so. how do I even get started?


L

latenttrainfan

Member
hello, I'm new here!

I've always had an interest in model trains, love seeing them in other peoples houses, garages, public displays, what have you.

so now its time to start one of my own.

this may be a bit odd, but I have a room in my BARN. upstairs, in the hayloft, next to the viewing room overlooking the arena.

I have to measure it, but its roughly, (just from eyeballing it) ten feet by about twenty? maybe not quite twenty.

will it be too dusty? I can fix that problem by finishing the walls, right now, they're just lined with board, but they're pretty tight together. there is an electrical outlet, and overhead lighting.

the viewing room is heated, so it won't get too cold there. (I'm in s/w Ontario, so it will be chilly, but not freezing in the barn. )

I appreciate any help or suggestions you can give.

and, my other question, are there many other women on this board?
 
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Sounds like you might be best off going with a large scale, like G. Even though it'll allow for less, it'll cope with the "weather" better.
 
Welcome to the forums. Sounds like you have a fantastic space to build. I suggest you put up drywall and make it as much as a normal room as possible so as to maintain temperature, eliminate as much condensation as possible and keep dust levels to a minimum. In terms of what you create with your layout, I suggest you look at the NMRA's beginners pages which were a great help to me when I began not so long ago and of course continue to seek advice from the helpful people here and keep your eye on the threads which can be very inspirational.

Most of all though, have fun! :)

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/
 
The biggest issue would be the winter weather (cold), and then the dust (less electrical pick up). HO can be done, but I'm willing to bet you're going to need some decent patience to get by.
 
Thanks, Rogue! I can see I have a lot of reading to do before I get started.

I want to start small and simple, as I plan on this becoming part of the "stable package" at my horse boarding farm. I figure, while the ladies ride and spend time with their horses, (and still want their spouses to take an interest) the men can be on the farm, but still have something fun to do. (not to mention that I like the whole model train thing..)

I'm heading into town this weekend, hopefully there will be a model train store somewhere near me. (I just moved to a new area recently, so I'm having fun exploring.)

are there recommended books that I can hunt up?
 
haha! i'm a horse trainer, and pick up a lot of rescued horses that need patience. THAT I have a lot of!

but, I'll see what I can do to make it less dusty, and WARMER. Shouldn't be hard, the ceiling is plywood, with insulation above. plastic is between the plywood and insulation.

there aren't many gaps in the boards that make up the walls, and I can easily line them with plastic on the outside, and plywood, or hey, how about styrofoam insulation? warmer, and dust free. the floor is plywood, and easy enough to keep clean.
 
Great! I can see you guys will be super to work with!

now, gotta run, barn chores await, horses will be banging at their stall doors if I don't get out there and give them their breakfast. There's a new little rescue pony that I brought home last night, i want to see how he weathered his first night.
 
latenttrainfan said:
haha! i'm a horse trainer, and pick up a lot of rescued horses that need patience. THAT I have a lot of!

but, I'll see what I can do to make it less dusty, and WARMER. Shouldn't be hard, the ceiling is plywood, with insulation above. plastic is between the plywood and insulation.

there aren't many gaps in the boards that make up the walls, and I can easily line them with plastic on the outside, and plywood, or hey, how about styrofoam insulation? warmer, and dust free. the floor is plywood, and easy enough to keep clean.
Click to expand...

WELCOME!
I see you want to be a horse trainer and a model trainer, too.:eek:
Sorry, that is a terrible pun!

A couple quick points; dust, humidity and temperature changes cause poor electrical contact, so the trains do not run reliably. Corrosion and dirt on the track and the engine wheels (where electricity is picked up) must be removed. Temperature changes cause expansion and contraction of the metal track and building materials. Low temps cause joints to widen or high heat causes the ends of joints to jam together and buckle at times.
Extruded blue or pink styrofoam is excellant for wall insulation AND for your layout base.
Pick a time and area you want to model. Concentrate on just the items that will fit your area and time period. The late 1950's saw the last of stream engines in normal use and diesels were taking over.
You may select urban or rural scenery. Don't put a 5 story hotel in the middlle of a village of 100 people. Or you could build a Harry Potter Hogwart's layout.
We will help you when you are ready to go forward with some decisions made about what YOU want to do.
Mikey
 
Hi latentrainfan and welcome to the forum ! As far as your layout goes I live in Western New York which can get pretty cold in the winter , I have a HO layout in my attic and and it is not heated . . My trains run fine and I don't have any problems as it is very dry in the winter up there .It is laid out on plywood and homasite and I do not have any problems with track issues and such . Whatever way you do good luck . Also I would chech out Spacemouse who is a member of our forum and has an excellent starter guide for beginners .
 
Hello and welcome,
Like Paul said check out Spacemouse's guide. Its a simple and easy to understand guide on things you might not think of. It's good to know what a railroad actually does in order to plan out your build. And build a functional layout that you can have fun with and has challenges of switching, dropping off and picking up loads, making up trains. etc. Don't build a loop and watch the train chase its tail...You'll loose interest fast. Also think of what your into most, is it the scenery part or the operation?
I would suggest as a beginner to go with a plan that you find online that fits your area to work with and think about going with "EZ-Track"...You'll get a nice smooth operation as a beginner and you wont have to learn all the ballast techs yet. Also what kind of "train in a box" do you have? Is it brass rail with black ties?...you'll clean it forever!!...make sure its nickel silver...its will last longer between cleanings in your room..You might want to ditch the set and and buy individual pieces so they perform well for you. (Unless its a top of the line brand.) I'd also get a travel/storage box and take the engines into the house when not in use for periods of long breaks till you see what the room is going to be like. then you'll only need a simple track cleaning like with Rail-Zip to protect it. Hope this is some help...just trying to add to the valuable info the others said!
 
