Hello all. Im Brit, a 25 year old father of one, currently engaged. I am new to modeling, though I have loved trains since my parents gave me my first one when I was 6. I still have a few of the locomotives to this day, thought they are currently damaged (issues with the wheels/axles). I admit I have never modeled before so this will be a new experience for me. For years I have wanted to build models but havent been able, mainly do to the reason that I havent had the room or time to. My fiance has given me the thumbs up as long as I dont run the credit cards up past a resonable amount. That being said, please bare with me as I may, will, ask many questions. Thanks to all in advance.#####
As far as my current plans or ideas go for my first build, I am going to go with HO scale. From most of the videos and pictures I have seen, I love the look of mountains and tunnels, with an industrial type theme, oil rigs, construction, mining, etc, so naturally thats what Ill be going with. I also think the first “new” locomotive I will get will be a older/classic engine, most likely an Athearn 4-8-2.##### Most likely for now I will start out by getting the layout designed and start getting the proper materials needed to start construction. The majority of the build will have to start taking place somewhere after Christmas, unless I hit the lottery before hand.##### So, any tips/hints/tricks/advice for a newbie? Thanks again
Since an Athearn 4-8-2 is at the top of your wish list, is it safe to assume you’re interested in modeling a U.S.-themed route?
Best advice for anyone new to the hobby: See if you can find yourself a copy of “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” by John Armstrong. It’s a great primer on why railroads are laid out the way they are. It’s an easy read and a handy reference, and you might find it an indispensable tool as you design your first layout. I’ve read and re-read two copies to pieces over the last 25 years, and I really should get a third copy myself.
Mr. Armstrong introduced the concept of “givens and druthers” for layout design. “Givens” are the things you absolutely have to have. “Druthers” are what you’d like to have, if you have the space, time, money, etc. It sounds like you have a wide range of interests, from mountains to oil rigs to industry, with some good-size motive power to boot. So you may want to spend some time thinking about how you’re going to tie that all together, and which of those elements are most important to you.
The other big question is – “What do you ultimately want to do with your railroad?” Is your primary interest in watching the trains run through cool scenery, etc.? (That’s usually referred to as “railfanning.”) Or are you more interested in simulating how a real railroad works? (That’s called “operation,” and you can kind of think of it as an extremely cool 3D game.)
You can’t go wrong with how you answer those questions, because the only person whose opinion really matters is you. When it comes time to actually figuring out how your track is going to go down on the benchwork, that’s where you start to run into some fairly solid do’s and don’ts in order to make sure your trains stay on the track.
The good news is that there are many friendly, experienced and talented people hanging around this place (I ain’t one of 'em). You can find a ton of information using the “search” feature, and if that doesn’t ans
The HO market is as huge and varied as were the railroads that ran as corporate entities 50 or more years ago. Some built their own locomotives, some had them built, some leased power from other roads. Modern diesels don’t really look right on a transition era railroad, say back in 1946. You are free to enjoy what you have as you wish…natch…but it can keep the lid on purchases if you try to limit yourself to one or two railroads, hopefully two that exchanged cars and contents for handling…say a short line and a Class 1. You could buy a specific known Class 1 loco, and then decal and paint an “unlettered” model of just about any engine for a fictional short line that you make up. [;)]
There is much to learn, so please temper your enthusiasm and spend some time surfing, asking questions, and generating a list of must-haves, the druthers. Bear in mind that a confined space, with obstacles or limits because of configuration, will have a considerable impact on your planning.
It might be wise to start modestly, learn some things, discard some notions, build on what you know works for you, and then launch into a serous and substantial project when you know the time has come.
Since Im online now, I will immediately look into these books, i have been searching amazon and ebay the past days or so, now that I have a recommendation I know what to get.
I have started to give that a little thought. I think to begin with I am going to have the entire set built around a mining town. houses, stores, etc, then have roads leaving the town going to the mining area, construction sites, etc, wth the railroad tying each together in some way.
Honestly, a little bit of both. I want it to have as much detail as possible and look as real as posible (like if i was to take a picture people wouldnt know if
You certainly are in the right place to ask questions as there are many knowledgeable folks here ready to answer. You will find that at times you will have to decide which of several methods works best for you. Trial and error works fine, we’ve all done it. Nice thing is that by asking questions here your trials are based on others experiences, not total guesswork.
I suggest that if you haven’t gotten several books on scenery, layout building, wiring and other subjects, that you do so before you spend or build too much. As they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Get informed, ask questions, visit layouts and shows with layouts to see just how different techniques work. Go to the light gray line at the top of this page, find the faint word Resources, click on that, then on MR Groups and Coming Events to find where you can go to actually see models in acton.
