Hi I’m new to the hobby, after my wife told me cars were getting way to expensive as we near retirement. I’ve always had a fascination with the railways and thought I would give it a go. So we purchased as a starter a Powerline train set, which features a F3a GM loco and three ‘Budd’ type passenger coaches. A good start I guess, but here is what I have found so far, as I begin my HO railroad experience.
Do I stay with DC, or go the whole hog, and go DCC?
Couplings, so confusing here. The set I have uses the Lima/European couplling, but when I look in the stores to see what else I’d like, there are Kadee type couplers, and one or two others as well, The Kadee couplers look more realistic, and I know some can be interchanged, but how do you do that, when the existing coupler is molded to the bogie?
Most of the layouts I have seen in the magazines feature Loco/freight or at best Loco/long distance coach set ups, I have yet to see much in the way of a typical suburban layout. Even here in Australia, only one shop I know of has a suburban car set, which is based on a 60 year old configuration. Is there some reason for this non showing of a typical modern era (say 70’s to the present) suburban layout?
And lastly, I was so pleased to see an Aussie 48 class loco in the last Model Railroader I bought. Which brings me to another question, are there any modellers in the US doing Aussie layouts
Hello, and welcome to this vastly interesting hobby. If there is anyting about Model Railroading that sets it aside from other hobbies, it is the number of skills you will learn along the way…
In my opinion, stick with the DC for your first layout… you can always convert later, but if you get into it building your layout and decide it isn’t for you, then there’s one less wasted expense. I’m sure there’s someone doing Aussie style railroading here, there’s someone doing everything else… search the forums, also if you subscribe to MR you can search the trackplan database… Never underestimate the power of Google…
Thanks Jim, getting a subscription is high on my list, especially as there are times when I go to the newsagent or hobby shop and they have run out. A question, how can I justify or logically have two different nationality trains/loco’s on a layout. Because I love my Aussie trains, but both my wife and I like the look of a lot of the US loco’s as well.[8)]
You don’t need to justify having stock from two different nations, of course, since model railways are meant to be fun, and you’re free to do as you choose. But if it worries you, you could consider dividing your layout into regions. I know one guy here in Oz who has German, Swiss and British stock on his layout, each region ‘fenced off’ with scenic backdrops, but with tracks continuing throughout.
My layout is UK one side and US the other, with a continuous run.
That’s especially difficult when a long-distance overseas shipment is necessary. Perhaps you could explain that the overseas units were purchased used and have yet to be relettered.
Thanks guys. Yes I thought about the split scenery aspect. My first layout will be on a 10’ * 5’ pineboard table. I’m doing the reinforcing and legs for it now. As for cutting of the molded couplings, the fellow in the store (Hobbyco) said I could do this, but exactly how do you mount the kadee coupling direct to the body.
Oh and my first US loco will be one of the versions of the EMD 70 series, I haven’t yet decided on a brand as yet. Strangely the Bachman “Desert King” set looks nice, but it is not prototype to the actual loco units, close but not quite. The one I have my eye on is in UP livery and costs about $250 here, more if you want the full DCC version
Your Kadee needs to be housed in its little draft gear box [I think they’re called] I superglue mine onto the body. Because it’s likely you’d have to pack styrene sheet or similar between gear box and body, a Kadee coupler height gauge would make the job easier.
My layouts share a 9x5 table, so it’s similar to your setup. Some sort of ‘walkaround’ handheld controller is invaluable under these circumstances, and if finances hadn’t been a consideration I would’ve gone straight to DCC, but I already had plenty of DC stuff.
Yes thanks Mike, while I was maching here at work (I have a CNC lathe running) I wnet googling and found some instructions. So I guess I have some Kadee’s to buy on the weekend, along with a beautiful 44 class Alco I saw on the net at Tom’s Hobbies[:D]
G’Day, Mate! Always nice to hear from the folks Down Under!
