Hello everybody, I am new to the hobby of model railroading but have wanted to start for the last few years. I started to read a bit online but have become quite overwhelmed with the amount of information and things or options that are involved. Does anybody have a good recommendation for the best way to start out? Should I buy a model railroad book or two before I spend a bunch of money? Thank you for the help!
Welcome to the hobby. Keep your wallet in your pocket for a while. Visit a local hobby shop (LHS) and a local club or two and introduce yourself. Ask lots of questions and be sure to listen to the answers and advice.
I agree with Left Coast that you should do some research before you start buying things. Kalmbach (the sponsor of this site) publishes a variety of books that answer many of the questions you will have in getting started. There are also sites on the internet such as Chip Engleman’s http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beginner/BeginnersGuide01.html that are helpful. Welcome and Good Luck. Use this forum to get clarification on the questions that you will have. There is a wealth of expertise here waiting to be tapped.
Joe
I forgot to mention that I don’t live in the States right now, so no access to any local shops or groups. My first item is what scale to get, HO or N? I only have about as much space for a 4x8 table or less but once I move back to the States I could have a whole room to work with. I’m leaning toward HO and just using the 4x8 to experiment with different tracks, wiring, scenery, etc until I have more space for a bigger layout.
If you are trying to decide what scale, that’s a personal preference, you really should get your hands on locos/cars for both and then decide which one you like.
Get this book, it’s the model railroaders bible. Book
Another decision you must make is running either DC or DCC system. I would reccomend just going DCC because of the easy wiring. And supports digital and sound for your locos.
Good luck, have fun.
Sounds like you already have an idea of what you want to do. As others have stated, get a few books and that will assist you as far as what and how to model… The nice thing about the hobby is that you are the president of the railroad and you can do as much or as little as you want. There is a lot of experience on this site and guys are more than willing to help. You can get the positives and negatives on almost any topic. Welcome to the hobby.
I would suggest that instead of trying to model a “complete” railroad you use your space for a small switching layout to experiment with. You can use this to try out ideas, get used to equipment, etc. If you come up with something you like it can always be incorporated into your larger, future layout.
Joe
Welcome to the wonderful world of model railroading. Since you did not say where you are located, except outside the States, I am wondering about what type electrical power you have available. I spent a dozen years stationed in Germany with the Army. The electrical current available there is 220 Volts and 50 cycles. I think that is fairly standard throughout Europe, though it has been over 20 years since I was there. My point is that before I invested bunches of money in electrical items (specifically power packs or Digital Command Control (DCC) systems, I would be sure you can operate them in both locations. I know that you can buy a transformer to reduce the current from 220 to 110 for a standard power pack to operate your trains, but I am not sure what effect, if any, a reduction of cycles will have upon a DCC system. I do know that a US electric clock will lose 1 minute every six minutes. I am sure that some of the DCC Guru’s on this site will be able to answer that question. Once again, welcome to not only this site, but to the joys of model railroading
Kevin
Welcome aboard Squirrel. While you’re reading and determining what to get, I’d pick up some track and a nice loco and have a little fun. The equipment can always be reused.
Well first off welcome and secondly don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as possible. There are no stupid or newbie questions. You didn’t mention how long it is b4 you move back to the states. If your talking quite a while then yes you may want to experiment with building a small layout just to work on your techniques such as track laying ballasting scenery techniques etc. Even a small diorama with track may be a good idea. Sort of like building a module as one would do when building a modular layout.
Buying books is an excellent idea doing research and learning what you don’t know is always an powerful tool and lets face it books don’t go bad reference material is always important. I must have over a hundred model railroading books of various subjects and all are very useful.
As far as what type of layout you wan to build that will come in time after you do your research. what era do you like, do you prefer steam or diesel, do you want to build a railroad for operation or rail fanning, what size track will best suit your needs code 100 or code 83, do you want a railroad with a lot of sidings servicing industries or do you want one that serves agrarian business like grain mills and cattle operations, what geographical part of the country do you want to model, do you have a specific railroad in mind or do you want to run many different pieces of equipment. How serious of a prototype modeler do you want to be or do you just want to have fun with it and don’t really care weather you have a freight car that was built in the right year or is the correct color scheme.
These are all questions that you will see posted here, not saying you need to sit down and make a list of all of them and check off as you answer them of course not. My point is there is a lot to know before you get started and don’t make the costly mistake many of us have including myself by being in too much of a hurry to start building. You may in fact want to look in to some of the layout kits such as Woodland Scenics
Thanks for all the posts thus far. I read the engelmann article that was helpful. Kevin also brings up a good point about the electricity. I live in Poland and I’m not sure how that will affect my DCC going through a transformer. The electricity is safe but like you said, the cycles are off.
