Mostly Model Railroad

N-Scale Model Trains

2011-01-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

The “N” scale model train is one of the smallest available (though there are smaller, the smallest at the date of this writing is “T” scale, 1:450). N scale model trains are the smallest of the 4 popular scales, with scales ranging from 1:148 in the UK, 1:150 in Japan, and 1:160 worldwide. The 1:160 version was developed in Germany in the 1960s. A model of a 2-6-6-2 locomotive in N scale is about the length of a lead pencil!

The track gauge for all N scale model trains is 9mm, that is the space inside each rail is 9mm. That’s pretty small!

N scale is about ½ the size of HO scale trains. As such, an N scale model railroad can fit about twice as much scenery into the same amount of space as an HO layout. With N scale you can have vast expanses in your layouts, without taking up too much room! Imagine a wide prairie scene with your locomotive chugging along in the distance.

Alternatively, if you want to set up an HO scale layout and increase perspective, you can place some N scale track and train in the “background,” which will increase the apparent distance on your layout. This is an advanced trick and one that you can use quite simply to amaze your friends and fellow enthusiasts.

Some N scale modelers have actually build layouts in shoeboxes! This offers a fascinating, challenging way to use your creative abilities, while constraining yourself in very interesting ways. Imagine building several shoebox “modules” which you can connect together to create a full working railroad layout. With a few friends who are interested in the same idea, you can create a wide variety of layouts, based on shoebox sized scenes! And of course, when you are done for the day, you can store your shoebox railway in the closet!

N scale equipment is made by all the major model train manufacturers, including Athearn, Atlas, Bachmann, Bowser and others. Track, electrical controls, buildings, structures and accessories are all available from a wide variety of suppliers. Finding the supplies and equipment to replicate an older or existing railway line may take some searching, however, there are many models that have been made over the years.

The cost of N scale model trains is comparable to the cost of HO model trains. Locomotives can run from $45.00 on up, and can be configured with sound, smoke, DCC. Rolling stock is also available in the full range of detail, models, manufacturers and pricing.

Scenery is can be purchased or made by hand. Scratch building is popular, though it can be challenging to older hands and eyes. Full kits can be purchased, as well as separate components such as windows and doors. Figures and vehicles, animals and trackside equipment are all available in this popular scale. You are only limited by your imagination with N scale model railroading.

Kitbashing is becoming more popular in the N scale world. Kitbashing refers to purchasing multiple kits, and then composing your own hybrid from the components. This offers the modeler the ability to create unique buildings and scenes without the hassle of constructing the parts by hand.

N scale model trains offer another variation in the wonderful world of model railroading. When you are planning your layout, keep this useful and fun alternative in mind. You get lots of detail in a small amount of space – you literally can double the fun (over HO) for about the same cost of equipment and space!

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by Scott Watkins beginnersguidetomodeltrains.com modeltrainsforbeginners.com

Model Train Scenery

2010-12-24T23:38:00.000-08:00

Bring your Model Railroad to Life with Scenery

The scenery of your layout can be as interesting and fascinating as your model train equipment. Your scenery really defines your model railroad – the place and time. Even putting just a few kit buildings around your layout can alter it’s look and feel dramatically. How detailed do you want to get?

Before you begin setting up a permanent or even semi-permanent scenery, you should make sure your layout is the way you want it, your trackwork is solid, and your wiring and switching is working perfectly. There is nothing worse than having to tear apart some carefully constructed scenery to make track repairs. The prototype railroads don’t like to do it, and neither will you!

Terrain

Begin by building the terrain of your layout. If you are keeping it simple, and flat, then a layer of 2” extruded foam insulation, solidly attached to your benchwork is all you need.

If your terrain is going to be varied, then, following your plan, build up the basic form of your landscape, by either carving into your foam, adding more foam and carving away. Sometimes plaster over chicken wire, or other techniques, are used to create mountains and higher elevations. You may need to build these higher elevations before laying track.

Scenery From the Ground Up

Once your trackwork is completed and fully tested, you can start with detailing your scenery. I like to begin with the ground and work my way up. Not to say I don’t have a kit or two in the works, but before placing anything, I have my ground set – roads, sidewalks, curb cuts, bridges. It’s always a good idea as you work to occasionally place any buildings you are using in the scene, as well as run your train through, to check the “look and feel” of what you are creating.

