Hello, I’m completely new to trains, this forum, and building layouts. I come from a model aircraft and movie prop replica background, hobby-wise. I recently purchased a 4-6-4 Dreyfuss (beautiful streamlined design!) in O scale (1:48th I believe)… I have purchased some “beginner track” to test the engine and make sure everything worked. I took pictures:
In the next year or so, I will buy a house, and right off the bat will integrate a layout into the downstairs. The idea has been percolating in my brain for about 6 years, and I’m now beginning to research it all. My soon-to-be-wife actually encouraged me, and likes the idea enough to allow it to leave my “model and prop room” and travel into a “regular” room. So here’s the rudimentary questions:
• When building track, I assume I can buy the kind in O scale that is NOT attached to the plastic base. I see a lot of home layouts raised towards the ceiling, or generally table-bound. Can I have a track go from ceiling to about table level and not have the thing derail? Will I be able to curve it downwards along a slope? This MTH engine is HEAVY and I imagine it would pick up a lot of momentum as it rocketed downwards, and I’m planning on having the train travel along a track that takes it from above the doorway down to a table, and around the room back up towards the doorway. I’ve looked online, and haven’t really gotten a good answer.
• What is the best magazine or online site to learn more about this stuff? I search online, and 90% of what I get back is retail related.
Just search a little more on this same forum and pay attention to “grade” topics…there are quite a few as this question has been raised quite often.You’ll learn a lot…
Check out the Classic Toy Trains forum as well as this one. Both CTT and MR magazines are good sources of ideas for what you want to do, and in reality, the forum is a suplement to the print. CTT specializes in 3 rail trains.
I don’t think that particular model is “scale” , at least not 1:48, but that isn’t uncommon among 3 rail trains.
When refering to 3 rail trains, it is a good idea to use the term “O guage” , rather than “O scale”. "O scale " is used for DC powered 2 rail trains that are properly proportioned to 1:48. It may seem “nit picky”, but it helps to avoid confusion, especially when you don’t have a photo.
As for layout planning, the first thing you need are the dimensions of the space you plan to use for your layout. It also helps to have a list of your personal preferences. Favorite railroad, what kind of engines, time period, realistic or toy, display running (loops), how many trains at a time, are all things to think about. If you don’t know the size of the space yet, it may help you decide how much space you need (budget withstanding of course).
There are people in this hobby, who shop for, or design houses around their trains, and I just happen to be one of those people.
I am guessing the number of “O” guys here at the MR forums is “limited”. I would recommend you ask your questions at www.atlasrr.com on their O forum. It is quite active and you will get some good answers.
From what you are describing you had better have one big basement.
I’ve the impression, (not experience) that O scale takes a good bit of space, and especially if you are going to have grades of the type you mention. (The difficulty is that the locomotive will pull fewer and fewer cars as the grade increases, to the point that it won’t even make the grade itself if the grade is too steep) Gentle grades take space. So, there is your first dilema. Do you stick with the scale you have in hand, or switch to a smaller scale now, before you invest in more equipment, so that you can have a more effective layout in the house of your dreams?
Having solved that one to your satifaction, how about planning the layout room so that there are fewer sharp corners where the walls join? There are lots of layout articles in the MR and similar magazines to show how that’s done. But if you plan to build rather than buy an existing house, planning now to cove the corners will give you nice smooth backdrops for your scenery. I did this in a house out West, and it added value to the basement on re-sale, even thought he purchaser wasn’t a model railroader. [8D]