I have picked up a “getting started in the hobby” guide on Amazon and also that “realistic train operations” book too.
Any other must read books to get me started?
edit: I will be in PL for 2 more years, and yes packing up my stuff is going to be important…
I would get something on wiring a layout. Either for DC or DCC. There is a lot of wiring and electrical work that you will have to know and do to make a layout run good.
In my opinion, DCC is for folks who have made up their mind that Model Railroading is THE hobby for them and they are going to stick to it. If you are not sure, go with DC control because it is less expensive.
I wouldn’t worry about the power too much. Several of the manufacturers use power sources that can easily be switched out. What matters is matching the DC voltage. You could simply swap them with a local source.
[#welcome]
I just got back into the hobby 3-4 years ago after many years hiatus since I was a child/teen.
Your choices of HO and N will offer you some consideration. Ho is often cheaper than N scale often due to its popularity, Nscale on a 4x8 will allow you a major layout, while limit you with HO to tighter radius curves and smaller equipement to run on those tighter radii. YOu will have to decide to go DC or DCC. I would go straight to DCC, though it more expensive to get into than DC.{see below}. If you are not too electronics savy, and go DCC then stick with buying locos that are already DCC equiped, though they will be more expensive. ANy DC loco that is “DCC ready” can be a loose term from “plug and play” DCC decoders to some serious soldering and wiring in the DCC Decoder. You will need ot decide what type of train -steam-diesel-transition/both older or newer that you want to run.
As others have said, read a few books on layout types, operations and particularly wiring. DCC is easier to wire than DC, but many will stick with DC. I took to DCC as I have a very small HO layout and technically I could get away with the “two wires attached to the track and off you go with your locos under your control” idea. It’s not quite that easy, especially for larger layouts,but the mess of wiring I was looking at for what I wanted to do in DC would have been, well more than I wanted to deal with.I also think DCC will be the wave of the future and stick around well.
Also as some have said, Keep your wallet closed for awhile, until you know better what you want. I went through a period where I bought cheap DC stuff just to play with to get me running trains that I now regret. You may also find yourself wanting at least two or three of everything, and you will want it yesterday, and you will want to spend the $$ like the two or three of everything was only at $2 a piece. I still see more than I need and o
I’m sure there are dozens of groups in Poland but the scale of choice my be TT.
I’m an N-scaler, and I can tell you that N-scale has really come a long, long way in the last 20 years. The locomotives run great (if you stick with the better manufacturers like Kato, Atlas, Athearn and Lifelike/Walthers) and the level of detail available on cars now is amazing. If your space is limited N-scale definetly lets you pack in more railroad. I also agree with the post by the person that reccomends Kalmbach books. Whether you choose N or HO, take a look at one of their "Getting Started in … books. They also have several good books on planning model railroads and model railroad operations. Good luck and enjoy!
I actually want to purchase a Polish local railway called PKP IC, however, they do not make the locomotives in DCC. I can later on down the line, re-program the locomotive for DCC from DC correct?
In the meantime while my books get shipped to me, what kind of tools do I need to get me started? I need to setup some kind of sturdy base for a 4x8 tabletop to put my layout on.
One other question, what kind of track is recommended to start out? I was thinking the snap track with built in road bed and then move to the flex track or whatever it’s called that you put ballast on.
OK
1} I don’t know how a Polish railway loco would be built/wired so don;t know how easy/hard it is to rewire to DCC later on. Perhaps one of the European guys can help. I do question what electricity does it use?
2} TOOLS- where do I start and where do I stop? You will need a good set of small screwdrivers- the jewerly repair set kind. In both philips and straight. Depending on your eyes, you may need a magnifying glass of some type that is hands free. You may need to purchase sprue nippers for plastic kits if you build any kits. If you use rail that needs to be cut, you will need rail nippers…NOT to be confused or interchanged with the plastic sprue nippers! You will probably need a soldering iron to solder your feeder wires. If you wish to scratchbuild out of wood, you will need wood working tools…the miniature ones there are a variety. There are many more that you may not know you need until you need it, then have to find it. Some you will stumble across and wonder how you ever did without it!
MICROMARK is a good source for MMR tools and such. Try them here: http://www.micromark.com/
3} Track usage is up to you. There is the prefab Nickle Silver {NS} gray roadbed track is o.k. DONT get the black roadb