Model Scenery Materials

Building model train scenery involves color, shape and texture – if you look at a scene out of doors and squint your eyes, so they loose focus, you will have only a general idea of colors and shapes. Not that you are going to be looking at your model railroad through squinting eyes!

Materials used should be water soluble, so that you can use water based scenery materials, which are much easier to work with than oil-based ones. These materials can be found at hobby shops, craft stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and home improvement centers. These types of materials are also all available on-line, however, sometimes we just have to hold the material in our hand, or see it up close before we can be satisfied it is the right material for the job.

Many natural materials are easily found by taking a walk through the woods or a park, selecting twigs, stones, and other materials, to add a natural look to your model train layout.

For coloring, consider using acrylic paint, available at craft stores and art supply. This is easy to work with, is water soluble, dries quickly. To keep costs down you can purchase “school grade” colors. White acrylic gesso can be purchased in a variety of “thicknesses,” this can be used to build up waves on water, for instance, or seal styrofoam constructions.

Texture

Adding grass, weeds, trees, stone – adding texture – really brings a model railroad layout to life. The illusion of a perfectly manicured lawn, sagebrush in the desert, dense forest undergrowth, or wet seaweed on the rocks can be obtained, creating realism from imagination!

Good sources of scenery textures are Woodland Scenics, Wathers and Scenic Express. Make sure you get at least three shades of coarse and fine green foam, leaf colored brown foam, and several colors of ballast gravel. You’ll also want a few colors of coal and dirt.

Your walks should bring you pieces of wood, sticks, twigs, even roots. Just build up a collection of materials and textures as you go, soon enough you will have a nice set of materials to add to your layout as you expand.

Trees and Foliage

Trees can be purchased, or made from weeds found in the backyard. Find twigs that are tree shaped and sturdy enough to be handled while you pocket it, paint it and apply foliage to it. Trim them into shape with scissors, and keep the trimmings for making shrubs and bushes.

Consider SuperTrees, which can be purchased from Scenic Express. These are natural trees that grow in the Arctic tundra of Scandinavia. These are dwarf tress that make excellent scenery for your layout.

Water

Realistic water features, such as ponds, rivers, lakes and others are hard to beat for adding realism and variety to your layout. New water-making materials are available to easily model realistic water surfaces. Some of the materials are Plexiglas, acrylic gloss medium, acrylic gloss gel, and EnviroTex two-part epoxy.

Construct your water features toward the end of building your scenery. Prep the water feature – painting and detailing the bottom- then, patience! Wait to finish the water until the rest of the layout is complete, including ballasting the track. This keeps the water fresh looking as long as possible.

Modeling water features is beyond the scope of this article – look for a detailed one in the future!

Track Ballast

Track ballast is the materials the tracks sit on (in the prototype). A well-ballasted track will make your scene realistic. The detailing will include weathering the track itself, adding rocks, gravel and other materials, so that the track itself blends into the scene.

Before ballasting, test your track so that your trains are running perfectly. A good test is to run five or more cars backward, quickly, around the layout. If you can run around and around the track, no wobbling or derailments, then you are ready to ballast. If not, you need to check your track, and the wheels on your train, and fix any problems. Gauges can be purchased to make track and wheel checking simpler.

Weather ties and rails using a wash of paint. Burnt umber color is a good start, wiping the rail tops off immediately. Keep the paint out of switches and linkages.

Ballast track when you have completed all the other scenery. Ballast should flow over the right-of-way to naturally blend into the surroundings. Use real stone ballast for the best look. You can test for this by dropping a bit into some water – if any of it floats, it’s organic, and won’t look correct. Real stone ballast stays put.

Use your stone size to be one size smaller than you think you need – if you have an HO layout, us N-scale ballast.

You’ll want to bond your ballast, using white glue diluted with water. You can add a few drops of dishwashing solution as a wetting agent, to help it flow. Keep ballast away from moving parts of turnouts. Keep the ballast down between the rails, not on top!

Weather ballast with a thin wash of earth tone paint.

