updated Nov 30, 2003 might I suggest you bookmark this page to easily get back from useful links
When someone gets their first train set, usually they put the track together and run trains on the carpet or floor. These days this is made a little easier with the newer roadbed type of easy track. Soon though, you will want to build a layout. In my rambling way, I will try and pass along what I have learned now that I am on my 7 th layout. Start with a small layout ! !
The first layout under the tree was fun ! What would I do if I was to build it over again ? First, using flex track, I made the radius (turns) too tight. I've found one can run small diesels, steam engines and cars not larger than 40' on a 15" radius but I would suggest 18" as a very minimum. In fact the serious modelers scoff at 22".
Bench
work: Most people start with a 4 x 8 sheet of
plywood on legs of sorts. Reading magazine articles one would be
led to believe you need something strong enough to hold a real train !
True I suppose for the expert, building a monster dream layout and planning
on it lasting 30 years. I've found a frame, cross braced and glued, of
1 x 2 strapping is plenty solid. If you plan to walk or climb on it, cover
with plywood. Myself, I just cover with 3 layers of 1" Styrofoam glued
like a sandwich. As my sketch shows, using the center level as track
level, one has scenery above and below track level.
MODULES: If I was to start over, I would build my benchwork as a group of 4 foot modules. Great if you ever move, or want to change an area. And makes the job look much easier as you can complete a section at a time. You can make some modules to match the standards of a local club, the rest custom sizes to fit your room.
SCENERY: bring your layout to life, add scenery. You will be amazed at how fast and easy it is ! All you will need is some Woodlands Scenics ground foam, glue, latex paint and sand. Create your land shape. Slop on some latex paint. (preferably a brown color, check the mismatch bin at paint stores) While the paint is still wet, sprinkle foam and sand. Truly you will be amazed as your layout comes to life !
WATER: this will sound strange, but paint the water area black or very dark blue. Feather the brown from the shoreline out towards the center. While the black is still wet, I swirl dark blue, and white (for white water rapids) among it. Once dry, a coat of Spar varnish will make it look real.
Creating water on a model railroad is a science in itself, experiment !
ROADS: "along the edge Grampy, so I can reach and drive cars and trucks on it ! "
It took a 4 year old to teach me the proper place for a road on a model railroad.....
I sprinkle sand and spread / shape using a popsicle stick as a road grader. This works out to about 33' width. Just right. This I glue like ballast and let dry. If you wish this to be a paved road, just pave over it with crackfiller (drywall compound). Once dry paint dark grey. When dry, mix a little black paint with water (about 70% water) and stain the roadway. Paint the white lines. (yellow if you are representing a modern era). When all this is dry, take a black felt pencil marker and create a few skid / tire marks. Spray all to seal with matte varnish like Dullcote.
I followed the suggestions in
magazines, marked a centerline of where the track was to go. Then glued
down the cork. Then attempted to make the track match :) Easier to
say than do ! And I nailed the track. Too tight in many places. If
you nail your track, just drive the nail till it barely touches the ties.
I read that advice but didn't take heed.
Starting on layout # 3 I found the best way (for me) was to put the track together first. As I put each piece together, I solder it, then spray track with a brown primer. When dry an hour, it is easy to scrape paint off the top of the rails. Then I move the track enough to put carpenters white wood glue down, lay the cork, more glue on top of the cork, and set the track in it. This way everything can be lined up. Once sitting overnight its stable. Then when you add ballast and glue it, the track is just as good as nailed with the benefit if you want to remove or change the track, just wet it well, after soaking ½ hour its free.
Presently I am working on layout # 5. Why one might wonder when I have a ½ completed layout in the basement (12 x 16 foot around the room) ? Too big, a LOT of work, its become a job. Jacob and I are in this for FUN ! The track is complete and de-bugged. Enough scenery is completed it looks good. I can see it will take years to complete. Here in the computer room, I started the latest layout along one wall 3' x 9'. Simple track plan, a passing siding and 2 spur's. Learning from all my mistakes on the first 4 layouts, this one is pretty darn good !
Soon I am going to take some proper pictures and post them online.
Scale:
Choose the size that best fits your needs. You have a variety to
choose from. The red & silver engine is HO scale, the most popular
size. You can build a nice layout on a 4 x 8 piece of plywood. The blue
engine is S scale, the green O scale (remember the
3 rail Lionel's of the 50's) and the black one
is G scale. Large but becoming popular in outdoor garden railways.
Track work: The MOST important part of your layout ! You could own the very best and most expensive engine and rolling stock available and unless your track is 100% plus, you will experience nothing but frustration and soon be looking for a new hobby
.
You are using a scale of 87:1, compare the thickness of one and eighty
seven sheets of paper. Quite a bump ! Cut, file and fit every joint until
perfect. Then a little flux and a touch of solder.
SOLDER: Soldering is actually pretty easy, with practice. I use a 35 watt pencil iron, a can of flux (red/orange ~ Radio Shack) and 60/40 solder. Secret is keep the tip clean and be fast. Join track, put on a dab of flux, touch the iron to the inside of rail. In a second , you will see the flux "boil" on the outside of the rail. At that time, touch outside of rail at joiner with solder, remove heat. Clean joint, use a jewelers file if top isn't perfectly smooth. There should be no excess of solder on the inside (working part) of the rail. I would suggest picking up some used HO track, practice on a dozen joints, you will be an expert before you know it !
