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Ask Slashdot: Tips For Getting Into Model Railroading?
An anonymous reader writes: A relative of mine has been hinting that he'd like me to take over his model railroad collection in the event of his death (or even before that, to make this a bit less morbid-sounding). I'm intrigued by the idea, because I've been interested in model railroads for years, but too commitment shy and too transient to actually start a collection. That's changed enough that I'd like to start planning a train system, and am looking for advice from people who have been at it for a while. A couple of parameters: 1) I'm only interested for now in HO-scale stuff, so I am not all that interested in the relative merits of the other kinds, cool as they might be. 2) Related, I am somewhat less interested in the rolling stock than I am in the construction and control of the track and surrounding landscape. Interested in learning from experienced model railroad enthusiasts what lessons you've learned over the years that would be useful for a newbie, especially if you've made some cool automation for your system, or have built extensive support structures. This includes negative lessons, too, if you've overloaded circuits or floorboards. I'd *like* to integrate some interesting sensors and control systems, and I see some interesting open source software for this. So: What advice would you give to a late-start railroader? For reference: this set-up may end up living in an unfinished suburban basement.
Check out Model Railroader magazine. Kalmbach also has some excellent books for noobs, which you can probably find used on Amazon.
Also, check out your local meetups via meetup.com . Good luck
Familiarize yourself with "scale" vs "gauge". HO scale (1:87) refers to the proportion of the model to the real-life train. HO gauge refers to the distance between the tracks. So you could enjoy HO scale models of narrow-gauge real-life trains that actually run on N gauge tracks, and you could on the other end run O scale (1:48) models of narrow gauge equipment on HO scale track. Second, learn about Digital Command Control (DCC). It's a worldwide standard for electronic control in model railroading and you can do far more than just run a train - you can control and automate lights, track switches, train paths around your layout, sound effects, moving scenery elements, etc. etc. If you're in Europe, Marklin 3-rail HO powered by AC current is popular and their control system is called MFX, but most of the rest of the world powers HO trains with DC current and uses DCC for command control. HO modeling can be surprisingly affordable compared to other scales as it's by far the most popular. Agree with the other commenter that track stability is paramount as if your trains don't run reliably, you will quickly lose interest. Lastly, don't be afraid to just lay some track down and later on rip it up and start over. Track isn't *that* expensive, and you can often reuse a lot of it when you pull it up off whatever surface you've mounted it on. Get your trains up on some sort of surface (table, piece of plywood, whatever) for starter because running trains on the floor rapidly becomes no fun, and you can't appreciate the details on the engines and cars when your viewing perspective is from an imaginary 500 feet in the air.
The Digital Command Control (DCC) standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... has made operation and control of hobby trains more realistic and allows for much better computer control and sensing of layouts.
Of course, it also adds cost to what already can be an expensive hobby, but just being able to run two trains on a single track without a collision is pretty cool.
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
When i was growing up my friends dad was a pro; He would spend months on a single house, making if from scratch with wood and match sticks etc etc. The finish product was something out a of a magazine and of course we weren't allowed withing 50ft of any of it. Anyway, that being said, you dont have to spend months anymore; There are websites dedicated to CAD designs specifically for model railroads; So now you can just 3d print out anything you want. You want a oil rig? There's a design for that; Some of it is open source, some of it cost like $5; Normally the sites have the option to outsource the printing for a relatively cheap price; But then you have to wait, and if you mess up the paint, you might have to buy another. The only problem is that you have to get really good at painting. Since all of it comes out creamy white. You also have to sand the plastic down to get it smooth.So a good drummel and lots of mineral spirits. But still a lot less work then my friends dad.
"There's nothing more frustrating than getting everything set up and then having your loco break."
But don't you want your railroad to be a realistic Amtrak model?
But seriously, if you want to see a really large railfan layout, visit San Diego:
http://www.balboapark.org/in-t...
Being on the local steam railroad, I have encountered plenty of people with quite impressive model railroads. My own isn't impressive as railroad time end up being on size 1:1. Still, being interested, I looked at what other people have made to figure out what I might do myself one day and now somebody else can benefit from it. This mean the following list is a summary based on experience of several layouts over multiple decades.
