I am new to the hobby and am anxious to get started on my first layout. Before I dive in, could anyone recommend an easy-to-use reference book to educate me on building my first set? I have little to no knowledge of the model railroading field and have no experience in building crafts. All advice will be greatly appreciated.
Do you have a local hobby shop, with a good inventory? I'd go there, and look at their books. Kalmbach Publishing has done many excellent "how to" issues. Many shops stock these. Also, check around, and at the hobby shop, for a club you could visit. You can get great ideas by viewing what other people have done. You've made an excellent start, by asking questions. Keep doing so. And read, read, read. Thus, when you do get started, you'll have fewer potential problems. And much more fun. Boxcab E50
Hi Railrookie .. welcome to Trainboard! I used to live in Citrus Heights. There's an excellent model railroad club in Sacramento (used to be down on L Street or there abouts, but I believe they have relocated some time ago); also, there's a good club in Roseville. They used to have their setup upstairs in one of the display halls at the Placer Co Fairgrounds. As Boxcab stated, get a couple of publications, visit layouts (easy to find some when you locate a club) and by all means, continue to ask questions here. Good luck!
Rookie: Welcome to Trainboard. Any of the Kalmbach Publishing Books are great. You can find them in any hobby shop. Have fun... Stay cool and run steam.....
Model Railroader do layout series every so often. Jan to April 2003 they did the 'Turtle Creek Central' which was an 8'x4' layout. It was spread over those four issues and covered everything from building the base to scenery. Might be worth getting back-copies of those issues - there will of course be a lot of other articles in there to get you thinking.
Mike and RailRookie, MR is running a new layout starting in the newest issue. It's called the Stoney Creek RR . It is also a 4' by 8' layout and a very good beginers set. I seen it set up at TrainFest in Milwaukee Wis. in November, it is a very nice little layout,very detailed
Railrookie, welcome aboard!!! As you live in Sac, you are in the best area for model railroading. There are great clubs nearby on Grand in Sac and in old town Roseville. Also the local shops are excellent! Try Bruce's Trains in Sac or Railroad Hobbies in Roseville. Also a good shop in Yuba City. I know that Railroad Hobbies has the Kalmbach books. A friend of mine used such a book or article for his first layout. Course you got the best support available here at Trainboard. Keep askin them questions!
"Basic Model Railroading" Getting Started in the hobby. By Kalmbach Books It is a good general book. Loco1999
I started by subscribing to and reading Model Railroader magazine. Over a period of years I also picked up many of the Kalmbach "HOW TO......" books. My advice is to read... read. Ask questions. Get a couple of kits and build them at your workbench. Start "paddling around in the water" a bit. Pretty soon you will be planning your own layout and diving right in. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome Railrookie! As everyone is saying, reading is a good start I would also go to the Yahoo Groups home page, and search "model railroads". You will find chat groups covering just about every aspect of the hobby. I would look at joining these to start: Layout Construction LDSIG (Layout Design Special Interest Group) Model RR Structures Scenery Small Layout Design Structure Modeler Trackplans and Sketches Look at the photo and files sections, and read the archived posts. Introduce yourself and don't be shy about saying you're new to the hobby. The single best thing about this hobby is the willingness of everyone to share information and help each other out. Everyone of us started out as a rookie, so you are in good company. Enjoy, Tom
Tom and Railrookie, Welcome to the TrainBoard! Do you guys know the measurements of the space you have available for a layout? Is there room to work around it? Do you have tools and know how to use them safely? We can assist you better when we know these answers, and you will have some direction when you know.