Here on this forum you will find years and years of thoughts, ideas,opinions and experiences!
To the right is a link to the “search our community” where, if you have a key word, such as “ballast” you can enter it and up will pop an enormous list of threads on that topic.
ALso don’t hesitate to post a question here on the forums…just pick the right one of the four to post to for the quickest response. For instance if you want more info on DCC, post your question in the “electronics and DCC” forum for fast responses. FOr layout issues, choose the “layout” forum and for general questions ask here in the general forum!
Any question is not dumb, though it may be often repeated.
So [#welcome] and stop on over to “Elliot’s trackside Diner” thread where you can tell us more about yourself and talk about things in your life in general, even though it may not be trains related. It’s the only thread besides the “beer barn” where that is allowed not to be train related!
Don’t forget to post about your layout space, your “givens” and druthers" and what you want from the hobby in detail! SOunds like you wnat steam era for your layout. Tell us more!
Welcome to the MR Forums New 2 Modeling, One of the best things that you can do is post a scale diagram of the proposed layout space, including entry door/s,windows, obstructions, etc. Photos and diagrams must first be Posted on a Host, eg. Photobucket Once you have a free account with Photobucket, you insert photos in a dedicated My Album. Below each photo will be several Options. Click on the the photo, and then on the IMG option. Momentarily, the word “Copied” will appear. Now go to the Trains.com and start your own thread,(or Click on Reply (to add to someone elses Thread). Type in your Text and then go to Edit (top left) and click on Paste. (Or click on ctrl V) The lengthy “photo Code” will appear. Now scroll down to Post and click on it. Soon, your text and photo will appear at the end of a given Thread, or on your own Thread. I’ll Post one of my photos, to give you an idea. Bob Hahn
Know your space - you can do anything, but you can’t do everything
Know your prime interest - you can do anything, but you can’t do everything
Know your budget. You can build a fine layout for a few hundred, but a few thousand over the years will do a lot more. I have done both. You can spend hundreds of thousands, but I have never tried that.
Find something to start with and learn to enjoy the process Enjoying the process more than the result is important.
Wow, Art! You managed to encapsulate a lot of wisdom in a few words. Alongside “Dream, Plan, Build” we could also enscribe “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything” and “Enjoy the process.”
Those are words to live by … or at least model by.
Over the next few daysI will do a lot more researching and movie watching trying to get more and more ideas. Ill post everything as i get farther on my list. Also, I will try and draw a rough 3d model of my vision of my first build. it wont be to scale, just more of a visionary aid. I will then do a few drawing to scale. ill post them as they come.
luckily, my fiance is a CAD engineer/designer (except she uses them for clothing design), so we have a few programs I can use to render a 3d image.
Boy you lucked out there! If you go to the Atlas website they have a free CAD program for doing track diagrams. I believe you can even do it in 3D. Once, she get the hang of it, maybe she can give me some tips. For a none CAD user it is a pain in the Caboose!
I’ll second Cuda Ken on using the Atlas freeware for track planning. There are plenty of other programs out there, as well. Some are free, some are fairly expensive, and all have their proponents. (Which one is “best” seems to be a never-ending discussion around here.)
The Atlas freeware (Rightrack, I think it’s called) is a quick download and has a shallow learning curve, and would provide a decent introduction to track planning software. It should help you decide if you want a program that’s more robust, or even if you want to mess around with track planning software at all. I used it to design the layout I’m working on now, and it was good enough for my purposes. It gave me a pretty good approximation of what would fit, and that’s all I needed.
Besides, as a frequent poster (I forget just who) often remarks, “No track plan survives first contact with the benchwork.” (That’s a takeoff on an old military adage.) In other words, you’re going to have to shift things around at least a bit as you start to actually build. So, if you use track planning software, don’t develop a design that doesn’t give you at least a bit of wiggle room. Zero tolerance for changes usually means zero chance for success.
I am gonna throw out some different advice as figuring out where to buy what can be a daunting task in the beginning.
The best place I have found for engines, rolling stock, controls systems, structures, and track is www.modeltrainstuff.com
The best place for scenery supplies like terrain, grass, trees, etc is www.sceneryexpress.com
and the best place for tools and gadgets to aid your modeling is www.micromark.com
Buying online is usually much cheaper than the local hobby shop (unless you are extremely lucky) and always has the best selection. A local hobby shop is great if you have a great one near by however most of the time they have been lacking in my area in service, product, and price.
