NEWBIE NEEDS HELP

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hello all, Just to give you some back ground. I’m new to the Layout and scenery building arena. I have put a few model buildings from walthers together and weathered them since I had no room to build a layout. I have one engine make unknown and a lot of walthers cars for the coal and auto industry as I live in Se Mich and its pretty much power & autos. I have built the walthers New River mining company & plan on building the Steel industry buildings by walthers Oops forgot about the steel industry of days gone by (Gramps would kick my tail) and a local power plant it looks as if i will have to kit ba***o make. I know I will probably not be able to get it all in the layout size I have planned but this is a start. I know I have an area about 10’ x 6’ maybe a little longer to play with although want to stay within 30"-38" from wall

  1. Do they make computer programs or paper plans that can be purchased for a track layout that will work. ( I know my first layout the turn radius was too tight and was a train wreck)

  2. Can I use 2" pink foam with no backer board or do I still need plywood?

  3. As I have yet to purchase locamotives and a DCC power supply any ideas for a newbie proof plan of attack ( perfer Diesels)

  4. Any books or videos that anyone recommends I read before I make too many mistakes

SORRY MAYBE THIS IS TO MUCH TO COVER IN ONE POST ???

2

In aswer to

  1. You can buy programs to help you design a layout to you needs. You can also download free trials like Railcad, Atlas makes a free simple one.

  2. If you use foam. Put down a layer of 1/4" plywood the glue down as much foam as you want.

  3. For DCC I really can’t help to much (I don’t have the funds) I looked into DCC and $1050 was to much. But more on subject. For a controller: Lenz should be good. I was advised not to buy the cheap MRC (can’t remeber why) as for engines:Atlas, Kato,Athearn Genesis, Broadway Limited, Proto 2000,

  4. Model Ralroader, look around the MR online bookstore they have all off the different books you’ll need.

Hope this help

3

Not too much to ask.

  1. There are lots of books of track plans. It depends a little on what you want to do. ie. Table in middle of room, or around the wall. Do you want a loop so trains can run around and around(I did).
    I tried Xtrakcad and RunRTX 5.0. Both are free and both were harder than I wanted to do, but some of the other forum members have better luck.

  2. I am using some 1" pink foam on a L-girder table for a town. Under heavy mountains some support may be helpful. For my floor to ceiling canyon I support with oak stair steps, but they were free and I need to walk on the steam bed to fini***he walls.

  3. I am still debating DCC as I have old brass that needs converting. The people at my LHS like Digitrax and I will eventually get there when I get my brass converted.

  4. The MR books are an MR book as I got to each stage and posted lots of questions. I got a few good responses and lots of interesting ones.

Take you time and have fun. Let you mistakes be learning experiences. Remember Thomas Edison when He said, I am not a failer, I know 10,00 things that won’t make a light bulb."

Art

4

I’m assuming the $1050 was a typo. You can get a Digitrax Zephyr for $150 that is a very robust and expandable DCC system. Trainworld has some very inexpensive DCC ready Proto 2000 for great prices. I’ have to go now, but later I’ll get back and address the other issues.

5

I will be going around the outter walls with the Layout. I also would like to loop the train

6

That’s what I did. I started with a computer drawing of the space I had. I then hand drew the basic loop. I then decided what I wanted the pike to do, mountains, tunnels, bridges, buildings and drew them in. I made lots of sketches. When I had what I wanted, I laid blue masking tape full size on the floor. Then I did L girders and cookie cutter sub bed and screwed it all together., laid the track and found the problems. I made adjustments full size with changing elevations with the risers and cutting a few new pieces of Sub bed. With flex track and WS roadbed, making changes as I went along was easy. When I got my huge bridge done, I discover it didn’t fit so I just moved the sub bed until it did. When everything worked, I started scenery.

Have fun, so far I am.

Art

7

Welcome, payner.

DCC has fans with MRC, Lenz, Bachmann EZ-Command, Digitrax, and EZ-DCC…I have probably forgotten one or two. Point is, it really is incumbent upon YOU to learn what DCC has to offer in general, and then what the capabilities and limitations of each make and model are. Sorry to be so direct, but we on this forum do one thing first: we strongly urge the newcomer to do a lot of reading, and to spend a lot of time on-line (with us, of course [:D]) educating him/herself. This hobby is all about fun, but it is an uphill struggle if you have a significant deficit in knowledge.

That said, I use the Digitrax Super Empired Builder because it suits my needs. Others want to be able to manipulate their train control variables by using a computer, and the Super Empire Builder does not permit this. I believe that the Zephyr, and perhaps the Super Chief do.

If your layout will be narrow, and will have nothing on it but some foam topography, track, some model buildings, and the trains, 2" extruded foam will not need any support other than an outer frame. If you need to get up on the layout, or if your spans exceed 30", you might want one light joist every 20" to control whatever minimal sag that span might impart. Your instincts will probably be right. The foam will dent and gouge easily, so keep tools, paints, and other things off it, or place a light piece of plywood on it to leave your stuff on. If you leave track on the foam while you are working nearby, especially with any type of glue or paint, cover the tracks with painter’s tape (often green in colour).

If you loop the train on an around-the-walls layout, you may find yourself dealing with fairly tight curves. They will accomplish your aim, certainly, but they will look tight, and the locos migth rebel against them. Generally, the rule is to build the largest radius curves you can into a layout, particularly on the mains where you are liable to pu***he speeds of your trains. Trouble is, by

8

I think your right Selector the radius will be too tight if it were to do a loop around so I think maybe point to point would be better option at this time and hey what a great excuse to build more in the future. As far as power the DCC seems the way of the future and has the most realistic running options available. I have looked at the digitrax Zephyr and it looks as if would do the trick But will I be able to take my engine over a friends house and run on their DCC or they on mine? Also would I be better to spend a little more to not have to worry about expansions I don’t know enuf yet to make that type of call yet and the dealers wanna sell ya what they have lol so thats why I turn to you all. I know some of this is 101 and I appreciate your patients and all your input you can give me

9

Yes, you can take the engine to your friends house if it is DCC and depending on the decoder even to a friend’s with DC.

How much power do you need. the president of my train club has a 30 x 30 fr layout and we had 8 trains running/ 2 with sound at once with now issues. The Zephyr can be upgraded to the club level and beyond.

10

I’m a fan of the Digitrax system, because that’s what I have. Easy to use, can program decoders either from a handheld throttle or a computer (I use an old laptop with some freeware downloaded software), and expandable. Keep in mind you need to get what will work for you, but DCC is the way to go.
My layout is on 2 4x8 sheets of plywood with a 3’ spacer inbetween. On top of the plywood (1/2 inch plywood) I installed 1/2 inch Homasote. I had tried foam but found it kind og noisy, but easier to add deminsion to (just stack or cut out sections).
Welcome to the club! Remember, the main thing is to enjoy yourself!!

11

No it wasn’t a typo. that include the price of a mid-class control and enough decoders for me engines all 13 of them

12

I drew my room space on a large sheet of flip chart paper then took that to Kinko’s where I made several copies on their large scale scanner/printer. Drew, erased, drew some more, erased some more, drew, erased, read more, drew more, read more erased more . . . . Still drawing and erasing as I go. Have about half the benchwork done and the main line pretty much set. Now it’s deciding which industry goes where and how the siding gets there.

13

You could do the same thing with RTS (Right Track), the layout design program you can download free from Atlasrr.com. Then, once you get it where you want it, you could put copy the design onto a floppy as a bitmap image and take that to Kinkos. Saves on paper.