Hey, what's up?

I thought that I would start this thread, and see what happens. I have looked around on the internet for forums like Hobby Talk to talk about railroading, but I can't find any I like. Is there anyone out there that is in to railroading?

I plan on building a layout here in the spring. I have the perfect place here at my new house, but the building I am going to put it in needs work. I am waiting for the weather to get better.

At the current time, I joined a local club that has a club layout. Man, what a layout it is. I am currently looking to buy three Conrail EMD GP15-1 Diesel Locos, and a caboose to run at the operation sesstions.

Post if anyone is into R/R, I know I will be back to talk about trains if this thread takes off.

Jerry

hi jerry dont think model railroading will catch on here but one never knows my husband was into it for years but because we moved a lot he gave it up tired of trashing layouts l.o.l.in our area there were 4 good hobby shops all sold model railroad stuff the last one closed up just before christmas the hobby has no interest to the younger generation that grew up with video games our kids had no interest at all in trains . as for emd 15 engines no idea what they look like the only ones i know are the sd40 and f7 or f9 type and the pacific and atlantic steam engines but at least i know a boxcar from a log car or a container flatbed car l.o.l. i just started doing dioramas on my own i watched my husband do them and thought i may as well try .if you need any ideas like that check out the die cast collecting board i have one there the thread is called a farm for bugsy as for equipment we went to a model railroad show before christmas 10 yrs ago you couldnt find a parking space at the show this year only a few hundred people were there stuff was cheap the older guys are gone now some in old age homes we bought a complete layout at an estate sale buildings and rolling stock mostly brass engines no one wanted the layout to hard to move and only one other guy bid on it we ended up getting the whole lot for 500 dollars a complete set of magazines from 1934 to 2004 in binders over 90 buildings and 50 engines over 300 boxcars and about 50 passenger cars and a lot of other odds and ends my husband bought it just because there were so many scratch built engines and buildings he kept about 50 per cent of it and gave the rest away it would be interesting to hear other peoples views on model railroads and see some pictures of layouts thats why i like this hobby talk board you can find info on radio control planes another hobby of ours and die cast cars which i collect i think we will build one more model railroad after we make our next and last move in the spring if not we have a 53ft trailer full to the back doors in storage right now that is going to make a funny looking lawn ornament l.o.l.

Great to see someone that is into railroads on here. You are right, kids now a days don't care to much for it anymore. I have always been a fan of the railroad since I was a kid. I will be 30 this June, and this will be my first huge layout. I have had the 4X8s layout when I was growing up and always dreamed of having a big one. When I got with my girlfriend a couple years ago, her step-dad has a big layout, and from there I kinda fell in love with it again. The hobby of R/R is kinda getting me out of R/C racing, I think that R/Ring is more enjoyable.

Jerry

its sure more relaxing than r.c. control cars ill post an old picture so you can see how easy it is with styrofoam scenery .in the before and after pictures the last one you can see where the pink styrofoam hasnt been painted this was because i didnt allow for enough room for 80ft passenger cars to make the turn l.o.l. and had to do a bit more carving .i did the scenery my husband did the track work and this one had a street car that run up the middle of the road the cars were all hotwheels and johnny lighning cars thats what we collect ,not to proper scale but we like them so we use them but we didnt get a chance to finish this railroad we trashed it when we moved .maybe someone else can post some pictures of their model railroad
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/richatr/Jim6.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/richatr/Jim9.jpg

Nice! Looks good! I think that it is interesting that both you and your husband both enjoy the hobby. My girlfriend is even interested in helping me build one. Hopefully, tonight, if not, Sunday, I will post some pictures of her step-dads. I would like this thread to take off and get to see pictures of other layouts.

Jerry

well your lucky if your girlfriend has an interest in your hobbys because its not just doing things together its the fun you have wandering around to model railroad shows and hobby shops looking for something new ,and i allways seem to notice a antique shop or some interesting store to shop at while we are out wandering around l.o.l.
looking forward to your pictures .

I won't have this pictures up till after Wed. I want to take so pictures of the club layout as well. I'll post them all at once.