You may want to reconsider the pine board table - sounds awfully heavy and hard to work with. I’d suggest either L-girder, or box frame, with 1/4" or 3/8" plywood sub-roadbed. Not that over-engineering is necessarily a bad thing - I tend to use 2x4s anwhere a 1x2 or 2x2 would do, myself! [:)]
Body-mounting Kadees is easy. First, get a Kadee coupler height gauge. Clip off the couplers on the bogie (or truck, as we Yanks call them), and toss 'em. Using styrene, build up a pad on the underside of the body, under the end, large enough for the draft gear box (the Kadees come with them) and thick enough for the coupler to mount at the correct height. The best way to mount them is to drill and tap a hole in the mounting pad for a 3/16" x 2-56 screw. Fasten the assembled coupler and draft gear box to the pad with the screw (the draft gear box has a hole through it for precisely this purpose). Done.
It takes longer to write down the description of the process than to do it.
Oh, you can glue the couplers on, but that doesn’t allow for removal, if necessary.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress. And if there are any questions, there are a ton of folks on here who are delighted to share their knowledge and experience.
Thanks Gary, good advice, though I’ve already bought the pineboard (13mm or 1/2") and as the layout will be in the garage, and won’t likely to be moved at any time in the future, I’ll stick with it. But when I’m likely to extend, I’ll certainly go with your suggestions. And the couplers I’ll get sorted out over the weekend, as at the moment I have only one Loco and three carraiges, so not a lot of work there.
Kansas City eh, my grandmother (mom’s mother) was from there[:D]
Damn good idea Bob, as US and Aussie geography can at times overlap in certain area’s, except for the style of some structures (ie stations) no one would notice…much[:D]
Actually you would have very little trouble running the locos from two different nationalities. Union Pacific Units ran Toronto/Montreal in the early 60’s, Canadian units and US units regularly run internationally. In NSW, there are ex Danish box cab units running trains for what was Lachlan Valley.
There were imported units on Hamersley Iron including an Alco C415 (very rare - I think it weas the actual Alco demonstrator) as well as two Western Pacific F7’s and a few SD40’s and SD40-2’s which ran in US company colours here, and strangely enough, 5 SD50’s and 3 U36C’s which were built here in Australia were bought by US companies and there are pictures of these running on US trains in Hamersley colours. Flying Scotsman 4472 hauled NSW stock when it was here in 1988/89 and Great Western Railways Pendennis Castle “lived” at Dampier but was transported to Perth to meet Flying Scotsman in 1988/89.
Two ex New Haven and 8 Canadian National 4-6-0’s as the CA and CN classes ran on the then Commonwealth Railways from about 1942 to the early 1950’s. Ex Trailer Train flatcars were bought in and stored at Pt Augusta for interstate traffic. A few US hopper cars have been imported for ballasting works. Commonwealth Railways three Budd cars were off the shelf US products ( There were 5 others in NSW but these were shorter home built cars along with the later Prospector cars in Western Australia). South Australia had an off the shelf English Ruston Hornsby 0-4-0 shunter at the ICI works in Adelaide. I have a photo of a CR NSU hauling a British train in the UK on test. Many units built for overseas railways test ran in Sydney in the late 50’s/early 60’s.
There have been ex New Zealand Railway Units running in Tasmania and ex Queensland diesels in a modified scheme running in NZ. There are also ex Hong Kong Clyde built G-8s running in South Australia.
Ex Victorian Railways S313 has also been painted in paint schemes similar
I use this rationale for my US outline trains on an Aussie layout. A private owner railroad on the east coast (of Oz) that bought and reused old US rollingstock. The plan is to repaint the locos in my own road colour scheme one day.
I’d recomment Trevors idea of body mounting Kaydee couplers as long as you keep your curves as large a radius as you can fit.
You’ve got a golden opportunity here. You can be the first to model the result of the Austrailia/United States tunnel under the Pacific. What the heck, they’ve done the channel, it’s just a little longer, that’s all.
Seriously though, having to choose between two (or more) equally attractive alternatives is one of the most common struggle we model railroaders have. Oh well, just enjoy and do what satisfies you.
Thanks to everyone for you replies, your all have given me some good advice and great ideas. I didn’t realise though that there was so much cross nation train swapping, though I have seen photo’s of the BHP loco in the States. Hmmm a tunnel eh, well as a SCi-Fi fan as well (Stargate) it could be easily explained.[:D]