First off Merry Christmas to all!!!! I'm Steve from New York City and I'm new to Model Railroading. This is my first true venture into Model Railroading and I guess I'm behind the "8 Ball". I would like to learn terms and meanings of Model Railroading. Something like "Model Railroading for Dummies". I'm still deciding between HO, N and Z (leaning towards N). The only reason is that I live in a apartment, so when I'm not running Trains I would like to be able to store the layout. Thanks in advance, Steve T.
Welcome to Trainboard. This is a good place to find out things about the hobby. Personally i"m in H O but the basics are the same regardless of scale. Do your research on your favourite road then design the layout to fit your space. 4X8 sheets of plywood are not the only choice. Since you live in an apartment maybe a shelf layout would work for you. Design it so you can use the room and have a layout as well. Welcome Aboard.
Steve- Welcome to TrainBoard! Take your time. Read books, magazine, web sites. Ask questions. The hours you invest now, learning what's best for your desires, will pay off nicely later. Boxcab E50
My advice is only to ask yourself what you like about trains. What country. What time period. What railroad name. What sort of landscape do you prefer. Go from there and it will define what you purchase in the future. Look at peoples layouts on rail images. Lots of inspiration there for a new model railroader. Even send private messages to people who have layouts you like. I get lots of PM traffic about my layout and it's not even near done. Go to the Library! They have magazines and books about this hobby. As to scale you choose. It all depends on what really gets your blood flowing. If it's huge modern coal trains you want, then shoot for N scale. If it's short steam trains on narrow track you may want to bump up to On30. If you like to see a diesel switcher, or steamer working a highly detailed industrial district maybe HO scale would work for you. Since you are new to the hobby it's hard to tell what you like about the hobby. Everyone has favorite tasks: bench work; wiring; building structure kits; scratch building train cars; scenery; just to name a few. Until you've done them you won't know what you enjoy. I personally hate building structures. I like it for a while, but I need so many that for me it just gets to be a hassle. I love doing scenery. Look around on this forum, there is a ton of stuff to read on basic model building if you search by topic. Just ask all of us lots of questions too, we love talking about trains.
Steve, you might check the Kalmbach books in your hobby shop or in a library. They have books especially for the beginner which could help you to find out what you need. Some of these books are compilations of series of articles that ran in Model Railroader. IMHO buying one or more of these booklets would be a good investment to begin a hobby. I had the same decision to make years ago, and I ended up with some very nice models which turned out to be still too big for my space, and I finally chose N-scale. Hope this helps a bit
Welcome Aboard, Steve. Don't forget the Search function on this board, and be sure to check out RailImages categories and also the Blogs! There's a humongous amount of collective knowledge just on this site. Have fun!
Welcome, Steve. For apartment dwelling, you will get more bang per square inch in N or Z scale. Z is much more limited in what is available in trains and structures, but it might fit your needs. I would suggest that you go to your local library and see if they have Model Railroader. Get a half dozen RECENT issues. At the same time, go to a LHS and pick up some N scale Magazine and N Scale Railroading. Read them and then decide which is best for you. I don't know where in NYC you are located, BUT for literature Brooklyn- go to Trainword on McDonald and F Queens- One LHS but it is short on literature Nassau - use your car and go to Willis Hobbies in Mineola or Trainland on Sunrise Highway in Lynbrook. Both of these stores have extensive literature, how to's and magazines. THE ABOVE IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF ANY STORE BUT INFORMATION ONLY ABOUT AVAILABILITY OF PRINTED MATERIAL.
Congratulations, you found us! Oh, you mean a book or something. :tb-embarrassed: Welcome aboard. Charlie
Merry Christmas, Steve, and welcome to TrainBoard A good staring point for a very basic introduction would be "The World's Greatest Hobby" website, www.greatesthobby.com They have some good basic info for beginers, including a FAQ section that includes a dictionary of terms and some frequently asked questions on model railroading. http://www.greatesthobby.com/wgh/default.aspx?c=ps&id=28 Their "Getting Started with Model Trains" booklet is also available online (click through the menu to get to the different sections): http://www.greatesthobby.com/wgh/default.aspx?c=a&id=34 And they have a club finder function in case you are interested in visiting or joining a club in your area: http://www.greatesthobby.com/wgh/directory/clubs.asp Model Railroader Magazine also has some info for beginners on their website, including a glossary of model railroad terms. Note that they actually have 4 different glossaries, one for model railroading, one for common railroad terms, and separate ones for garden railroading and toy trains (I'll assume that for space reasons you won't be needing the last two). http://www.trains.com/mrr/glossary/default.aspx?&list=1 Of course, you can always ask questions here too, but there's some on-line stuff you can look at to start you off. Best regards Ed .
