Just dipping a toe in the water here. Many Moons ago when the Earth was young, I dabbled in HO Moel Railroading. Never built a Layout but had loads of fun with Varney kits, and ran them back and forth on a shelf. Recently took my Grandson to Warrick Hobbies in Plantation Florida to get some stuff for his Radio controlled car and was lured into the Train section by some sort of Siren call. I couldn’t help myself and walked out with Bachmans Adventurer Train set, some extra straight sections of Bacchman track and a copy of N Scale magazine. I’m thoroughly fascinated and likely to jump in over my head at this late stage in Life. What I’d like to Know is if there are any Train shows coming up in the next few Weeks or Months in the Miam - Ft. Lauderdale area that I can browse and get a feeling for whats going on before I go overboard. Just an Idea of when I built my kits, there was no N Scale, Just TT. What ever happened to that Scale?
bill go to the mr homepage and click on the schedule of events type in your zip code and will give you different times to search for in your area such as this weekend etc.
i think tt is coming back to the states now not to sure on this
also go to a dedicated train hobby shop in your area as they will/should have fliers on upcoming train shoiws. also check out www.gats.com this is the Great American Train Shows website with upcoming shows around the country and they also offer a $1 off coupon.
these would be some other good bets on upcoming train shows in your area
You have already been given some good advice. Here you will find an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge. Feel free to ask any question.
A couple of things:
You may want to take advantage of the search feature to find topics of interest.
You may want to buy a couple of books on topics of interest to you. As mentioned, go to a store that has a good supply of trains. Check out the magazine rack.
Again, [#welcome] to the hobby. There are many who have started or returned later in life. The interest may wane, but it never disappears!
Welcome to the forum, Bill. You’ve come to the right place to get your ideas fleshed out and questions answered. There are lots of RR loving modelers here that will help with any question. Keep us posted on your progress!!
I go to Google and put in “train shows Florida” for a listing. There is a “schedule of events” link under “Resources” on the Model Railroader dot com home page:
As someone who just got sucked into the wormhole of model railroad, I strongly suggest you set up what you have run around the track, read a little and take stock of what you want out of the hobby. If you don’t, you’ll end up spending a lot of money on stuff that doesn’t get you to where you want to go once you figure it out, but seems like a good idea now.
I jumped too soon and spent a lot I shouldn’t have. Know anyone who wants a pair of 2-6-0 Camelbacks?
Y’know, I don’t know what it is about this hobby, but I’m in the same boat. I’m 55 and in the last 2 months have been totally drawn into it. I’m probably a year away from even having any benchwork but that doesn’t bother me. Right now I’m absorbing as much as I can via this forum and any reading material I can get my hands on. I find everything interesting even if it doesn’t fit into my plans. I don’t think age really matters as long as you’re having fun…I’m probably not the first one to have said that. Anyway, there are tons of resources available to help you along the way. Good luck.
[#welcome] back to the hobby and to the forum. Everyone forgot to mention, all the people on this forum are the sirens that lured you to the train section. Don’t expect anyone to try to stop you[:D]
I’ve been interested in the hobby since I was a kid but at life situations kept me from being actively involved until recently. At 53 I just recently started my first layout.
By the way, “that S scale” is alive and well. Still not as much RTR available as other scales but it is gaining in popularity.
Thankyou Gentlemen and Ladies? A boat load of information to digest. A lot of the Conventions and shows that are coming up in Florida are on the opposite coast or half way to Georgia. Right now it looks as if the internet is my best source of info. Thanks again, I never got this sort of response from any other forum.
By far your greatest source is the local hooby shop.
We’ll be able to answer many of your questions, and you will most likely get the best variety here, but your LHS will be able to answer your questions most thoroughly when you have general questions (because they have 5 senses, we can only help using the text we see and the photos provided)
Bill, [#welcome] [#welcome] [#welcome] to the forum and back to the hobby. I got back into the hobby about 3 years ago after taking 15 years off. Now my interest is going stronger than ever. Don’t hesitate to ask questions here, there are in incredible group of very experienced hobbyists that hang out here and will be glad to give answers to most anything. One thing, you will find that sometimes that answers may be very different among the people who post. There is very little in hobby that can be done only one way. So take the advise to read and ask questions seriously. Figure out what will work best for you. Have fun!
TT scale still exists. Not much available commercially. But scratch builders seem to like it. With a scale of 1/100 there isn’t a whole lot of math involved.