Hi, everyone I decided to jsign up here after looking around for awhile. I’m usually on the finescale modeler forums, but I recently rediscovered my love for model railroading. I hope to have a layout sometime in the future (I’m 19) but I figured it’s never too early to start collecting stuff, so I’ve been doing that. My favorite road is the Chicago & Northwestern with Burlington Northern coming in a close second. I’m sure I will find this forum quite enjoyable
-Matt
Welcome, Matt! I’m a C&NW fan myself. Grew up in southern Minnesota, with the tracks about a block from my house, and I’ve loved the C&NW paint scheme ever since.
You’ll enjoy the MR forums. There are some experienced, talented and friendly folks hereabouts, so if you can’t find info you need through the “search” function, don’t be afraid to ask.
What scale are you interested in?
HO…my dad started collecting trains when he was in college, so we have ALOT of old Athearn blue box trains- one locomotive was priced at $20!
He built small table layouts form time to time, but we moved around alot so nothing was ever permanent. Right now we just a simple little layout on a 4x7 table that we run trains on occasionally.
As for the C&NW, there used to be line that ran through my hometown in central wisconsin but it was abandoned in 1981 so I never knew it, but I’ve found the research and history to be very very interesting
[#welcome] You are never to young or to old to “play” with trains! It is a fun and rewarding hobby!
We are here to help so don’t be affraid to post questions in the correct forum for quick answers, we are here to help each other!
There are many years of experiences, opinions and knowlege to draw from here.
If you haven’t found it yet, There is on the right side margin a “search our community” feature where you can type in a key word to bring up threads that are related to your topic.
Kalmbach has many many helpful books that you can purchase online here or at your LHS {Local Hobby Shop} to help you along.
You say you have a 4x7 layout to “play on”. use that to experiment and learn on so you know what you can do in the future when you have your own space for a larger pike. Also, an N scale layout can be fit on a regular hollow core door that could be taken with you easily as you move around in life until you get settled. Just a thought to think about.
I have a very small light weight HO layout {5.1 feet x 3.5 feet} built with blue foam over open grid framework that was designed to travel with me to at least one new location when we buy a Model RailRoading space with a house covering it in about 2 years.
Again, [#welcome] !
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences, others may vary.
Hey Matt, glad to hear you’re interested in railroad history. I’ve always been a history buff myself, and have really enjoyed diving into the C&NW’s history to develop a (somewhat) plausible scenario for my fictional railroad. I’ve recently picked up a few books by a guy whose last name is Dorin. He wrote about C&NW freight and passenger services in the post-WWII era. I wouldn’t say the books are outstanding, but they’re certainly helpful.
And I’d certainly echo what Galaxy said: when you think about building your own layout, think hollow-core door. The portability is a tremendous feature. Few things are as disheartening as dismantling a perfectly good layout because you have to move.
It sounds like you’re pretty well entrenched in HO, thanks to your dad’s foresight in stocking up on some of the Athearn classics. That’s great! I enjoyed HO for 25 years before recently switching to N because it allows me to do more with less space. There’s a lot to be said for both scales.
Have fun, and enjoy that time with your dad!
Welcome Matt, you had better hurry over to The Teen Model Railroader Place as you have one year left to talk with us. If you have any questions, just ask.
My mistake…I forgot I just turned 20 a couple weeks ago
As for the history I’ve found some articles from a guy who lived lived by the large yard that was located on the western end of the line that used to run through my hometown. This guy was maybe 7 at the time but he remembered every last detail. He’s part of a club layout and his models that he details and weathers himself are outta this world. There was a Soo Line interchange in that town and his dad worked for the soo. The thing that came up alot was long freight trains, particularly a 5 loco 235 car train that wouldve passed through my hometown. Its hard to believe one of those rolling through town now, especially since the line ran right across main street and through the middle of the town