I love to go to model train shows, they are a great place to get layout ideas and also to purchase things new and used for your layout at a great price.   I have bought many buildings in various stages of being built from fully built to just pieces of a kit in a bag but it saved me lots of money and lets you customize the buildings so they don’t look so much like kit buildings.   There are no train shows in our small town so I have to travel to Nashville to the train shows there.   There are 2 model train shows in Nashville each year, 1 at the train station and 1 at the fairgrounds.  The 1 at the fairgrounds is huge and has a ton of vendors and a lot of full very detailed train layouts everything from N scale to O scale.

I  travel and on a recent  trip to Ontario Canada  I was there during the Burlington Model train show so I decided to attend.   The show was at a hotel and was fairly large with a lot of vendors but there were not near as many vendors selling used supplies (which is the cheapest way to fill up your layout) and there was only 1 layout display compared to the Nashville show which usually has at least 5.   Even though they only had the 1 display it was a very large well done N scale (1 of the best I have seen)   and I still was able to get a bunch of modeling ideas from it, I have an ho scale but  scenery ideas  can be duplicated in any scale, and I did buy some buildings for my layout so it was a very beneficial trip.

Here are some of the images I took of the N scale layout at the show.

Someone else at the show also took a video you might enjoy.

When you travel check online to see if there is a local model train club and if they have shows, it is a fun inexpensive thing to do and allows you to see how other people enjoy this hobby.

Bridget

I mentioned in my last post that my layout was 5×9, I had the board across the top of our open stairwell that leads to our upstairs game room.   Then we decided to try listing our home for sale so the train layout had to be taken apart and put away.   Our house didn’t sell but our daughter ended up moving into the upstairs so I still had no place for my train.   My hubby had an office in the garage and he decided he would rather move his office into the house so the garage space became my new train room.   My new layout is an L shaped board that has one side that is 14×3 and 7×3.  The size is overwhelming after having the smaller space.

The 1st thing I did was set up the track layout, I don’t usually go by a plan, I look at some and get ideas but I like to play around with it (I rearrange rooms that way too, move things around until I like them) After the 3rd or 4th try I got something I liked and then started playing around with where I want to have my town etc.   I didn’t have near enough buildings but I wanted a general idea and then I could add to it.   When making your plan you need to know if you want a large train yard with a roundhouse and lots of tracks or if you want a town scene, country scene, mountain etc.   Since I had such a big space I wanted to do a few different things but I didn’t have enough track or was very interested in doing a train yard (not enough decorating potential) After I decided what I wanted and changed my rough placement 2 or 3 more times I was ready to get started.

In my town area I find it easier to paint my entire surface the road color and then I can add the grass etc. on top of that.   On my country area I used a large sheet of grass cloth over the whole surface and cut out the roads as I went.   I decided to work on one section at a time so the 1st section I completed was my little farm on the outskirts of town.

I used moss sheets (for Christmas village layouts) to create the farm yard and I bought some bunches of silk flowers with very tiny flowers and cut them in sections to use for the flowering trees.  The hayfield was created with cut up feathers.   All of these things can actually be bought for hobby trains already made but since this hobby can get a bit expensive it is better to be creative and save money where you can.

I am also working on the Church, park and school area.

The green grass sheets look a little fake and boring so I sprinkle some of the model railroading grass material over it for a better look.   The sidewalks are cut out of hobby foam sheets they are the perfect thickness and easy to cut and paint.  The little building you can see across the tracks behind the church is the country store near the farmhouse with a dirt (sand) parking lot.

I am the type of person who wants everything done yesterday and I have to constantly remind myself that this is an on going hobby and if I go for weeks and don’t touch it that ok, it doesn’t need to be finished overnight and it might never be finished I will probably always be adding or changing something.

