Any of you guys or gals into trains? Call me a geek if you want , but I finally have my layout up and running and I’m having a blast.
Relevant facts
Era: 1950s ( both steam and diesel)
RR: B&O and Western MD
Scale: HO
Size: 8’x8’ “L”
Scenery: None yet. That’s the next part.
If you have a layout, let’s hear aboutit!
Ha. First time since I’ve been on this board that someone has admitted to being a model railroader.
Got an HO shelf layout (18" x 8 ft) in progress above the TV, and a pile of boxes in the closet. Eventually, this conglomeration will represent a small Eastern PA town in the mid-fifties (once I get the track laid, that is). Had family that worked for the Lehigh Valley, so am interested in that road plus Reading, CNJ, and PRR.
Not quite, but I did build a lot of HO automobiles for my dad’s layout. Tried to modify each one a bit, so they weren’t just straight from the box. Most fun was to take a piece of junk like an Eko-brand truck and make it look worthwhile…
Dad’s layout fills half his basement, maybe 10x30, on two levels. When he retired, Mrs. R and I decided to get him a locomotive; it was like touching a match to a field of dry grass!!!
Not exactly the first time. I admitted it a while back. That’s probably why I’m so popular here. 
I’m just switching from HO to N for space reasons. I kept part of my HO substructure, an 8’x5’ table, and plan to start cutting plywood for the terrain later this week.
I have to admit that I’m not terribly particular about authenticity. My layout is designed to fit my available space and the fact that both my wife and I like passenger trains more than freights, so I’m not modeling any particular area, and I’d say my era is late steam/early diesel.
Anyone else doing N gauge?
Does anyone know if the PRR and No. Pacific intersected anywhere? I have some passenger stuff from both railroads, plus some Great Northern, and I’d like to use them together without getting an earfull from other train people. (Not that it would stop me.)
Anybody have a webpage? I’ve thought about documenting the building of my layout and posting it. (like anyone would be impressed.) :rolleyes:
N gauge is the only way to go. been thru all of it and I collect standard gauge pre 1930 stuff. but its just runs around in a circle because of the size. but N gauge can make a small room the world. and with the KATO locos with dual flywheel and all wheel pickups you use a modern power source and you can really get some good effects.creeping and building strings. trees can be made from hobby moss and twigs so they are good looking and cheap. of course use the continuous track and solder the joints. use the good switches with the motor underneath and you can create a great looking layout without the toy look of HO and O gauge. and of course they have Ucontrol in the locos now. the only drawback is steam locos don’t smoke and the sound is generated by the controller or a sound house. buy a piece of 4/8 3/4" plywood, 4 sheets of 1" styrophome board. glue 2 sheets to the plywood (that allows you to get away from the flat world problem. use the other 2 sheets to build hills. have a junction off the board so when you finish this one you can connect it to another board and keep going. the hardest part is deciding on your layout. use cork board for a track bed. different colors of balast. lots of tunnels and bridges. get your wife involved by assigning the layout of the town to her. she can build and paint the victorian houses etc.
I am not a nerd but I know someone who is.
N gauge is the only way to go. been thru all of it and I collect standard gauge pre 1930 stuff. but its just runs around in a circle because of the size. but N gauge can make a small room the world. and with the KATO locos with dual flywheel and all wheel pickups you use a modern power source and you can really get some good effects.creeping and building strings. trees can be made from hobby moss and twigs so they are good looking and cheap. of course use the continuous track and solder the joints. use the good switches with the motor underneath and you can create a great looking layout without the toy look of HO and O gauge. and of course they have Ucontrol in the locos now. the only drawback is steam locos don’t smoke and the sound is generated by the controller or a sound house. buy a piece of 4/8 3/4" plywood, 4 sheets of 1" styrophome board. glue 2 sheets to the plywood (that allows you to get away from the flat world problem. use the other 2 sheets to build hills. have a junction off the board so when you finish this one you can connect it to another board and keep going. the hardest part is deciding on your layout. use cork board for a track bed. different colors of balast. lots of tunnels and bridges. get your wife involved by assigning the layout of the town to her. she can build and paint the victorian houses etc.
I am not a nerd but I know someone who is.
I’ve been fairly active in HO off and on over the past 30 years. Every layout I’ve begun has had to come down prior to the scenery phase due to moves, but I don’t mind much because it’s the building and designing that I enjoy (I may never find out if I enjoy operations!).
I’m currently in a state of acute agony because we finally finished our “dream home” (a remodel of an old house) but had to use all available space for crap like bathrooms and bedrooms, leaving precious little available for MY priority - a permanent layout. Fortunately there are some good clubs in the area, but I’m still feeling forlorn about not having my private empire.