Jerry

I got some great pictures of the club layout today, I will get them up after work on Wed. I am just to tired.

Jerry

still around l.o.l.

Oh yeah, I am still around. Here are some of the club pictures.

I guess the file size is to big, I will try again later. I want to show off the pics. Anyone else out there in to trains?

Jerry

I always liked model railroading. I have about 30 HO scale train engines with an assortment of different types of cars. Alot of my stuff probably isn't the same quality that you're talking about though.I got my first train set around 15-20 years ago, the Tyco Road & Rail set, which was also a slot car set too. The slot car part of the hobby has taken off, moreso than the train part. I have continued to acquire trains and train stuff whenever I get a chance. I have a few Bachmans, some old LL and Tyco engines too. Some of my LL engines are different than the ones I see today. They have the motor in the middle with dual drive shafts going out to the wheels on both ends of the engine. I decorated one to use for Christmas time, when I always put a track around the base of the tree. I've been running this engine for at least 15 years and it's still going strong. I think I picked up a few of these at TRU, back when they had a killer train aisle, for about $20 each.

There's a really good train/hobby shop nearby called Larry's Hobbies. They have some really cool layouts set up in the store. One side of the store is nothing but trains, with a few slotcars & slotcar sets, the other side of the store is mostly RC. Their stuff is much more expensive than what I used to pay at places like TRU. I've also found that resale shops are a pretty good source for picking up train sets too. I would like to do a nice layout using my Road & Rail intersections, with a slotcar set interlinked to it. I built a cool layout once when my kids were pretty much infants, but I put all of that stuff away when they became toddlers. I ended up giving my train board to my brother in law. I bought a LL quick lock track system to use during Christmas time. If I ever get my garage rennovated into a rec room, I will do another nice layout or two, along with some slot car layouts. It is looking like I may get to keep the house when I separate from my wife. If I do, I'll definitely have a train room in here.

hey captain fred we have engines like that also .my hubby gave me an old engine with the motor in the middle and it has two rubber bands one on each end that run off the long motor shaft , it drives the wheels .it only pulls a few box cars but its a fun thing to watch ,bachman makes some nice engines and they run forever ,we have brass tenoshodo engines from the 60s that we got last year at a estate sale ,plus a few old american flyer and lional train sets and a bit of garden railroad stuff we had no room at our cottage for a train layout so we built a garden railroad but the guy who bought our cottage liked it so we left it there and just kept a few engines and box cars we have a lot of different engines that are older stuff like bowser and i think the other ones are called williams i know some are articulated steam engines the last layout we had a sound system hooked up to two 100 watt speakers under the layout i didnt know my hubby hooked it up i started a diesel engine up and frightened the heck out myself but it sounded really neat the air horns sounded as loud as the real thing l.o.l.
we have 4 different scales of trains so we will probably go with a garden railroad first and a 1/ 87 after that right now my hubby has gone back to radio control airplanes and i have a radio control boat the place we bought has a pond about 3 acres in size so perfect for a boat and float plane and would look neat with an outdoor railroad but till we get our house built we cant do much you never know how much stuff you collect untill you have to move it l.o.l. and we have slot cars also the older aurora and afx and tyco stuff i think there are two scales of cars on that stuff. also if my husband had his way it would all be gone he says a plane is easy to dust take it out fly it and goodbye dust l.o.l diecast cars and train layouts you are a slave just to keep it clean . true but i dont mind . but when you have a 53 ft trailer full to the back doors in storage and thats just trains and diecast cars in that one and another 53 ft with furniture and other stuff i collect it does cross your mind why did we collect all this stuff l.o.l. if we had to go our own seperate ways id give it all to him it would be my revenge for getting me interested in all the hobbys he has l.o.l.

Hey, what's going on?

Good to see that we have someone else popped in to talk trains!

I have to retake the pictures, again, this time a smaller size I guess.

I went and picked up my Conrail EMD GP15-1 Diesel Locos today, man, I can wait to put them to work on Sunday. I went with Atlas, that is what the guys at the club said I should start with. I hope on Friday, I can start to weather them. When I get them finshed, I'll try to post some pictures of them.