Take your time to research and plan your layout. It’s always better to start smaller and expand later so things don’t become to daunting.
Welcome to the asylum, Brit. If it is coal mining that intrests you, be sure to check out Tony Koester’s Allegheny Midland (The Midland Road) layout and his many books/articles. That layout is gone now - he’s working on a new one, but there is still a lot of information out there and plenty to learn from it.
You’re smart to plan before jumping in. I just got back in the hobby this year after being out of it for a long while, and I’m still just “playing” with the trains on my bookshelves while I plan the layout. My wife wonders why I haven’t built a layout yet, but I learned with the last one that an poorly executed layout will kill your buzz faster than a cop’s flashing lights in the rearview mirror. You came to one of the better places for information, so enjoy and ask every question.
Welcome aboard. The most important thing is to keep in mind that the hobby is for personal enjoyment. You don’t have to produce a museum quality 100% accurate to the day model railroad, you want to enjoy building and running your own creation. An old model railroading adage is “There is a prototype for everything”. If there is some feature or equipment you want to have on your layout, go ahead.
HO is a fine choice of scale. There is a lot of excellent and reasonably priced equipment made in HO. Goto local train shows, they are a wonderful place to pick up ideas, new and used equipment, and chat with other model railroaders. Read the model railroading magazines. Pick up some old copies at a train show. Someone mentioned the John Armstrong book “Track Planning for realistic operation”. That’s the absolute best book on the subject, very readable and full of crucial information. Your railroad will come out better and be more fun if you read it before starting construction.
Don’t bite off too much at once. Think in terms of a small beginning layout that can be expanded to fill your space in the future. You want to get a small subset of the layout put together and running trains as soon as you can, rather than a massive railroad that takes years to get running. You need the fun of operation to keep the juices flowing to do more benchwork and trackwork and wiring.
Beware of grades. Do not exceed a 3% grade because the trains cannot climb anything steeper. Allow transistions into and out of grades lest couplers uncouple and pilots scrape on the track. Begin a 3% grade with a section of 0.5%, a section of 1%, a section of 2% so that the train changes from flat running to climbing gradually rather than all at once. Do the same at the top of the grade. You will find it takes a LOT of space to get a tr
That’s a nice looking drawing. I have one piece of advice and that is on mainline curves if possible keep the radius no less than 36 inches, 46 and above is ideal. This provides a less restrictive curve for your trains, allows for running more types of engines and rolling stock, and best of all looks much more realistic when trains are going around it. Yards and branch lines can have much tighter curves however.
I have to disagree with the above post about doing DCC later. Much easier and less expensive to decide now than changeover later. I have converted a DC system over to DCC and while it can be done it is a pain in the rear. It takes a lot of time. When I was a novice to DCC I was up and running on a test track in about 5 minutes after opening the box so it’s not complicated by any means. DC use other than on a basic layout is a complicated to wire and becomes very intensive.
NCE and Digitrax both have reasonably priced starter systems that can later be expanded on with little effort and not much cost. It really costs little more to buy a decent DCC starter system than to get a decent DC system. Another big benefit I like about DCC is the ability to control everything via my wireless hand held controller. I control engines, turnouts, and accessories from the same hand held.
Hey, Ken. To answer your question, my name is Jim.
Thanks for the introduction (although I had deduced from your avatar where the “Cuda” came from).
Good luck with the Atlas freeware. I found it pretty easy to get rolling with, although there are a couple tricks (particularly when using flex track). If you run into any snags, post or PM me and I’ll certainly try to help out.
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all the suggestions, comments, and advice. I am pretty excited about starting my first build. So far I have ordered I believe 8 books via amazon. They should be here within the next day or so. In the mean time I have been scouring the web looking at all kinds of buildings, kits, tools, layouts, models, engines, cars, scenery… its like being a kid, making a christmas list, going thru catalogs, magazines… To be honest ive already re arranged the room where im gonna be doing my build. I have a friend who works at a local lumber yard, so I went there earlier today and got some scrab lumber. I got 6 - 1"x3"x8’ Select Pine timbers to build a deck for my build. Just so everyone knows, I am a very hands on and visual type of person, I will build a very small scale model just to get an idea of what I want.
O yeah, I did think of one question so far… As far as building mountains goes, what is the best route to go (as far as time, weight, cost)?? Styrofoam, then plaster? wood/cardboard/papertowel/paper mache method (not sure on spelling)?
