I have been intersted for a couple of years. And I have lots of books on how to. But am still confussed on witch way to go?
Posted by Konstantin (Member # 18) on :
I have some advice for you.
Talk to a lot of people involved in model railroading and get ideas. Find railroad clubs in your area and visit them. Most model railroaders are glad to talk to people who are interested.
Go slowly and think about things well in advance of building or buying anything.
Start small. Do not plan on building your dream railroad right away. Just plan a simple little railroad so you can get some practice and also to see what kinds of things in model railroading you enjoy most.
Good luck. Model railroading can be a lot of fun.
------------------ Elias Valley Railroad (N-scale) www.geocities.com/evrr
Posted by Chuck Walsh (Member # 677) on :
And I have lots of books on how to. But am still confussed on witch way to go?[/B][/QUOTE]
Education is the horse, experience is the jockey.We all have made mistakes,some costly when starting out. Develope a plan,scale?,layout size,DC or DCC',track radius. Take a look at the Walthers reference catalog books,N-scale, 400 pages,HO scale 994 pages. The amount of products out there can be overwhelming. In the Walthers HO,loco section there are 15 plus model manufacturers, look alikes,similar in appearence, but vary in quality,details,performance. If you are like me, mistakes will be made, but you wish to minimize and these forums can help you in some of your decisions as well as getting some one on one assistance thru a club and a GOOD hobby shop.
Posted by Challenger (Member # 1298) on :
Hello, I have been model railroading since I was four years old. In that time I have done alot of running trains but did not do any of my own actual construction until I was in High School. I could not agree more with the other two about boning up and doing research. When I started my own layout, (The previouse layouts have been my Dad's and other family friends) I had to learn almost everything from scratch when it came to benchwork, tracklaying, and scenery. I had the train building down pat however. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, Yes they can be costly. But the only way to avoid mistakes is through wisdom, and the only way to get wisdom is to make mistakes. For example, It took me 4 years to get a track plan that flowed smoothly, worked nicely and could support the type of traffic that I wanted. From that I learned this piece of advice. If you do not quite know if the track plan your thinking about will work, get a supply of modular roadbed track to try out the design. Bachmann EZ Track is a popular brand. It goes together fast, and stays together, but also comes apart easily if changes are needed. It is also cheap,(Bulk Track is selleing for $.15 a section here in Bozeman MT) with a variety of additional track sections to allow you to try different plans with ease.