I'll find out how well they can pull freight on Sunday. At times, I will be pulling up to 40 cars. At the club, on Sundays, we run a "run" session. We work a "12 hour day". See, 15 minutes is a hour, so a real hour is 4 in train time. So 3 real hours are 12 hour in train time. We have our orders to get our freight in certion places on the layout in a certion time. Before we start we all pull cards. Example, I might pull a yard master card, and that is my duty for the day. On a diffrent day, I might pull the main line card. Last Sunday, I was on line 3. That line is more of a short line, and I might have to have lay overs so line 1 and 2 can get though. It works just like the real R/R. Man it is a blast.

Like I said, I'll try to get some club pictures posted, boy it is HUGE!

Have a good one,
Jerry

jerry i dont know that much about cameras yet, still learning l.o.l. but i use photobucket it makes them the right size to post here .
reading about the club reminds me of one my husband and i went to one time
he wasnt into rules and regulations l.o.l. he walked out after about an hour l.o.l.
he is a wizard with cranky engines and his friend wanted him to go check out one they were having a problem with thinking he would join the club ,he helped them out a few times but couldnt get into it i thought it was interesting .they had all the track hand laid not 3ft track that most guys use it was real neat a lot of work .i think i know what kind of engine your talking about now when i seen the letters g.p. we have some of those i think they are g.p. 38 s and some other gp numbers we have to me they are all diesels or steam thats my engine classification system l.o.l. or c.n. and c.p. we have some american lines like sante fe and chessie and a few others .

Hello,

Boy, I would love to see a layout with hand layed track. I have seen a ton of pictures in Model Railroader, never in person.

When I start my layout, I would like to hand lay my track, but my step-dad is trying to talk me out of it. True, it is alot of work, but the results are great.

That is to bad that your husband didn't get into a club. We have alot of fun during a run session. It is interesting to see how a R/R works. Plus, when we are working on a part of the layout, the more ideas the better.

Jerry

hi again if your step dad is trying to talk you out of it its probably because he been there and done that l.o.l my husband said its a bit of work but well worth the effort he did some .he said to watch a little camel back engine haul a few log cars rocking back and forth on a 4 per cent grade winding up a hill makes it worthwhile ,you dont get the same thing with the flex track .
same as buildings the scratchbuilt beside a plastic one you can see the difference .but it takes time and a bit of skill helps l.o.l. i wish i would have had a digital camera before we tore up the last layout ,i never got into taking pictures of this kind of thing untill a few months ago .
but heres a picture of a scratch built fence and the plastic one and the barn on the right is plastic the other buildings are cardboard and paper they came from the estate sale my husband bought. they were made in the late 1940s and still surrvive they would have went into a dumpster if we hadnt taken them they gave them to us when we bought all the rolling stock . i think they are neat it shows the way the oldtimers had to build a model railroad there were not to many on the shelf items to buy in those days you made what you needed and a good imagination helped i guess ,if this gets boring say so l.o.l.

and heres what i mean about the different look you get from doing it the old way . i thought the barn i made looked okay l.o.l. till i got these old ones .

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/richatr/Jimmy/IMG_0745.jpg

Talking train never gets boring! Glad that there is someone on here that has the same interest!

I would of loved to seen pictures of your old layout!

Jerry

jerry my hubby used to be like that we would drive hundreds of miles to go to a train show or sale i think we stopped at every hobby shop on the way home from alabama one time. by the time we got back to toronto the truck was full . of his bargains l.o.l.
now its planes kind of rhymes anyways l.o.l. we have a toy show we go to at the end of jan. havent missed it in 10 years my kind of stuff nothing there that interest him
lots of diecast cars ,old dolls, robots that kind of stuff very seldom you see trains the only guy who brings that kind of stuff is a guy who deals in hornby trains if you ever heard of them .we have a bit of that stuff i come from england so i collect a bit of that and the old dinky and lesney cars and of course i cant forget thomas the train i got a lot of that .its going to my grandsons he is 3 and wants a train layout thats next months project l.o.l.

hi jerry i wont get a chance to post again im leaving hobby talk, hope your railroad thing goes ok for you ,been fun talking to you and captain fred whom ive talked to before on another part of the hobby board . i posted on the johnny lightning board under the topic <think what you say before you post > thats the reason im leaving just felt i should tell you guys, thats it .