This is a small fraction of ideas and techniques to get you thinking about the scenery for your model train layout. I hope this helps you get started.

by Scott Watkins model-train-info.com

Building Benchwork

2010-12-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

As you get started with model railroading you are going to want to build your own virtual world, which means you are going to want to construct scenery and settings for your trains. I mean, how long can you watch your train go around in circles on the floor?

Benchwork and Layout

The more pre-planning you do, the easier it is in the long run to concentrate on what’s really important – the operating of your railroad. Whether you want to create a miniature version of some time or place, or just operate your trains in a wonderful dream world, you want your railroad to be placed solidly.

Whether you are ready to build something permanent, or perhaps portable or modular (to display at shows and conventions), the foundation of your layout will be the benchwork. Benchwork is the platform upon which you will build every other aspect of your railroad layout. You can either build your own, or purchase a kit (or kits). Kits are ready to assemble, and you can of course take them apart if necessary, to store when you need the space, or travel with to shows.

Building your own benchworking requires some skills with wood, and tools, such as saws, screwguns, measuring, etc. Don’t worry, there is nothing difficult about this. The advantage to building your own is that you can design the exact benchwork to fit your desired layout. Oh – the layout! You do have some ideas for a layout design, right? If you do, great! If not – that’s alright, the beauty of model railroading is that you can expand on your layout as you want to, as you get ideas. Some old-timers have developed their layout over 15 or 20 years! Part of the fun is adding in new dimensions as you make new discoveries in life.

Some model railroaders have built a layout on shelving along two walls! With a 2 by 8 foot “shelf” you can build a module that can be mated with other modules to construct a full railway. Of course this only allows for back and forth switching (no loop). For some people, that’s enough!

The British have perfected the art of layout designs on shelves. There are many British layouts only 8 to 12 feet long made from smaller 2 to 4 foot sections.

You can build a diorama, which may depict a small scene of an industry. Let your imagination roam!

Some things to consider when designing benchwork (and your layout):

• How large do you want to get, and how much room do you have? Some modelers have built n-scale layouts in a shoebox!

• How much room do you want around your railroad for scenery?

• What shape will your layout be? Square, rectangle, oval, irregular?

• Will you be expanding your layout in the future?

• Do you want all or part of your layout to be portable or modular?

Will you be building your layout in a permanent location, or is there any chance it will have to be moved? If you will have to move it, then I recommend you build your benchwork in modules about 3×6 feet – no larger than one or two people can carry! Build 6 of these and you can put them together to have a 6×18-foot table!

Benchwork Particulars

The most important part of your benchwork is that is a solid surface, resting solidly on the floor (assuming you are not building a shelf railway). Typical bench height is 28-30 inches.

The best design for benchwork seems to be a framework built from 1×2 boards for smaller layouts, with 1×4 boards for a layout larger than 2×6 feet. Place the boards on edge to create the frame, and then add more boards inside to create a grid (when looking down at it) which has boxes no smaller than 2×2 feet. This gives the best support to your tabletop.

Always construct your benchwork using screws, so that you can dis-assemble or remove them without disturbing the rest of your setup. Use a pilot drill for drilling holes, so you don’t split the wood.

I don’t recommend particle board or MDF board, which can sag and are pretty heavy. ½ plywood usually works well.

A good surface will be at least 3/8” or ½” plywood. Although some modelers like to elevate the plywood above the grid a few inches, and then cut away the plywood anywhere there is not going to be track or scenery, I prefer to use 2-inch extruded polystyrene insulation board, which can be gotten at any home improvement store.

Why elevate the plywood, or use 2-inch insulation? This allows for bridges, fills, water features, and natural variations in your scenery later on!

If you are going to have a layout with lots of variation in elevation, then you can build up from the open grid with multiple layers of insulation (which is very easy to carve away to create realistic terrain!) Make sure you use the proper adhesive, I like Liquid Nails “Projects and Foamboard” cement, to glue foamboard (to foamboard or plywood).

Note – do not use the white “expanded polystyrene” or “beadboard” because these types have virtually no strength.

Once you have built your benchwork, you are ready to add some scenery.

by Scott Watkins model-train-info.com

We'll talk about scenery in our next post.

