at the ripe age of 51 I am trying to get into building the train set I have always wanted.
I am open to any advice and ideas that are offered.
My layout is going to be an “L” shape of 2 tablels made from 4’x8’ material. back side will be 12’ on the long side with an 8’ short side. The front will be 8’ with a 4’ short side.
I am planning th stick with HO scale for now and when I get my other building I may step to O
any ideas? post or e-mail to michaelgunter55@bellsouth.net
Welcome to the forum and the hobby.
Before you start building, consider that in the same space you put your layout as you have it described, you can have a bigger more functional layout.
Also, read the Beginner’s guide below. It may save you some time and money.
Welcome to the forum. Skip has given good advice. I have two 4x8 but I have a 20x2 connecting them. Putting them together will make impossible reaches.
Do a lot read reading and looking. I went through a lot of mags looking at pictures until I knew what I wanted. Ho is certainly a popular scale for good reason.
Three things that are impotant early on
What time period, steam or diesel?
What location, moutains, woods, logging, city?
What is your first love, running train, making scenery or doing complicated switching. It is hard to have it all in the first try. I like mountains and running trains and that made the rest of the decisions more easy.
Keep us posted. We will be glad to give you more advice than you can use.
When you say, “Stick with HO for now,” are we to understand that you already have HO rolling stock and some locomotives? If so, then your decision is sensible in so far as it will reduce your initial costs. HOwever, the general consensus among we aging males is that our eyes and dexterity suffer over time, and the larger scales win favour before long due to their greater ease of handling, repairing, and visual appeal. Consider S scale, or going right to O if you want to keep your costs in check as a general rule over time.
We usually advise newcomers to pause and to do a fair bit of reading and research to help them to minimize wasted time and expenses getting into the wrong thread of modeling. As Art has said, there is much to consider. As Chip has offered, there is much to learn. Far better to get a solid grip on your druthers and givens with a useful (doable) plan and to go about its construction knowing that you have really thought this through.
Since you’re in the beginner stage, this first layout is a discovery/learning experience. The L shaped layout you describe will need access from both sides and the end with the leg since 4 ft is really too long a reach for construction and maintaince.
Assuming you have the access, this table top arrangement should work well since it is easy to build. Keep the track design fairly simple to start with, include a couple of passing sidings and some spurs. Don’t glue or solder anything until you have had a chance to try some different track arrangements. Build a few kits and do some simple scenery.
MR started a project layout with the January issue that may help.
Enjoy and welcome to the hobby
Paul
[#welcome] Welcome aboard!
As the posts before mine indicate, that first tentative foot in the water just might find an unexpected alligator! You didn’t mention whether or not you’ll be able to walk all the way around your L. If the wall is along the long side (or, worse yet, the two long sides) the reach-in distance is excessive for anyone not built like Michael Jordan. IMHO, anything over 27 inches is tempting fate. (Murphy’s first law of model railroading - the worst and most persistent problems always happen at the place that’s hardest to reach.)
Rather than tell you what I love, I’d rather tell you where to look for advice - John Armstrong. No one contemplating anything more complex than a circle around a Christmas tree should be without Track Planning for Realistic Operation. His layout design books offer a number of specific track plans (most of them designed for the customers of his professional layout planning service,) along with an explanation of, “why.” You’ll find that, once you’ve defined what kind of railroad you want, the track plan will almost design itself.
At age 69, I’ve found that HO isn’t beyond the capabilities of arthritic hands and weakened eyes (much better after laser surgery, but still way short of perfect.) If you do decide to go bigger, consider On30, which is O scale but runs on HO-gauge track. Selector is an avid S-scaler, but he does have a legitimate point. True O scale is only happy where you can swing WIDE curves. S scale is more forgiving. Industrial, trolley, logging and mining themes allow packing a lot into a small space, but also require more craftsmanship and adaptability on the part of the modeler.
It’s a big hobby, with lots of choices. Whichever way you decide to model flanged wheels running on steel rails, have fun.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)