:confused: There's no need to leave the entire HT board! Stick around for a while. At least visit with us over here!

I hope you'll re consider.

Yeah, I agree with Captain, I run into a lot of negative posts on some of the R/C threads. At times, I thought about not coming back, but I still do. Heck, Hobby Talk is they only place I go to on-line anymore!

Hope to see ya again!

Jerry

i've run trains my whole life. grandfather worked for SAL down in jax. my wife got really into it after she met me.

here's the N scale layout we built in florida about 6 years ago. we're not in florida right now so this layout is actually in parts in storage. always meant to move the geocities site over to our real site but that's one of those "to do list" things...lol

http://www.geocities.com/seaboardrr/

i laid the track and built the mountains. my wife painted everything you see.

we run SAL,SCL,ACL,FEC,CSX and Sou Crescent steam. mainly N and G scale but we do have a bunch of HO and O in boxes. too much N to even go into.

4 diff G scale engines and about 40 random cars plus my favorite Warner Brothers Train set we found which is just amazing. my wifes pride and joy is her mikado 4-6-2 southern crescent passenger set...that one put a dent in the check book...lol

Very nice looking N scale layout! I really like the way you set it up.

I guess with it being 7 feet in the air, the trains look very real.

I think that I am going to start with my first layout in almost 20 years. I am limited on space, so I have come up with the idea of making a coffee table size bench work. I am planning on building a small yard so I can do some switching. I was going to do it in N scale, but with me in a R/R club now, I want to run my locos there too. The club layout is all HO.

I will post some pictures when I get started on it.

Good to see someone else pop into our thread!

Jerry

Hey, you other train fans might get a kick out of this. Click on over to the slot car box stock board and check out the link on the thread "when Legos & slots collide". There's a cool train video on there!

Thanks Fred, I am heading over to check it out.

Jerry

MRR forum at www.the-gauge.com has a very large membership

Thanks, I am going to check it out.

Jerry

Hey Jerry, Its Jay, I too do trains, I dable in to many things, I am big on N scale though due to space restrictions, When i lived in Berlin heights, I was a long time friend of Paul from Pauls hobby, in norwalk. Up until his passing, he was such a promoter and avid train collector, I Suggest anyone in the Marble head ohio area visit TRAIN O RAMA, its pretty interesting, not th emost technical layout, but very cool Stuff, I had a 12 by dog leg scaled in HO in Berlin heights before i divorced and moved up here to strongsville, I just bought the scenic ridge layout form woodland scenics in N scale and cant wait to get to it, Since my racing schedule is off till work allows me to race, it trains, planes and helis for me right now!

Jay,

Hey man, good to hear from you. Ain't it something that we ran together, and never knew we both where into trains.

I have been running on her step-dad's layout, plus there is a R/R club right in downtown Norwalk. You might have hear of it.

That is interesting that you are into N scale. I have been thinking about N scale, I too have limited space. The downside is that I can not run my locos on her dads or the clubs.

Let me know how that layout is that you ordered. I have been looking at them.

IM me if you ever see me on-line.

Jerry

Jay,

Hey man, good to hear from you. Ain't it something that we ran together, and never knew we both where into trains.

I have been running on her step-dad's layout, plus there is a R/R club right in downtown Norwalk. You might have hear of it.

That is interesting that you are into N scale. I have been thinking about N scale, I too have limited space. The downside is that I can not run my locos on her dads or the clubs.

Let me know how that layout is that you ordered. I have been looking at them.

IM me if you ever see me on-line.