Bridget

One of the fastest and easiest ways of getting started in model railroading is with a 4×8 train layout in HO Scale. A 4×8 layout has many advantages. For starters, a 4×8 table is easy and cheap to build thanks to readily available 4×8 sheets of plywood.   Most 4×8 model railroads let the trains run continuously. Maybe most importantly, a 4×8 layout is small enough to get you started in model railroading without being overwhelmed and big enough to really build a nice layout.

If you started out with a basic train kit then you will need to buy an expansion kit to be able to build a larger layout.

This is one of the reasons I really like Bachmann train kits, they fit together so easily and they have all the pieces you need for expansion. The expansion kit also comes with some layout plans. Here is a link to a website which also has some good layout plans and it tells you all the track pieces you will need for each of their layouts.

There are 2 ways that you can have your new layout, you can just set it up on a large table if you can’t afford the room for a permanent layout. The biggest drawback to setting up this way is that you can’t have any permanent landscape and scenery with your layout. If you really want to be a model railroad hobbyist then you need to be able to have a permanent layout which is why so many people choose the 4×8 size. Here is a link to building your own table (or benchwork as the hobbyists call it) it is a fairly easy construction project or you can have your hubby build it (like I did)

My 1st permanent layout was actually a 5×9 size because the available room that I had was on top of the half walls around the open stairwell that went to our bonus room.

Your 1st step after completing your benchwork is to layout your track the way you want it and then test it by running your train around a few times at different speeds. When you are sure of the layout then the real fun begins, time to add the scenery and create your train world.

Bridget

So you have decided to try model trains for your new hobby, now how do you go about choosing your 1st train set.   After you have decided what scale train you want, then it comes down to personal preference.   You can buy your train tracks engine and cars in separate pieces but I think it is much easier to buy a kit for your 1st set.

The kit that I purchased was the Bachmann ready to run HO scale train set complete with engine, cars and tracks.

Since the tracks are a snap to fit it is much easier to set up with no soldering of the track joints, just be careful to follow the directions when fitting your track pieces together. There are so many train kits on the market, you can have a realistic train like this one or you can choose a Christmas theme train to go around your tree or Christmas village. If you are using a train with your Christmas village I would recommend a larger set such as the O which is double the size of the Ho and fits the sizes of most of the houses much better.

If you are going to be sharing your new hobby with the kids or the grandkids then you may want to consider getting the much desired Thomas the Train which also comes in model trains as well as toys for the kids.

There are train sets out there for every taste and budget, take your time and find the one you like. Besides the Bachmann the other two most popular brands of train are the Lionel and Atlas.
When selecting your kit be sure that it can be added too if you want a larger track layout than the size included.

Bridget

No this post is not about dieting,  scales and gauges are terms that are used to describe the type of model train you have.    Scale is the model’s measurement as a proportion to the original full size train, while gauge is the measurement between the rails.  At first, model railways were not to scale, but for ease of use manufacturers created different scales.

The size of engines depends on the scale and can vary from 27.6 in tall for the largest ridable  scales such as 1:8, down to matchbox size for the smallest in Z-scale (1:220).  A typical HO (1:87) engine is 50 mm (1.97 in) tall, and 100 to 300 mm (3.94 to 11.81 in) long. The most popular scales are: G,  O (1:48), S (1:64) and HO gauge (in Britain, the similar OO), TT, N and Z scale.   HO and OO are the most popular of these, and the HO is what I have.

G scale (Garden, 1:24) is most popular for backyard modelling. It is easier to fit a G scale model into a garden and keep scenery proportional to the trains.  O, S, HO, and N gauge are more often used indoors.

The scale you choose depends on the size space you have available.  The O scale is a nice large train with easy large building and people to build your layout but you need a lot of space for your display.   You can make a very full layout in a small space with the N scale but the buildings and people are very small and harder to work with.   The reason the HO is the most popular is because you can create a nice layout without taking up a huge space and it is still a good viewing size and easy to work with.

No matter what size you choose there are supplies available to create your own unique layout.

Bridget