Any "Real" Model Railroaders here?

[Stoker]

My dad recently started building himself a new HO layout, his last one being the one he built for me about 35 years ago. I am "Model Railroading Vicariously" through him right now by helping out in the form of making some buildings for his layout, mainly wooden structures that I can scratchbuild. I built plenty of scale models in my youth, but I have been busy making 1:1 scale buildings since then. Right now my supply of scale timber is growing and soon the first buildings on my list will begin, probably starting with a sawmill . Now that I am looking at all the cool stuff that has come around in the last third of a century I am beginning to ponder making a layout too. Any other MRR hobbyists here?

[Blackhawk]

I used to have a model railroad. It was originally my older brother's and then it became mine and more was added onto it. It was O-scale I believe, with a lot of Lionel locomotives from the war/post war era. After moving though, they ended up becoming all boxed up and now sit in a closet. I can't remember the name but the houses that went along with it were the plastic houses that were made up of 4-5 pieces. Also included were some of the buildings made by Plasticville, back when they were popular and before they were bought by some Chinese company.

[Knave]

I started a ho scale railroad on a 4x8 sheet of plywood topped with a matching sheet of 2 inch blueboard insulation. I then used even more blueboard and a electric knife to create and shape the landscape. I started this around 2000 or 2001. I wound up trying to store the layout in the garage and did so sucessfully until we had just one little opps. I still have the locomotives and trains. With my Grand Son all involved with Thomas and Friends I have brought some out to show him what awaits. As far as controllers I went analog. If I had it to do over I do believe I would have spent the money an gone digital. I did buy the one locomotive a plug in to convert it to digital control. Not sure if those plug ins are still available. Or if the other locos can accept the plug ins.

The Wife is wanting me to start over with my little railroad buddy. We will see.

[obertran]

When I was a little child my aunt bought me my first scale 'N' railroad, it was from a very popular trademark in Spain "Ibertren". I played for many years but then life and space made me stored it in a box at home. Now I'm buying new engines and wagons in Ebay as I want to restart my hobby when I can

[Stoker]

Well, after making a few things for my dad's layout I caught the bug and decided to start my own.

Scale is 1:64 and gauge is 42" . That is S scale buildings, figures and trains on 16.5 mm gauge HO track, i.e. Sn42" or Sn3.5' . Locos are going to be bashups of cheap HO locos adding S scale cabs and details. Setting is coastal Mexico circa ~1880's , Industries will include mining and fishing/cannery. Started picking up things from Ebay and Craig's list, have a big shipment due in the next day or two. Wanted to do something in the PNW or Alaska, but elected to go the desert route after considering it carefully. Too much detail and expense in trying to get an old growth forest looking right. With a desertscape I can make as few or as many bushes and scrub trees as I want, and the #100 mesh sifted desert soil from my yard works perfectly as desert soil so that is a zero $ cost. Harvesting a variety of micro grasses and whatnot for bushes. This layout is a scope and cost that I can tackle in a few months for a few hundred $ rather than a few years and a few thousand $ to make a more elaborate layout. If I am still enthused after completing this I can always recycle the track and structures and move on to something more complex.

Here is the basic layout. Still evolving, table construction will begin soon. Yard area on right is level, harbor area in center and rising to mines on the left. The hook is an elevated trestle to dump into a tipple, which in turn loads barges. Dual reversing loops. Grid is 4". Room size is 11' x 11'.


Here is a thread over at MRH about my layout

Happy railroading!

[cheminot]

Note to "Real" Model Railroaders: Any one of you uses -or even knows- Catrain? I posted a thread about it a long time ago about it, and it fizzled sadly.
I don't have a "Real" Model Railroad" but I run Catrain just to look while sipping a good beer.

[Stoker]

The name "Catrain " sounds familiar. Is it a model railroad design simulator? I have a couple of design programs. Anyrail, which I made the layout pictured above with, and XtrakCAD, which is more complex and I may or may not end up using. Anyrail is super simple to use, but the free version of Anyrail is limited to 50 pieces, which I am real close to with my layout. XtrakCAD is completely free and allows unlimited layout size and running simulated trains on your layout design, but I have never tried it.

[cheminot]

CaTrain is a little soft mainly used to run model railroads from the computer, but runs by itself too.
here is the link: www.catrain.org/

I did notice the AnyRail look of things
enjoy!

[Stoker]

OK, I knew I has seen Catrain before. Not anything I need, although it is interesting. I am actually going to use regular old DC track control. If I really get hooked on this stuff maybe I will get DCC ,which is the standard digital control system for model trains . There is just no need for it on a layout of the size I am making, it is more for giant club layouts and such where there is a desire to run multiple trains on the same lines. The wiring on my layout is fairly complex though. With what I have purchased and some things my dad is sending me, I will have 11 turnouts, most of which will have remote switches. Along with that I am going to have 2 reversing loops, which require elaborate wiring to make sure the polarity is correct in relation to an approaching train , otherwise it will instantly reverse and jump off the tack when entering the reverse leg, and perhaps shear off the drive gears as well. I also will have 8 separate sidings which can be isolated, to park engines or whole trains, and then activate another.

The large lot of gear I bought off of Ebay has the siding switches and one of the reversing loop switch setups I need. That stuff is sitting at the Post Office right now. I almost drove over to pick it up, but I guess I can wait for the wife to pick it up on her way home later as she drives right by there. I also decided to give XtrkCAD a try, and it is a bit easier than it first seemed to me. It does not have the drag and drop ease of Anyrail, but it allows you to draw much more detail and things like the structure of the table as well. In the short term, I will have a 4'x8' sheet of plywood with track on it out in the shop that I can stand up out of the way. This will allow me to experiment a bit with some things I want to do before I build the permanent one in a month or so.

[AdmiralHalsey]

I'm hoping once I get a job to start doing some serious model railroading. Currently all I have is a Lionel set I got on my tenth birthday.