Engines: Most people start with a low priced trainset. The problem is quite often they run very poorly without some work. The power packs included are light, have little control, the trains run too fast ! People set up the train, open the throttle, wonder why the train goes off the track ? First, the wheels are often out of gauge, or wobble. At full speed the train is going extremely fast, in the order of about 200 scale miles per hour !!! Slow down, you will have a lot more fun at ½ speed and less.
Tune-ups: Take the engine apart. Clip a 9 volt battery to motor. Does it run smoothly after cleaning the computator ? Are the brushes good ? Check for need of a shim on shaft end play. This usually causes an engine to run great in one direction, very poorly the other. Clean the base of the motor and frame of the engine. This is often a poor electrical connection.
Check the connection of the hot wire that goes to the wipers that rub on the wheels to pick up power. This often gets very dirty and full of lint, cat hair and the like. Clean the inside edge of wheel where wiper rubs.
Without the motor, sit the engine on a 3% grade. Does it roll down freely ?
Turn the wheels by hand, is there a bind ? Most likely problem being side rods
bent, too loose due to worn rivets or wheels out of quarter. A little patience
and time and you can have the mechanics working perfectly.
Mount the motor. You may need to shim it, The gears should "just mesh" , no
pressure between worm and gear. Use very little lube.
Clean and shine (I use an ink eraser, the common blue/pink type) ALL the
wheels. Check for sideways movement of drivers. I had one engine where the
driver would rub frame sometimes causing a intermittent shorts. On it I cut a
piece of clear plastic to fit and glued to side of the frame.
Take the trucks off the tender. Clean the axles, wipers (check for wiper
pressure) and most importantly the bolster (the pivot point where tender and
trucks rotate). That is where I always find a big problem. Over time that
connection gets very bad !
If the power is transferred via the draw-bar, run the "hot wire" from the motor
right to the tender frame.
Your engine will now run GREAT ! <g> I have done this to MDC, Bowser and
Mantua engines that are 20 or more years old. They now run very smoothly.
Cars: Usually the cars are too light. On average, if you glue 6 pennies inside each car, they will perform much better. Visit a friend who has been in the hobby, have him help you get the cars all running properly.
Hobby Shops: Your best source of help ! Yes, his prices will be slightly higher but that's more than overcome by the service, support and help he will offer.
Books
& Magazines: There are some great books
and magazines available to get started. At first you might feel overwhelmed,
but read on. Soon all the pieces of the puzzle will come together. My favorite
book is pictured. Of all the books I own I rate it 100% plus !
(click on picture for link)
Couplers: Train sets come with what's called horn hook couplers. They work bad, very. Serious railroaders switch to Kadee couplers. They work great ! As well there are now KD clones on the market at a much lower cost. I use McHenery's successfully and lately have tried a couple packages of MagicMate by IHC. At 8 to a package for $5.99 they are OK.
Body mount: a must do ! The cars that come with train sets have the couplers mounted on the trucks (wheel frame). Truck mounted couplers cause derailments. I cut these off and bolt a KD in its box to the body of the car.
Power Packs: You will be very surprised the difference a good power pack will make. I have a MRC 1400 and a MRC 1300. I consider the money well spent.
Track: Most train sets come with what's called E-Z track or the like. With built in molded roadbed. Contrary to what the experts say, you can easily combine it with conventional track. The experts will tell you to stay away from brass track like the plague, but it can be had for next to nothing, after painted looks fine. Yes, you do have to clean it more often, an easy chore.
Ballast: The track and ties sit on roadbed, modelers usually use performed cork. Once the track is mounted in place, sprinkle a thin layer of ballast, and glue. You can buy assorted bags of ballast. To save money, I went to a local beach and got a pail of sand. Then I borrowed my wife's tea strainer, sifted out the crud, and voila -- ballast.
Glue : Use a good quality carpenters water based (yellow, but dries clear) wood glue. I prefer the type that is NOT waterproof ! The reason being, if I want to make a change, just wet it well, let it soak ½ hr. and its removable. I mix it 50/50 with wet water for ballast. For scenery, foam, sawdust, sand etc. I mix 80% water, 20% glue.
Wet water: Liquids have what's called surface tension. If you add a few drops of dish soap to the water, it will flow easily by capillary action.
Turnouts: I have found the new E-Z track type turnouts great. They are manual and the switch built into the turnout. I bring the cork roadbed up to the edge of the plastic roadbed. Join the track, allow the weight of the track to join the two levels. A quarter of an inch in 9 inches is not noticeable to the trains. Once the ballast is glued, everything is solid. I plan to change all my turnouts to this type, first fastening the Atlas electric turnout machines, (those strange looking things on conventional turnouts), on the bottom. It will be easy to cut an opening for this to sit on.
Cleaning track: whatever you do, do not use steel wool pads ! The little metal droppings will soon get in the motor of your engine and ruin it !!! Use a very fine (600 grit) sandpaper if its really bad (prone to scratching, scratches collect dirt). Best is an INK eraser.
My Grandson likes skip rocks when we go to the beach.
We often collect "nice flat stones". Today, I completed laying and
painting the track for his new home layout. Looking about for a piece of
#600 sandpaper to clean the paint off the top of the track. I spotted a
nice flat rock, and on impulse rubbed it across track. WHY didn't I think
of it before ? Talk about clean and polish track ! Heck, they have used
stone forever to sharpen / polish metal.
Works GREAT and the price is right :)
Cats
! Yes, cats love to enjoy your
railroad. The problem is they break telephone poles and trees and
leave cat hair. Most cats hate flea spray. I
found by spraying the layout weekly, the cat stays away.
Brands: strictly the opinion I've formed by engines I own.
AHM: The one I own I bought used, is about 30 years old. Looks the part too. Years and years of fun built in and still going strong !
Athearn: The industry standard. Reasonable price, expect it to run forever. Operation can be improved by replacing the sliding metal contact bar for electrical connection with soldered wire connection.
Bachmann: The newer models, especially steam are greatly improved. As well as they have made great strides in the service department the past couple of years. You can have fun customizing, painting and the like. Reasonably good detail though not accurate scale. Since you can buy them reasonable at train meets, great for learning detailing, painting and the like.
Bowser: I have an Atlantic 4-4-2 kit. All metal, heavy. As the saying goes "will pull the front bumper off a rusty Ford". A kit not for beginners ! Six months after I bought mine, I finally had it running properly. Mind you I am now very proud of that engine.
Docksider (IHC): I call it "the little engine that could". Amazing the punishment it will take and number of cars it will haul !
I.H.C: run well, good detail
Life-Like: run great ! very durable. example, I have a LL GP38-2 my Grandson started running when he was 1 yr. old. It has been dropped, crashed, tortured for 3 years now. I have glued it back together many times, yet it still runs well !!
Life-Like Proto 2000: Treat yourself ! The detail and accuracy quality of a brass engine at half the price yet run much better !
Mantua: as they advertise, expert train builders since 1926. I have a Pacific 4-8-2 that is in the 30 yr. old range I bought used. Very durable though noisy. All metal, heavy, will haul a LOT of cars
Roundhouse (MDC): Another metal kit. IF you closely follow the instructions a beginner can build it in a week of evenings. I get great pleasure from my ten wheeler as its called. Works almost as well as my Proto 2000. Should have a lot of weight added.
Tyco: still available used (I think they were made by Mantua). The ones I have work well and look good to Jacob and I.
Other brands: There
are many other brands like Atlas, Kato, Con-Cor, Stewart, Walthers etc.
etc. Since I don't own any, unable to pass a comment.
Trees:
When
you add scenery to your layout, you can never have enough trees.
If you are wealthy, you can purchase them, or if you are like most of us
you can make very good trees at a very economical price. Remember
the brush that was inside women's hair curlers ? Cut in a cone shape, spray
dark green, dip in white glue (mixed 50:50 with water) sprinkle with ground
foam, Look around the yard and garden in winter. Many plants produce realistic
small trees. Just dip in glue, let dry, spray green, or fall colors like
in this picture, sprinkle foam.
Building
materials: Drop by your local "dollar store".
Buy a box of wooden fireplace matches. Economical scale lumber !
Check out the bridge, a little time with a hot glue gun.
Mounting buildings: An easy way to mount buildings on the layout that are removable is go to your local Dollar store, buy a package of household sponges. Cut a sponge to be a tight fit inside building. Glue the sponge to layout, fit building over it.
Add lights to Buildings: Clear mini Christmas lights. A set of 20 is $3 cdn. Each bulb is 6 volts. I cut the sockets, wired in parallel. Then using a cheapie trainset power supply (everyone has a few kicking around) I set the voltage at about 4 volts, fix controller knob with a dob of glue. Bulbs should last forever. The biggest problem has been to "light proof" the buildings for no light leakage except the windows.
matching
engine speeds : When you wish to run a couple
engines together, most times two engines will be close , one will be slightly
faster, not a perfect match. I have found this trick works great.
Add a pair of diodes, sometimes it takes two pairs, for a small voltage
drop. Usually the set will then be closely matched in speed.
cleaning
engine wheels: After a period of operation,
engine wheels will build up a coating of dirt. I found an easy cure.
About once a month, I take all our engines, and while watching TV, clean
all the wheels. I use an ink eraser, a nine volt battery to turn
the wheels and a battery clip.
Weathering: I have read and heard of using a lot of substances to emulate RUST on models. Here is a trick that works fine for me... REAL RUST ! Yes, I just take a scrap of rusty iron, wet my brush, rub it on the rusty iron, instant rust paint. Seal with dullcoat. its too easy <g>
flex track: The easy way to get GREAT joints in flex track is to slide about 1 foot of rail interlocking with the other track. The picture explains it. This puts the joints separate.
More to come soon 
(c) 1999 Hazen Middleton
