up so it will look good. If any one has any sujestions I will be happy to try them.[8D]
Joey.p. 13 M IN
welcome to the forums !
best advice i can give you at this point is to read through old messages until you get some ideas about what you want to do with the hobby . the question you asked is equivilant to “i just bought a car , where should i go ?” without more information from you about what you’re interested in , how much space you have , what railroads you’re interested in , what time period you’re interested in and even how much time and/or money you want to put into a layout , it’s hard for us to give you advice
[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]First of all Joey, welcome to the forum. You have came to the perfect place for lots of great information from many very talented modlers.
Sounds like a fantastic Christmas present. Being that your parents are involved in your hobbie you will have to decide. Most modelers start out with a 4 X 8 as a starting or beginner railroad.
Invite you Parents to the hobbie shop to get a book on Getting started in model railroading. Atlas has a good beginner book that has a lot of track plans. You might also mention to your parents that there is a lot of skills involved with this hobbie as you continue with it.
Perhaps you might be a bit more specific with your posts, let us know what scale, steam or diesel, or if there is a time period you would like to model. As you get into this worlds greattest hobby let us know of any problems you have, Dont worry about if the question is stupid or not, the only stuped question is the one that isnt asked…Take care…John
Good to see you here, Joe, your folks opened the door to a lot of fun for you.
Assuming you plan to do the whole deal, a finished, scenic’ed layout where you can run realistic train operations, the big picture probably looks something like this.
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Decide on a type of layout and operations you want to run. Important questions include, what era, like old steam, newer steam, transition( steam and diesel), or modern diesel, what kind of area, mountains, flatlands, coastal/port area, etc, and what kinds of industries your railroad will serve, logging, mining, steel, lumber, consumer goods like food and clothing, etc. Do you want to model a specific railroad, an imaginary railroad based on a specific railroad, a whoo;y imaginary railroad, a specific time period, multiple time periods, etc?
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Decide how much space you can allocate for a railroad. The standard 4 foot by 8 foot layout on a piece of plywood makes it a real pain in the neck to deal with inevitable derailments and other issues if pushed against a wall. If you an devote a whole room, or at least one corner of a room to a train layout, you can do a shelf type layout up against the walls, probably no wider than three feet so you can reach all areas easily. Remember to figure in room for all the stuff you need to scenic a layout, paints, glues, soldering irons, woodworking and modelling tools, maybe a workspace with good lighting (not necessarily right by the layout, but the further you go, the longer each trip will be, and you’ll be making a LOT of trips back and forth), maybe even an area to paint buildings and trees and railroad cars. Remember to think about electrical outlets. You need at least one to run a six way outlet strip, and figure on at least two power packs (the one that came with a train layout is great for running turnout motors, but jerky and a pain for running trains) whatever power tools you end up using, like a Dremel Moto-tool or drill or jigsaw, some lights for both the layout and for your work area,
Wow Jeff.
YOu can get some good books at you local library. If you got a set, go ahead and set up the loop so you can run and play. But try to avoid building something until you know what you like. IT is a lot cheaper to plan than to build, tear down and rebuild.
Welcome. Jeff got you started. Now as you progress, you can ask specific questions and we will help. Have fun and welcome to the club.
I saved a link, might be we have need for it frequently over the next few weeks, no? Consider it public domain, point to it as needed, save the real effort for the rarer and more complicated questions.
BTW, merry christmas!
hello again and thank you one and all[wow]. Ther is one slight problem that I forgot to mention in the original post. The problem is that the layout is alrighty set up it just needs repairs. my parents baught it at an antiec store it was built home made by some one in louisvile I dont know their name. I can tell it is realy old because the tape on the wires (dosent know what they meen) is about to fall off. I would realy like to know what the numbers and letters meen also I would like to know how to conect the wires to the right place so it will work if you all need a picture of the layout I will be happy to send one to your e-mail adderess just tell me your name and e-mail adderess just state it below the messege and again thank you
Joey.P.
Actually Joey, if you give us the picture right here on the forum it’d be much easier. To do this all you need to do is upload your photo to a photo-hosting site. I use photobucket.com. Then, you take the URL of the photo itself and put an [ img ] tag at the front of it and a [ /img ] tag at the end, just without the spaces in those tags. I paticularly like photobucket.com because it does this step for you.
well I’m new to the photo uploading pictures so if u could walk me through it it wold be muchg appreciated thx
Joey,your profile does not mention exactually which area that you live in.
If you are in the Louisville,Ky. area;please drop me an email,and possibly
I can be of some help to you.
Either go to my profile,or look at my signature on the bottom of a post,and click on email.
bondjoe0078, The first thing I would do here, is change your profile so your street address isn’t given…
To post a photo, you need a host, such as http://www.photobucket.com … It’s a free service and you can upload as many photos as you care to (to a limit of course) and then just post a link inside one of your messages… You can simply post a link or you can put the link between two image quotes using square brackets (next to the backslash key under the backspace) instead of parenthasees like this…
(image)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/jjmel/Flowers/P1040205m.jpg(/image)
){kind=link}
and your image will appear inline or a simple clickable link to the entire album…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/jjmel/Flowers/
Note… For demo purposes only, no train related photos in the albums…
Jeff
ok every one the digital camera thing is not workin right so i’ll work on it and see what i can do
[] sorry every one my digital camra wont work so i cant send any pictures till i get it fixed and again i’m srry
if any one looks at this I need help again I re layed the track because the track was to big for N scale trains and too small for HO. I just finished re-laying the track last night. I put the train on the track and I hocked the wires into the transformer turned it on ect. and it did not work! I am thinking that there is a short in the wires that i hooked up to the track.
Today my father will take me to the hobby shop (for the five millionth time [:D]) and will buy some new wires and see if that works. The wires I am useing are those wires tat have the one wire put on the conecter and on the other end u strip the wire and hook it into the transformer. These are the wires I think that are having the problem. I am positivly shure that I hooked the wires into the right place. just so u know I tryed all of my trains and none of them made any sound or lit up. If any one can help I need a reply by 3:50 today (I dont meen to sound bossy) thx in addvanse.
Do you know for sure that the transformer works? Perhaps you can test it by taking a short section of track (a couple of feet) that is not part of the layout. Connect one of the transformer wires to one rail, and the other to the other rail. If you can not get a locomotive to move on this short test track then it could be a bad power pack.
hi i am shure it is not the transformer because i tested it just like u told me and if any one else reads this if u can plz help
random thought about the transformer - if it is an older/standard DC one, it will have four terminals on it (2 AC, and 2 DC) make sure you’re using the DC terminals.
i know that Lifelike made these as did other companies and sold them with ready to run sets, they are/were generally blue (for LL), or black with red control dials
i am pretty shure I put them in the right place any other thoughts?
alright, just had that though because i had done that once or twice when i got started(though caught the mistake before ruining anything).
also if this was an antique store acquisition, there might be years of dirt on the tracks and/or the wheels of the locos and cars. try giving them a good cleaning.