Hello Everyone,
Me and my step dad figured we’d start a new hobby and put together a model railroad. We have a whole room we are going to dedicate for the project. I’m thinking we are going to go HO gauge. But figured I’d post here to pick all your brains for a bit. I was just wondering what are the better manufacturer’s of the trains and accessories, and just any overall information you can either give me, or point me towards. I’ve been searching the internet for a little while, but like anything new, it’s kind of daunting. So any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jason
Welcome Jason, there is a wealth of information on the hobby contained within this forum. Since you are starting from scratch with a blank canvas you have a lot of fun ahead of you. With a whole room available to you, you have plenty of space. I would suggest some careful planning to ensure that the project comes out successfully and is satifying for you both. If you have not done so already, consider reading some of the MRR for beginners stuff on the web.
http://www.trains.com/story/story_list.asp?idMenuCategory=3&idMenuSubCategory=31&idMenuMinorCategory=3107
http://www.greatesthobby.com/
http://www.nmra.com/#beginner
Have fun
Welcome Jason
I would suggest that since you picked the best scale (HO), you go with Athearn or MDC Roundhouse. Most of these will be freight cars that you will have to assemble on your own but are not difficult.
I would also suggest Athearn or Life-Like for locos. These are usually already assembled except for the detailed parts.
Also these brands are not very expensive, so you can purchase more if you wish.
Good luck with the layout!!
I did no know they made ones that you could put together… I thought they all came assembled. That adds a whole nother dimension. That’s cool. Thanks for the help.
Hi Jason,
Depending on what era you are modelling, I would recommend getting your hands on some Spectrum steam locomotives - great runners, good detail and usually for a very good price - once you really get into the hobbie - get some Broadway Limited locos!
As per what the other guys said - if you want to build up a good rake of box cars and other wagons - go for Athearn and Roundhouse.
Passenger vehicles - Walthers all the way!
The most important thing though is to have fun! If both you and your step father have favourite locos from railroads situated at the opposite end of the country - forget about geography and allow a bit of ‘modellers licence’ and just enjoy what you are running!
Don’t get too ambitious from the first moment - design a layout that is interesting and fun to operate, without being too complicated - the most rewarding thing about model railroading is watching your train running on your layout, and the quickest way to do this is to keep things simple but effective!
If your new to the hobby and have no rolling stock, it might be prudent to start using digital control - it seems to be the way forward - why not jump on the band wagon!?!?
Good luck with the project!
Regards,
Stephen.
welcome. you have come to a good place for info. I am an HO modeler and you can check out my web site and other peoples on this forum for ideas.
Here is mine… www.freewebs.com/skeeter3/
Have fun with this hobby that is the main point and your layout is your own world you can do what ever you want and it cannot be wrong
For track you can get track with or without ballast, flex track, or you can lay your own!
Thanks for the help guys. I can see you all are very ambitious to welcome new people and to help. Now my other question then, would it be better to buy a set, or just piece stuff together? And a track question, we visited the local hobby shops, and the ones they have there are all the easy snap-together kind, I want to say they are Life-Like tracks and Bachmann E-Z track… is that better to use, when I was real young, we used to have a train, and the type of track we had was the kind that needed these little couplers and just stabbed into each other… is the new “EASY” stuff actually better?