JerryHey! yeah The woodland scenics scenic ridge is going to gether well. I will take pics as i go along and send them to you via email. If I can figure out how to post them here I will. and same if you see me on line try and IM

Hey jerry the great thing about this layout ia that its ever expandable, since they came out with the NTRAK modules. yo ucan start with those or the scenic ridge kit and expand with them, they layout is 3' by 6' good starter size, and there is no gues work, you can by the track pak, and the building pack and have it all at your finger tips, here is a pic of the box cover and what i have done so far, I have taken over my dining room table for now until finished then i will move it, or move it just before adding scenary. i will add pics as i go!

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/P1010095.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=P1010095.JPG)

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/P1010094.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=P1010094.JPG)

new pics as to where i am at now!
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/p1010100.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=p1010100.JPG)

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/P1010101.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=P1010101.JPG)

Jay-Looking good! It looks like you can pack alot into a little area. Keep the pics coming.

I am going to start my layout tonight. I have all the board and ready to go. All I am building is a 4X3 switching yard layout. I love switching! I don't know what era I am going to do, or what I am going to put on it. I am going to get the track down, hopefully tonight and start working on some moutains Sunday.

I'll get some pics. up when I get something going.

Jerry

And now here is where i am at! just about ready to lay some plaster cloth!

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/p1010002.583.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=p1010002.583.JPG)

Here is where I am at now, almost all the paper has been laid and then the plaster cloth in the following picture. I cant tell you how simple and nice this layout builds! Its great woodland scenics has a good thing here.
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/P1010003.84a.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=P1010003.84a.JPG)

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/P1010004.ab4.th.JPG (http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=P1010004.ab4.JPG)

I have been looking for a chat forum for Model Trains that is like Hobby Talk. This place is great, I think there should be a model train only area. There is one I found similar but it is mostly UK. I can find lots of discussion forums but none that can help a hobby shop promote sales though auction links or have buy and sell board. I still think model trains are the biggest hobby in America. Most hobby shops that have (or had) model trians are still not useing the internet to connect to customers. A recent article in Model Retailer polled 8 hobby shops (maybe 8 I cant quit remember). Less than half used the internet.

I model N scale, Grand Trunk Western, Penn Central and DT&I. I want to start selling model train items on my ebay site. Currently my sign maker is holding me up. I have my own building for a store front, but its not much of one with out a sign.

I like the sub-terrain lay-out in a box. I have seen alot of people start out like that and have alot of fun!


-- Elliot
wnovess99 on ebay.

yeah its my first sub. I have buolt em the old fashion way in the past! just was board and wanted something to do LOL

Several years ago I was building a layout from all Woodland Scenics materials, but after my first son was born, I had to change directions. The house was small, so I needed the layout space to be flexible. I built a larger layout, but I did it all with EZ Track, so I could change it around, or put something else there when necessary. It was more "toy train" like than most HO layouts, but we really liked it.
Now that we have a bigger house, I plan on rebuilding the 10'x10' EZ Track layout for my boys and me, as I was happy with the way it turned out. However, I also plan to build one of the Woodland Scenics layouts adjacent to it, just for me. I believe the one I was looking at was called "River Pass"? They were building one on the DIY network last fall. All I need to do is finish my basement. Hopefully, I'll sheetrock on Sunday. :thumbsup:

Cool to see this thread still alive!

wnovess99-If you are looking for a good forum page, go to the-guage.com. Great page.

Jay-How is the layout coming?

I have scraped the idea about building a switching layout. With a little talking to, the little woman has let me have the up-stairs bed room. I will have a 8X15 shelf layout, that is point to point. I am going to model western P.A. in 1975, right around when Conrail took over PC. I will have a big yard for Pittsburgh and heading north, but I don't know what the other yard or city it will head to.

Sunday I plan on finishing up cleaning out the room, washing the walls, and get it ready to paint. When I start to get my benchwork up, I will post some pictures.

You all have a good one,
Jerry
_____________________________
New World Hobbies-nwh.vstore.ca
Axiom Motors-axiommotors.com
K of K

Glad I found this thread. I have a lot of hobby interests, but trains are something I always come back to. I am not the usual model railroader, as I don't build layouts. Rather, I enjoy working on the trains themselves. I have even worked at a Lionel service station, where we repaired toy trains of all makes, and vintages.