Use quality tracks and join them correctly. Poor tracks causes many derailments and takes the fun out of it.
Make all tracks accessible. Regardless of the quality of the tracks, derailments can happen everywhere. I know somebody, who put up tracks, placed a closet in front of it and then had to remove the rear of the closet to get to a derailment. He left the rear as a door for easy access to the next derailment.
Think of what to do with trains you aren't using. Constantly placing new trains on the tracks is time consuming and quickly becomes boring and leaving them on the tracks quickly fills up the sidings. Maybe add a layer of sidings underneath your model just for storing not currently used rolling stock.
If you plan for trains to go uphill, test how they perform at the chosen grade. It's no fun to add the hill and then realize half the trains can't climb the grade. Also severe slowdown or wheelslip is likely unacceptable as it wears out the engines way too quickly.
If you add a section of tracks, which can be removed, like for gaining access to a center command center or whatever, then do remember to prevent trains from driving when the track is incomplete. One working solution is to make the nearby tracks get power from a wire, which automatically switch off unless the "bridge" pushes down on a switch, hence a sensor for the track being where they should be. I have seen that working and told it was installed after the owner had to catch an engine in mid air. Something about the wife suddenly opening the door and hence push the track out of the way.
Figure out if you want overhead wires. Depending on where and which era you aim for, they could be needed or they could ruin the atmosphere. At the same time if you don't have a specific goal, then you should still consider if you want those. Also you should consider if you want them powered or not.
Make enough clearance for the trains to pass under everything. Some cars are taller than others. I know of one guy, who had problems with driving a camera car underneath overhead wires. The battery pack was simply too big to fit without occasional hits and the power from the rails was too unreliable for the camera while driving. The concept of having a screen showing the front view from a model train sounds cool though.
Think of if you need a signal system. If you want to take the role of a dispatcher, then it would be nice to have tracks with automatic signals, which turns red automatically if there is a train behind it and red signals removes the power from the tracks right next to the signal. That will allow trains to queue up until you make a controllable signal green to make the trains enter a terminal. There are also some digital solutions, but personally I prefer the unpowered track as it seems to be more reliable in my point of view. There are many pages on how to set up circuit breakers for signals. I will not write about that here.
Don't make one huge plate and glue everything together on top with plaster and whatever. Instead divide it into decent sized sections, which can be taken apart and easy moved to a new house if you need to do so in 5-10 years. Remember easy take apart of everything, including tracks and wires.
Don't name your stations after real life stations. It might be fun at first, but a few years from now, you realize how much it limits you and you will regret it. Also by keeping it fictional, you no longer feel the pressure to update if the real station is updated or get new trains.
Think about curves. Not all trains can drive in all the curves you can buy.
True modular design is not necessary. Simply making it come apart in small enough pieces for two people to take through a door is all that is needed. Some bracing on the underside of mating panels that can be bolted together rigidly with probably 4 or 5 more bolts than necessary.
Some thoughts as to layout around the breaks - a lot can be done to make the breaks come apart cleanly without having to redo the entire section of landscaping
use stiff plastic to make sure the "fault lines" are going to divide nicely.
use flocking - redoing a small area of flocking is pretty easy... messy but easy.
use fabric over the base material then decorate the fabric. Make sure the fabric has a seam that can peel near the mating edges
have the town roads split. The split will be near invisible if a "naturally straight" feature is part of the edge, such as a car road, track bed, or building.
Plan for grade plan for access with hands. Use tunnels, building and other features to make "trap doors" so there are reaching holes that allow access to the center of the board.
Pre-plan the whole diorama. If you have access to CAD use it. Have poster printouts made to become templates that can transfer information quickly and easily
Make sure there is wiring paths, plan these to be accessible from underneath so use conduit, loom, or other means to organize the many, many wires that inevitably happen.
I do a small Christmas layout most years using O27 Lionel. The track all comes up, and the boards get put away in the basement. Even though this is super simple and dead flat the failures are mind boggling at times.
Phil
Laugh, it's good for you!