You may just want to start a "Steve's Questions" thread. Bump the thread everytime you have a new question. I'm sure it could be quite popular. The novices will follow it looking for answers to thier own questions and the advanced people will follow it because they like to share.
Thats a great idea about the question thread....I know you will get the answer you are looking for here. Welcome to Trainboard, I am sure you will enjoy your time with us. Myself, I am in N Scale, and enjoy it very much.
Start Small Welcome! I hope you have a lot of disposable income:rn-laugh: I had a Marklin HO set was I was about 7. In my 20's I started an N-scale layout. Couldn't get the track right and gave up. I caught the bug again last year and started collecting N scale stuff again. Now there is the internet, and I have discovered what my problem was back then.... too late. You can do much more in a small space with N, and there is a lot of stuff out there. I see guys messing around with Z scale, and that stuff is just too small. I damn near needed a microscope renumbering some N scale stuff - I can't imagine how they decal Z scale! Ntrak is one option for you. It's designed to be portable, something to keep in mind as an apartment dweller. You get to work on small quantities of each stage of construction rather than face an overwhelming task all at once. And if you ever finish the module, you can start on another, which will look lots better as you have developed some skill. On the other hand, I slapped together an HO "layout" for a 7 year old relative's Christmas present. Very cheap, very basic, life expectancy of months. The detail on HO scale kits is great compared to N scale. My advice: start small.
It is best to start small. Elaborate benchwork and track laying can get rather messy in an apartment situation. Simple plug and play table top railroading is an ideal way to start out. Not only do you get trains up and running quickly, you form ideas of what you want in a permanent layout. A Kato Unitrack M1 oval track set with power pack or K1 oval track set without power pack along with an engine and some cars is what I would buy first. Or maybe a Kato starter set such as the Santa-Fe Super Chief. I would also buy a plastic station kit to put together. The table top could be constructed of plywood with 1/2" foam board and grass matt laminated to it. This is clean easy construction for a first timer and minimal tools are required. With this you can add and arrange track and structures to your heart's content. As you expand your table top display, you pick up on skills and and the stuff you read in books really stick in. And yes, the books and Magazines. For books: Realistic Model Railroad Scenery by Dave Frary, Creative Track Planning by John Armstrong, and Basic Structure Modeling by Jeff Wilson are among the best in my opinion. There are others and tastes vary. Get all the magazines you can. Both N Scale Railroading and N Scale are excellent choices.
Inquiring Steve's want to know... beginners questions I like the idea of the "Inquiring Steve's want to know... beginners questions" thread. I think it would be a really big hit on here, even for us old hacks.
Welcome aboard Steve, It hasn't been so very long ago that I too came aboard but since I've been here, I've met some good folks and read some good takes on model railroading plus you'll also find that people will readily chime and help you with the "how to's". As you've seen in the earlier posts, the members are more than helpful. Also, Merry Christmas to you!
Welcome to Trainboard... I too am new to the hobby (only been serious about it for about a year and a half)... I have started a simple layout in HO but to me this is just a short term layout to try different techniques. Although I don't post on Trainboard a lot, I am on this website almost daily reading what other people have to say and what other people are doing on their layouts. My best advice for you Steve would be to keep coming to this website because there is a ton of info by other modelers... if you have a question just ask because there is bound to be somebody on this forum that has a solution. I have learnt a lot from this website. I also read a lot of books especially from Kalmbach Publishing... I would also like to thank those people who are experienced in model railroading and are willing to spread their knowledge... it benefits guys like me. Merry Christmas to you all!!!
Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas. I like the idea of starting my own "Steve's Questions" thread. I know where I would like to start and thats with either with Kato Super Chief Loco or Kato Great Northern Loco. But how would I manage to put either one of those Locos on a shelf layout? Then I began looking to the GP series from Micro Train Line, but I need some help from you guys about Micro Train Line. Should a novice like myself bother to start the hobby by going Digital? I picked up the late Model Railroader Magazine and I fell in love with Walthers P2K Great Northern and Hiawatha. To bad it's HO, and the price is a little to much.
As long as you have enough room to make the turns you shouldn't have a problem. Passenger Trains require a larger turning radius. I couldn't find a recommended minimum for either of those. Maybe someone with more passenger experience can give you a good recommendation on the radius. As far as going digital, its all a matter of how much of an investment you are willing to put into the hobby to get started. RR