Recently, I was designing some "Lost in Space" Jupiter 2 models, and got to the point of buying some 99-Cent store battery trains, for their motors and gears. I ended up with 25 of them- most, for their kitbash potential. They are 1870s-ish 4-4-0s with tenders, which run on included HO all-plastic track. The locos are fairly close to scale, although the cabs(which contain the motor and on/off switch) are oversized.

I did a couple of minimally-modified engines, and was starting on a 2-6-0, when the cab size got me wondering about doing an S scale, narrow-gauge engine. These 99-Cent store toys are a cheaper version of an already-cheap Xmas village train series.
The thing is, Dept. 56 buildings, and similar Xmas village offerings, are closest to S scale. All village-type trains are either HO scale, or O scale narrow-gauge, both of which are significantly off, scale-wise.

One way to see the scale of such Xmas village buildings, is to put model cars in front of them. The ones that fit best, are 1/64 scale, such as Hot Wheels. This is, in model railroading terms, S scale, as was used by post-WWII American Flyer trains. Such sized trains are still made, but are prohibitively expensive.

Bachmann's O scale village trains use HO sectional track, like that which comes with starter HO sets. I figure, why not use the same track, for the same reasons, for an S scale, narrow-gauge train? HO track, used with O scale, is 2' 6'' gauge; used with S scale, it represents 3' 6" gauge.

Doing a bit of homework, I found that, outside the U.S., the predominant narrow gauge is 3' 6". That includes many Canadian roads, and a drawing of an early Canadian 3' 6" gauge train showed an American-style, Baldwin-built 2-6-0 locomotive, pulling European-style passenger cars. That drawing got me thinking about the narrow gauge trains at Knott's Berry Farm, so now I'm building a D&RG C-16 from two of these battery engines(yes, I know the Knott's engines are C-19s.)

I have yet to get a digital camera, but I'll post pictures at some point. I hope others here will share their train stuff, too.

I have some n scale stuff i.e. engines, cars, track etc... for sale or trade for R/C stuff email me at cbandqfan@yahoo.com or pm me here and we can talk... engines are Kato Atlas Lifelike cars have MT couplers and trucks... Thanks

Just a P.S. on the digital camera thing: the July Consumer Reports issue has an article on them. Unfortunately, they don't discuss the dirt cheapest of them, but they have an offer of one month of their online magazine for free. I'll probably check that out.

On the Knott's C-19/16, I made up some brass tires, to replace the rubber traction tires on the flanged drivers. For the time being, I'll make do with the original plastic drivers, adding only the rods, and counterweights, and reducing the flange diameters.

After I finalized the installation of the boiler to the chassis, I noticed the driver axles were mislocated. I figured a way to scribe the proper line on the frame, and I'm in the process of relocating some of the driver bearings.

I can't believe how many times I have done, and redone, the cab! That reflects how much more serious I have become about getting certain basic dimensions correct. The final cab will still be mostly plastic, but with a brass roof, and brass overlay panels on the front and sides. The panels will add some depth to the window and carpentry detail.

The tender is coming along, too. I added much more material to the top deck, and a coal barrier to the front. Also, I sanded the sides and top flat.

I've been feeling the need to see the Knott's engine assembled, so after relocating the rear axle, I made up the running board/cab floor piece. I also cut, fitted, and installed the last piece in the basic tender tank stucture.

I still need to make the base of the steam dome, and make and install the angled lip that goes around the top edge of the tender. After that, I should have enough to put together, to get a good idea of the finished model.

At that point, I may get charged up to finish the thing, or inspired to retire the bits to a container, where they will be out of view, and safely lost in my closet.

We have opened a Model Railroading area on HobbyTalk located at http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/forumdisplay.php?f=238

We hope everyone stops by the new forums and carry on this (and more) discussions.

We have opened a Model Railroading area on HobbyTalk...
This is GREAT!!! But, did it have to go under "Odds and Ends"? :dude:

It is on the main HobbyTalk page www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/

The above link takes you directly to it.

It is on the main HobbyTalk page www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/

The above link takes you directly to it.
Whoa. Oakely Doakely. :thumbsup: