Hello, I am a really old (62) retired and returning newbie who loves trains and model railroading. I am planning my first build, an N-scale layout on HCD? I have good experience building on a club layout for many years, but have never built a complete layout for personal use. I am thinking HCD with sawhorses because I can store it upright in the garage, and run trains in the garage most of the year, except winter, where I would have to move indoors on the living room carpet. I want to try DCC but have no experience. I want to model the transition era ATSF and earlier periods before 1960 in Southwest USA. My rolling stock is wood sided freight and passenger. I have made no decisions on track, turnouts, etc. I enjoy realistic operations, switching, and just watching the trains chasing their tails. Can you please point me in the right direction to other similar N-scale modeling. Thanks, Casimir Sparks, NV
Hi Casimir, Welcome to the Train Board, glad to have you on board. Take a look at the N-Scale forum. It contains lots of topics, many of which might answer your concerns and give you ideas. In the meantime, we'll be happy to chat with you and share ideas Oh, please reconsider referring to yourself as "Really Old". I was a Junior in high school, with a Driver's License when you were born.
I've been pretty mobile the last few years and I like HCDs. I'm partial to Kato Unitrack as well as it gets me up and running quickly. There are a lot of track plans that give you continuous running and options for switching. Personally, I'm planning a layout on a 36" HCD (it was a cull door so I got it cheap) based on the Kato "Cheap and Nothing Wasted." I'll stretch it a little and maybe use slightly larger radius curves. http://katousa.com/cgi-bin/dl/dl.pl?dl.mif,N-plan-cheap-nothing-wasted.pdf In any event, welcome aboard! Andy Tetsu Uma
Casimir- I just started into my 63rd year, a couple of months back... An HCD would be a great starting point!
Welcome aboard, Casimir. The HCD concept seems to be giving the modulars a run for the money in terms of popularity. If you browse through the N Scale forums, I'm sure you can find lots of discussin of various plans for HCD layouts, most of which include photo histories of the construction and the final products. Inspiration abounds!
Welcome aboard Trainboard, Casimir. You are a mere youngster. I see you already have received some help, which is typical of our members here. I think you will enjoy it here.
Casimir , you be in good company ... some of it older than you .. with that said Welcome to the TB , the help is awesome no matter what the gauge and Merry Christmas !!
