Older gentlemen approaching retirement and looking at model railroading to fill those long winter days with something to do that uses all the senses including “common” sense. I would like to hear from others as to how they started model railroading - the scale you chose and a little bit about why that worked for you - what resources helped you out the most etc.
Thanks for letting me start the journey and hope to hear from some of you.
[#welcome] Welcome to the Forums! [#welcome]
I started model railroading by joining a club in my town. They had an HO scale layout, so I bought some HO scale equipment decorated for the prototype I liked in order to have something other than club equipment to run on operating nights. When the club lost its lease on its home, I got a lot of hands-on experience designing and building the next layout in its new home. Then when I moved from there, I bought a home with room for a home layout. It didn’t get past the benchwork stage before I had to move again and leave it behind, which transformed me into an armchair modeler for a while. But I kept my hand in by building kits, weathering rolling stock, and joining another club in my new town. When I came to Wisconsin for my current job, I started working on a shelf module that I integrated into a larger layout when I bought what I hope is my final home.
To sum up: Join clubs. Pick fellow club members’ brains. Look at their layouts and operate on them if you can. Build, build, build.
Reading Model Railroader magazine is a pretty good way to learn, too. [;)]
Have fun on the Forums!
I had O-27 as a kid, but the local “variety store” had a shelf with some HO trains on it, and their magazine rack had Model Railroader magazine, which we’d read but never buy (sorry Steve !). My best friend’s uncle had left a trunk filled with old HO – stuff from the late 1930s to late 1940s – with his brother, my friend’s dad – and my friend would sometimes steal the key from his dad’s dresser and we’d open the trunk, carefully unwrapping the rolling stock and noting the “fine detail” — some of these Walthers passenger cars were from back when their stamped steel sides did not yet have rivet detail. There was a Gilbert NYC Hudson as I recall, likely wired for 6 volt DC.
The combination of all this was that it quickly became evident to me and my friend (who had “real” Lionel O) that HO two rail was for “real” model railroaders and was not a toy. So even though I had a lot of nice Lionel stuff I begged my folks for HO, and that was about the time Penn Line was going broke and their train sets were being sold off cheap. So that was my Christmas gift one year – a Penn Line SP F-7 and freight cars, plus an oval of snap track and (purchased separately) a Model Recitfier Amp Pack which I still have and which powers a test track at the work bench (and still looks very handsome in its copper case. From time to time I’d add on, and for the next Christmas I got two Mantua streamlined passenger cars, lit. Even in my childhood I knew something was very wrong about an SP gray and red pulling Pennsy passenger cars in fluted stainless steel and Tuscan Red lettering boards, so I insisted on a Pennsy F unit. The cheapest was Athearn’s rubber band drive which I had to assemble and which, of coure, I got both the insulated wheels and the direction of the rubber bands wrong and the hobby shop owner had to bail me out.
I was in HO for a year or two before I bought my first issue of MR
Find and attend a model train show in your area. Most of the larger shows include modular club layouts in various scales with lots of club members just itching to talk trains. These modular layouts will give you an idea of how much space you’ll need for a layout as well as help you decide which scale is the “right” size for you. The larger scales require more room but allow for more intimate details in your scenery. The smaller scales require less space and allow for more panoramic views at the cost of less intimate details. I started in HO many years ago simply because it had the largest product selection and best prices. Now with my “old man” eyesight, HO is about the smallest scale I can handle (yet another factor to consider). Also look at the different modular layouts to see how they operate. Most will be set up in some kind of loop for continuous running although many will include sections that can demonstrate how a point-to-point layout would work (these can require significantly less space than a looping track plan). Switching layouts also offer a lot of operating action in a relatively small space. Most model trains are powered a lot differently than you might be thinking. Digital Command Control is rapidly replacing the old DC power pack so look into that as well. Visit the vendor booths to give yourself a better idea of what the various model scales will cost as well as how much product selection is available. So, check out a show and bend a few ears. You’ll quickly gain a lot of the information you currently seek.
Welcome!
My parents bought me a used Lionel at a time before my memory works. Have always been interested, but space and work kept getting in the way. As I approached retirement age I began collecting and building some rolling stock and buildings. Curently a small 4x6 HO layout is in a small room in the basement. A larger space had been designated the “train room” by my OH, but it got taken over for other purposes. Now in the stages of planning an around the walls shelf in the little room. Progress is slow as I am only semi retired.
My suggestions are to read up on the hobby and start with a small layout. Getting something rolling gets the fun started. Run your trains for awhile before doing extensive scenery work, to be sure your trackwork is train friendly. In HO I would recommend a 4x8 sheet of plywood to test and hone your skills. It doesn’t need to be a fancy layout. It can be designed in a way that if you enjoy the hobby and want to expand, you can add to it. You can also take it apart and use pieces on a new, larger layout.
The nice thing about this hobby is that you can do it so many ways. Some folks just want to operate trains. They put their tracks down on a surface and operate away with little or no scenery. There are others that love doing highly detailed scenery and the trains are just something to build scenery around. Then there are all the steps in between.
I have found simple scenery building makes a great difference fast and is not difficult. As you add to your layout, your skills will improve, many people redo scenery, maybe a scene, sometimes the whole layout.
As for scale to choose, some depends on your eyesight and manual dextarity. N (or the smaller Z) give you more in a given space, but are harder to see and are smaller to work with. N has come along rapidly in recent years and the
In addition to the above good suggestions read as many threads on MR forums as you can. Check out even those whose titles may not seem appropiate. I have found useful information in the most unlikely of places. Before buying lumber and getting the saw out read, read read.
Bob
Welcome!
I got started in Jr high age and my folks allowed me to build a 4’x6’ HO layout in an apartment BR when my brother went to college. I expanded it in a basement to 4’x10’ but never got past the track stage. I joined a MRR club as the Jr member and gained an appreciation for what could be done (e.g., handlaid track). When our 3rd child was born I built a 5’x10" 2-level layout, with Atlas custom line turnouts (more options) and flextrack. I did not get past the track stage and had lots of derailment issues, plus many competing demands on my time. After retiring, I got interested again and signed up for MR again. I built a 4’x6’ layout for my grandson using a Bachmann EZtrack set and it works pretty well. I got some real experience at going past the track stage and built scenery, structures (with lighting) and generally went past prior experiences.
For my current 5’x10’ layout, 2-1/2 yrs old, I first did some layout planning, addressing what I might do with some optional spaces (a garage stall, etc) and decided on an interior layout that limited space. I had experience with HO and at age 65-plus did not want to handle N scale, but that’s me. I played with XTrackCAD to iterate on many potential layout configurations and settled on one. I had decided to go with DCC/sound this go around. I got immense help from the Forum, reviewing current and old threads and asking questions, and also drawing on about 6 MR booklets (some especiall good ones on layout planning, effective track installation, DCC basics, etc). That was supplemented by direction to some key websites, especially in the DCC area. I found some of the MR “project” RR articles and accompanying videos (I think VideoPlus is worth the extra cost for at least 2-3 years) very helpful…see the Virginian project as an example.
This has allowed and encouraged me to take on
I started in O-27 after we received a hand-me-down Lionel Santa Fe PA set. I figured out I wouldn’t have much space for O, as dad was in the Air Force and we moved frequently. I sold the O and bought HO pretty quickly. Then I started dabbling in narrowgauge, as a visit to Silverton a few years before started bugging me, although I didn’t commit to NG until the mid-1980s. So there you have how I started as a young teenager, why I’m in the scale and gauges I use, HO and HOn3, and roughly what prototypes I’m interested in, Colorado mountain railroading.
You’ve got lots of good suggestions so far. I’ll add another – consider joining the National Model Railroad Association. They have a beginner/introductory dues rate that lasts for 6 months, a great magazine, and oftentimes people nearby who can answer questions, let you experience different scales, gauges, and prototypes. As it’s a volunteer-driven organization, the local presence can vary and if you’re out in the sticks it can be hit or miss depending on how far it is to meetings or other members.
The NMRA website was just updated in conjunction with the national convention in Cleveland this year. Here’s a link to the beginners section: http://www.nmra.org/beginners-guide
You can figure out what part of the NMRA is in your locale here: http://www.nmra.org/regions
gehdoc97:
Welcome to the forum and to the hobby! [#welcome]
You are in for a lot of fun (and some head scratching too, but that’s a good thing).
Since you mention “common sense” one of the books I suggest you read is “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” by John Armstrong. You can purchase a copy from our hosts by clicking on the “SHOP” button on the upper right of this screen. You could also check Amazon, they are often cheaper there.
http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12148.html
The book explains in simple terms how a railroad operates both in terms of track design and operating procedures. That knowledge will be very useful when it comes time to design your layout. It will help you avoid track planning mistakes which could make your layout somewhat disfunctional. Before I read the book I thought I had come up with a wonderful track plan only to discover after reading the book that my plan was largely unworkable. In particular, the first yard I designed was useless.
As Mike mentions the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) is a great resource. In addition to the beginner’s section they have a wealth of information on what works and what doesn’t. Reading through their Standards and Recommended Practises is worthwhile, although at first glance the information looks a bit technical. I’m not suggesting that you have to memorize all the rules. Just have an idea of what is there so when a question pops up, like track spacing for example, you will know where to go for the answer. You can always ask here too of course.
http://www.nmra.org/index-nmra-standards-and-recommended-practices
Dave
Like many here, my model railroading started in childhood with Lionel. There was a long pause after college for my Air Force service and working and such. Got back into it in my forties and still am at it. I am in HO, small enough to fit a layout into a small room, big enough to allow model building without the use of a microscope. I run straight DC, the fancy DCC does little for a single operator on a small layout. It isn’t necessary to build a layout right away. You can build model rolling stock and structures, from kits, or from scratch. You can go rail fanning, take a camera and a notebook out to the tracks, and get some photos from which you can build models. Go to train shows, they have running layouts which you can study. And lots of used stuff cheap. And stacks of old magazines which have lots of ideas. Read. Study up on a prototype railroad you want to model. Or a type of locomotive or car that you like. Pick an era to model. Read up on same. You can build a diorama, a small bit of track and scenery upon which you can photograph your models. Gives you a chance to do a little bit of every part of building a layout, carpentry, track laying, scenery,ballasting, structures, bridges, what ever. Photography of your model work is another side area of model railroading.
Have fun. Take it slowly. You will find that rolling stock expands to fill all available track.
I have always been into trains, all scales over the years, was doing HOn30 in the 90’s, but got burned out on the crappy N drives of the times and living in a tiny apartment didn’t help and eventually cut and run completely, only staying connected via the occasional Gazette issue. I got back into the hobby almost by accident when shortly after we bought our place in 1998, I came across a G gauge LGB set for sale cheap at hobby store that was closing. It was a standard Stainz set. I thought hard about it but I held off because I didnt want European trains. I have always been fascinated with the heft LGB and with a new house and a blank canvas yard the idea of an outside layout had alot of appeal. So I started looking on this newfangled thing called Ebay. I really liked the LGB line 0-4-0 Porter and back then they went for cheap. This type of loco is what I WANTED to do in HOn30, but the crappy N drives really hamstrung that notion. So I placed a bid on one and won it! I only intended at that point to keep it be on display but one thing lead to another and before I knew it I had two LGB Porters, an HLW Mack and a slew of LGB and HLW cars and a small loop of track behind the garage. I had to move indoors due to construction projects, and eventually I had to dismantle the layout when we rebuilt the garage, I have been on and off with the latest layout but the but thats another story.
Why am I doing Large Scale, I love the heft, I love the ability to detail, I have always been into the smallest RRs, little engines, small cars, tight curves, quirky prototypes…large scale is beyond perfect for this. BTW I still have that first Porter;
Like many here, I have loved trains as long as I can remember. While growing up, no summer was complete without at least one trip down to the East Broad Top tourist railroad in Orbisonia PA. When I was 8, my father brought back an enormous pile of HO scale cardstock railroad buildings from England. Within 2 years, I was building them with him (still have a lot of them, too). So, for Christmas when I was 11 years old, “Santa” gave me a big Tyco train set in HO. We slapped it together on an old ping pong table, and soon had scenery and everything else going.Since we already had all those cardstock structures, the choice of HO was a no-brainer. I soon discovered that the Tyco stuff was garbage, and swapped it out for better as funds allowed. My biggest sources of info then were the town library’s copy of model railroader, and talking to fellow hobbyists, most of whom I met at hobby shops.
I kept that layout until I was 20, when my parents downsized their house (although in fairness, between college and girls, I didn’t do much with it for the last three years). Fortunately, I had a cousin who was also into trains, so we boxed everything up and sent it to him.
When I got out of the Navy, having settled in Connecticut, my aunt informed me that all the train stuff was in a storage unit, and asked if I wanted it back. So I jumped back into the hobby 15 years ago, with the enthusiastic support of my sons. The oldest has since lost interest (that girls thing again), but the younger two are still involved. The youngest, now 11, even has his own layout, right next to mine.
With so much HO stuff already, I wasn’t about to switch scales, although I’d still probably chose HO for it’s balance of detail and “workability” (meaning it’s large enough that even my bad eyes and clumsy fingers can handle it). Prices and availability of products are also a benefit to HO. I’m on my seco
When I was about 3, we were heading west on US 24 somewhere near St. Mary’s, Kansas. My dad had caught up to a steam locomotive heading along tracks. I was fascinated by it and have been ever since. Fast forward to 1959. My sister’s boyfriend had purchased a couple of Athearn kits and assembled them at our house. I was hooked. I started collecting what became known as BB kits and I still have all of them. We had a 4x8 table for an earlier Lionel O-27 train set, picked out a plan, and with the help of my dad and brother-in-law, started to build. Had that basic layout until we moved overseas for a brief period. life happens and have not had a layout since, but still have all of the rolling stock and structures.
One source that heavily influenced my approach was “HO Railroad That Grows.” I really like the idea of building a basic plan and then enhancing it, all the while, keeping the layout operational. I’m considering modular construction that can be dis-assembled easily.
After considering various railroads, locations, and eras, I’ve settled on loosely modeling the UP Kansas division between manhattan, KS and Salina, KS, sort of between 1955 to 1965 centered around 1962. The major departure is that I also will run SP on the same tracks, which never occurred in real life.
And. That’s the point. Have fun with it! And thank you for allowing me to share.
gehdoc97:
I didn’t fully answer your question:
My interest in model railroading started when I was very young. My older brothers had been given a Marx O guage train set. I was allowed to watch them play with it but I was forbidden from touching it myself. My brothers burned the motor out before I was old enough to operate the train set. Talk about a way to drive a kid nuts!
Years later my mother asked me if I wanted the set and I said yes! I managed to find a couple of working engines and set up a temporary layout in the garage. Unfortunately the novelty wore off rather quickly. The Marx stuff was far too toy like for me. I wanted something a bit more realistic.
At the same time Bachmann was marketing Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express in HO and I expressed an interest in it to my wife. At the time I didn’t have a clue about what era or railroad(s) I wanted to model. Christmas came around shortly after and guess what Santa put under the tree for me?! The next thing I knew I was coming home from a train show with a P2K Illinois Central E7 A-B set under my arm. The detail was enthralling at least in comparison to the Marx stuff, and I was hooked.
For family reasons I still do not have a layout but things are looking up in that regard (read - finally getting the kid out of the house). However I have had a ball scratch building structures, acquiring rolling stock, installing decoders, kit bashing and scratch building small operating “critters” like the one in my avatar.
I will second the advice given about not buying everything in sight that seems attractive at the beginning. Take the time to choose your era and do some research on what is appropriate. Of course you can run anything you want - its your railroad. I’m going to run Hogwarts Express on a late 50s line in Ontario but that will only be occasionally. I will run the Illinois Central occasionally too with Willie Nelson playing “Riding on the City of New Orleans…” in th
Welcome! Welcome!
I got my start as so many others do…the childhood Christmas railroad. It was a 4x6 homasote and plywood HO setup that was three loops and the Christmas tree sat on top in the center. I was running trains before Kindergarten. I also had some Lionel that I could play with on rainy days throughout the rest of the year. I was more inclined toward the HO and would get rather upset when they would get stored away in the basement till the next November.
At that time real trains had a large influence as well since I lived a block away from the Reading’s East Penn branch…more specifically Temple Hill, just north of Reading, PA.
1971 became the major turning point with all of it. My Dad had arranged with his cousin’s husband John (who was a locomotive engineer for the Reading) to go for a train ride. To make the long story short…I got to ride on a Reading RS3, #448 to be specific, at 65 mph at the head end of a local freight and in a snowstorm no less.
It was just a few months later I found that Christmas 4x6 permanently set up in the basement…I was then off to the races as an independent HO modeler.
I built many smaller layouts throughout the 70’s and 80’s. I also watched Conrail form and the Reading fade away.
I was involved with the Reading Society of Model Engineers for a number of years and learned many techniques in the hobby that I still actively use. I’ve also been inspired by numerous club layouts in SE Pennsylvania.
I worked for Conrail as a locomotive electrician from 1988 to 1994 which gave me a unique veiw and understanding of locomotives. Also worked the track for the Union Pacific for 18 months after moving here to northern Nevada in 1994. That gave me a new perspective of doing scale track work.
From 1994 to 2011 I was more an armchair modeler than anything…lots of researching, collecting, and dreaming. My current layout (started in 2011) is a ‘C’ shaped 14x19x13 and t
[#welcome]
While I had some trains as a child, I really started the hobby in my mid 20’s in 1971. Initially I had HO since that was readily available. But over time I found that to be a little small for me. So I tried O scale. That was fun building the cars, but required too much room for a layout. Next I switched to S scale. I find S to be a really nice size - big enough to enjoy building and small enough for a layout.
As mentioned above, Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong is a must.
Model Railroader is very good, and they typically run a detailed series on building a small layout each year.
Good luck
Paul