SDMB sure isn’t where I expected to find other model rails.
I figure this might be a good place to ask this… anyone into trains looking for like, a large train? Like one you can sit on. I think it’s like 1’ or 1.5’ wide track or something. Electric motor. I’ve got a relative trying to get rid of this. Kind of expensive though. Or maybe you all might know a good place to advertise this?
Z scale, 4 feet by 6 feet, long way to go.
Only point of contact would have been Chicago, but at different stations.
But hey, it’s your world, do what you want…
I have a Lionel 027 gauge, with original locomotive and whistling coal tender… I thought it was a 1947 model, although the instruction booklet (form 497) has a 1946 copyright. The transformer is an RW 110-watt with whistle button and direction changer.
There’s also the crossing signal, electric coupler/uncoupler, gateman’s house where the attendant comes out with a lighted lantern, a moody gravel hopper, currently nonoperational milk delivery car/platform with magnetic milk bottles (and a non-vintage operating one), original caboose, street lights and several lengths of original track and switches.
Other stuff that may or may not vintage include the trestle set, girder bridge, and log unloader with “manumatic” uncoupler, and some boxcars and gondolas.
Thanks PharmBoy, for getting me to open the boxes to look at this treasure again… I haven’t assembled it since the 1980s. If any collectors would like to see pictures and tell me what I have, it’d be greatly appreciated!
had a train as a kid that i loved playing with. HO scale and would load it up with army men and have a ball.
came across a box with all my stuff in it (except track!). now that i have a huge shop, i figured i might set it up somewhere. its a long way off, but its on the list of stuff to do.
my son was just born and its something maybe the two of us can do during the winter nights when he gets big enough.
i have B&O locos and the bicentenial train loco/caboose in pretty good shape.
kinda wierd, i’m rediscovering all my old “toys” now that i’m almost 40. plan to build a train set, get my old telescope set up (fantastic place to look at stars where i live-- middle of nowhere with no lights), got a massive slot car track i can dig out.
i guess it pays to never throw anything away!
As a kid, I just had a Spirt of '76 train set. Don’t recall if it was the diesel or the 0-4-0. I came across a model railroading book as a teenager which gave me the idea of building my own landscaped layout someday. Instead of plaster and window screen material that the book recommends, I’d be using cut styrofoam.
Which leads to a question, those of you that have built landscapes, what materials have you used? In addition to plaster and styrofoam, I’ve also heard of papier-mâché over crumpled newsprint.
My dad used wadded newspaper as a base, then covered it with newspaper strips dipped in slightly thinned drywall mud. Much cheaper than plaster or styrofoam.
In one place, he had a big cliff to make. He decided to try something a little more, um, professional(?), and went out to a road cut in the neighborhood and smeared latex mold compound over a rock outcropping, intending to use the latex mold to make a plaster cliff. He pulled the latex (a big sheet, maybe three feet long and a foot-and-a-half high) off the rock, flipped it over, and took a look at it. It looked rocky (no surprise) and had picked up enough dirt that it had a nice realistic color scheme–
So he used it directly! Trimmed it with scissors, thumbtacked it at the top and bottom, spread a little dirt on white glue to hide the edges; looked really good. However, it did tend to quiver when he ran a train past it…
So I take it he was modelling the US west coast? 
I’ve been into trains since I was a kid - hell, my screen name comes from my love of trains (when I was a kid, I’d see a train and go ‘Woot, woot’, so my family started calling me lawoot) I model in HO, but wish I modelled N. Having lived in a succession of apartments, I haven’t had the space to run trains (mind you, that didn’t stop me from amassing about 3 footlockers full of rolling stock and locomotives), so I’ve been putting my energies into painting my locomotives to my own scheme, which is a combination of the SOO Line and BN schemes. I now live in a house , so I’m finally getting a chance to put up a layout. Too bad I’m working two jobs, and don’t have time to do it. 
Sold all my trains on ebay. They sure fetch a pretty penny for that 60’s stuff. But they have a lot for sale there all the time if you need trains.
Aaah, model trains…
But what with the SDMB and all, I haven’t even got time for home brewing.
I’ve got this fantasy of running a model subway system. It could be under the house or anywhere out of sight, which would appease the g/f, and run from my PC with miniature drivers’-eye onboard cameras. Is the technology up to this yet? Hell, I could put it online and have other Dopers play with it when I’m at work.
Another nerdy railway fantasy involves speed trials on a hundred yards or so of straight track. I know this goes against the grain to the slower-is-better purists, but you can’t tell me it wouldn’t be fun. I guess you’d have to scratch-build locomotives with slotcar gearing and such. Or model rocket engines. 
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the stepson is nearly four, so that can be my excuse for a modest little oval layout some time soon.