New to the forum and new to the hobby. i just bought a MTH “O” scale for my step son for his upcoming birthday. I probably jumped into a hot frying pan on this but I should survive. I have until May 16th to from a box to “Happy Birthday” so I need all the help i can get. I posted a question in the Layout section so if you have a chance please take a look to see if you can help me get started. Thanks in advance.
first off [#welcome]
you will find the help your looking for here alot of expearence within this site
Gav
Welcome aboard! Sorry, I’m into HO and N scale so I can’t really help with most of the O scale questions. Best Wishes for you and your step son!
It’s not really a scale question as much as it is a “I need some pictures to get some ideas” problem. Every picture I see, whether on a forum or a magazine, is of these huge layouts or just snap shots of small sections. I need whole pictures of small freight yard layouts so I can get a better idea of what I might want to do.
oh got you
find a thread involving SPACEMOUSE and click the link to his site there might be something there in a compation site that might be what your looking for. correction
open his profile and click the link to the beginers guide to layout building
Gav
Umm - you are probably not going to like this advice, but the first order of the day might not be looking at pictures for inspiration about what your layout should look like - it might be more important to first clearly define for yourself what the main purpose of building your layout is.
If you imagine that the layout has been built, and it pulled out from under the bed ready to run, how do you picture the scene in your head:
- Kid is playing with trains in his room, alone or with friends his own age?
- You are lying on the floor watching the kid playing stop-and-go trains ?
- You lying down on the floor doing some “real” switching while the kid is not thre ?
- Something else ?
Once you have decided what you real goal is, you can consider how to get there.
If your main goal is to make a toy train setup for an 8 year old, I would suggest dropping the yard. Instead make the layout a plain oval with one long double ended siding along the “front” (the most accessible side when it is pulled out from under the bed) of the layout, with electrically operated turnouts that change the turnouts on both ends of the turnout at the same time (to avoid too many derailments).
Put some kid friendly industries along the siding - a depot/freight house, a water tower, a sheep pen - stuff like that. Maybe a couple of tunnels in the back corners, with a bridge in between.
Btw - be advised that w
Be sure to chdeck out the Link www.thortrains.net as suggested by Wayne, on the Layout Forum Thread. The Layouts shown are “Terrific and Specific” as to exactly what track and what structures will fit on a “below bed layout” Bob
[#welcome]
Welcome aboard!!