Hi and welcome!!

I'd highly recommend doing lap edge styrofoam (1.5 to 2 inch at least) and drywall on the walls before proceeding to the layout stage. Get your room done right then it'll be a lot more comfortable. It wouldn't be too expensive to do. I made the mistake of jumping in with the layout in the basement before drywalling - now it's gonna be twice as much work to finish the walls. Also get some good lighting up.

You mention s/w Ontario - if you are near London there is an outstanding shop there called Doug's Trains. He simply has EVERYTHING - mind you, not complete-set type stuff, more like every detail part you can imagine. There are a couple other shops in London too. There's another shop in Aylmer called Otter Valley - it was closed when I went there but if you're close it may be worth checking out.

Otherwise there is the well known George's Trains in Toronto (two locations), or the place I go to in Bracebridge called The Right Track. I'm north of Orillia and am very lucky to have Brian and The Right Track close to me. Of course there are others but those are the ones at the top of my head. :)

Mark
 
Welcome to the greatest hobby on earth. As a farmer/rancher/animal manager, you are undoubtedly quite handy. The smaller the scale, the more railroad you can have, but the finer the little bits to get meat hooks to screw together or pressed into place, and the more light you'll need as you age in order to appreciate it all. As a general rule, as one passes 45-50, one finds they suddenly need glasses and at the same time a lot more light. Lighting, even if you are young, will be an issue unless you have several well-spaced bright ones scattered over your ceiling.

The secret to this hobby is to have fun and learn slowly. There is always an excitement once a person falls off the wagon of sober reality and decides that he will start a model train layout. Often, the first affair is exciting, but gets old quickly because of faulty decision-making...usually born of ignorance. For example, and once again a responder raises it, read Chip's Beginner's Guide. Hopefully you will come away appreciating that throwing up a configuration of track is the easy part. Nope, if you don't want to be building another layout before long, or at least tearing up the track and redoing the track plan, you must have some good planning and design so that you aren't bored after just a few weeks. Railroads exist for a purpose, and some of that must be reflected in your layout so that you can simulate building trains and then spotting cars at industries and picking up empties or those filled with goods to be delivered to a central sub.

Benchwork to hold it all off the floor is really simple, and won't present much of a problem for you. There are many ways to do it, and many ways to make the rolling hills and towns. Time spent surfing the web and looking at how-to's will help a lot.

Good luck to you.

Oh, you should decide very soon if you will operate in DC current or in the newer Digital Command Control (DCC).
 
wow, you guys are GREAT!

I will go slowly, and carefull, and plan well. (hahaha, spoken like a true beginner, right?)

lighting and size are things I'm taking into consideration, (I turned 51 yesterday!!). I AM handy, as I used to say at work, (I could get away with it as I was the ONLY woman doing that job when I started, ) If guys can do it, how hard can it be?

Mikey, you are too funny. I love a good pun. :)

so. I must insulate, and then dust/weather proof. That's easy.
after that, I guess I start with some sort of table or platform to have everything sitting on.

plywood? how about legs? I think I'm more into the scenery, and watching things moving around. I have NO idea which era I would like, do I have to chose? can't I mix them all up? Purists are no doubt horrified by that last question.

I think I'll be visiting the library, and finding the nearest train store this weekend. I'm sort of near Stratford, and also Waterloo, for those of you who know where things are.
 
Purists are somewhat scorned in the hobby because they are not easily suffered. That is, of course, a generalization, and would not apply to some very talented prototypical modellers who are very nice people, and who give much back to the hobby. But anyone who tells you there is only one way to do something, or that there is a "best" way is almost certainly wrong. The "best" that a person can do for you, and for others, is to report honestly about their own experiences, complete with what they thought went well and what they could/would have done better.

So, after that long diatribe :), yes, I would not discourage a person from using the "eclectic" approach to modelling...some of this and some of that. The point would be to eventually find something that you do well and that you also enjoy doing...and of course, that turns out nicely. I have used stacked foam, and I have used aluminum window screen hot glued to forms and then slathered with a mix of fine vermiculite, Plaster of Paris, and Portland Cement. I added small amounts of powdered masonary dyes to get the tone I want. To be frank, it looked good, almost too dark when it was wet and setting, and now I feel it is too light/bright. Live and learn. :rolleyes:

Once again, yup, please do little experiments, maybe small dioramas where you try your hand(s) at different techniques. Probably the finickiest part of the whole hobby, and arguably the most important, is getting your track sections placed together so that your toy trains can run around them without derailing....no wobbles, improper joints, poor conductivity resulting in trains stalling for want of power, wrong angles on the turnouts (you would know them as "switches", but in the hobby we also use electrical switches, so we have gone to the formal railroad term for the whole appliance, which is turnout), and so on. Your trackwork will make or break both your layout and your experience...so start early to work with it and get it right. Track isn't very costly, so damaging a piece here and there is not a problem. The turnouts, though, are a bit pricey, for the good ones.

-Crandell
 
Welcome to the forum!
(I turned 51 yesterday!!)
Click to expand...
Well, I'm 52 and I just started this adventure 3 years ago.
I guess I start with some sort of table or platform to have everything sitting on.
Click to expand...
There are a couple of ways you can go. Either a table (4x8 type) or around-the-walls shelf type. Setting up a 4x8 would be faster, but the shelf type will give you more modeling space. Everyone here can help you all along the way.
Just remember, this should be fun for you! Don't build something you don't want to just because someone else says you must. ;)
 
What I would do is build out and straighten the walls. Fill with insulation and wall board the thing. It will be so much more comfortable and easier to heat......AND.. a lot more attactive for a model railroad. Do a good job with the wall board and you can paint part of it as a backdrop.
 
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