Model Trains

2010-11-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

Layouts

Model Railroad Train layouts run the gamut, from a shelf on the wall to inside a shoebox to filling a basement, garage or loft space. Let’s not forget the garden trains, and outdoor ridable trains too! One of the beauties of model railroads is there is a scale to meet your space limitations!

Creating layouts can be an art form, where a realistic scene is constructed over the course of a lifetime, or, you can set up your tracks on a piece of plywood, place some buildings you’ve bought or made from kits, and run your railroad around and around! It’s really up to you!

Creating realism in your layout may mean using a few different scale trains, showing vast distance and size, in a small space. N scale model trains are great for showing large expressive landscapes in a small space, and with Z or T scale you can build city blocks inside of a shoebox and take them with you to visit with friends!

Locomotives

For many, locomotives are the most interesting part of the railroad, and who wouldn’t be excited by seeing that Iron Horse steaming down the line, whistle blowing as it approaches the crossing, pulling a mile long train behind it! Fortunately for the model railroader, manufacturers have built just about every locomotive (and every other type of rolling stock) ever made, it’s just a matter of finding the right one for your model railroad. Of course you can always scratch build one yourself – there are kits and components readily available.

Wiring and Control

If you are going to watch your model train move down the track, you are going to need to supply power. Modern model railroad trains are powered using the ‘Digital Command Control’ (“DCC”) recently developed. DCC allows for independent control of multiple locomotives on the same section of track! You can also control steam and whistles, automatic coupling and uncoupling, and switching trains from one track to the other. DCC simplifies wiring of train tracks, and you don’t need to understand very much about electricity or electronics at all to wire up your layout with this modern system. Oh, and DCC allows you to use a remote control for the whole thing. Did I mention multiple trains running at the same time – no problem with DCC! There are many different brands of DCC. They all operate similarly. Pick the one you are most comfortable with and it will give you many years of use.

Details

Setting up a model railroad train layout can be fun and exciting. You can let your imagination take over and build a fantastic layout that will give you hours and hours of pleasure. The details of your model railroad are up to you. Some model railroaders go to great lengths to have exact details of every feature of their layout, from the car markings, to the billboards and ads, to car makes and models, and more. Landscaping, terrain, water features, bridges, all of these can be built, or bought, and installed on your layout to make it as realistic as you want it.

Model railroading, and model trains, can be an interesting and rewarding hobby. As you develop your skills and meet new people, a whole new world can open up for you. Stay open to new ideas, search more on the internet, keep reading, and most of all, keep on playing with your hobby!

by Scott Watkins model-train-info.com

Model Railroading

2010-11-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

Many of us got started with model railroading when we received a small set for Christmas, and the thrill and excitement of that first set stays with many. Model railroading has been called “The Worlds Greatest Hobby,” though undoubtedly there are others that would argue for basket weaving.

Model trains have enlivened the imagination of hobbyists for a long time. It’s a great way to spend your time, and engages many talents. If you desire to go beyond collecting a few locomotives, you will be engaged in design, building, painting, working with small hand tools, and ultimately in creating a world (or at least a part of one) of your own making! There are fewer hobbies where one can say that about it!

Model railroading and model railroad trains have been around since the 1840’s when ‘carpet railways’ came about. Crude replica electric trains began to appear in the late 1900s. Modern model railroad trains often are exact likenesses of a ‘prototype’ locomotive or rail car, and layouts often are built to recreate exact locations and/or time periods.

Model railroad enthusiasts are involved in the hobby in many different ways. Some only collect locomotives, content to view their collection on a shelf, while others may have a small layout they mount to a tabletop and store away when not in use. The most ambitious spend countless hours and money creating large exact scale model railroads, building scenery and buildings from scratch.

Model railroad equipment ranges in size from 1:450 (‘T’ scale, the smallest to date) to 1:4 and larger. Live steam powered ridable models are generally 1:8 scale, these run outdoors. The most popular size is ‘HO’ scale, which is 1:87.1. The distance between tracks in HO is 16.5mm.

There are many sizes of model railroad trains. Size is also referred to as ‘scale,’ sometimes confused with ‘gauge.’ I’ll discuss gauge next. The most popular scales are G (1:22), O (1:48), HO (1:87.1) and N (1:160). Note – in various parts of the world, these scales are slightly different.

G and O scale are in the ‘large scale’ trains category. G scale uses a No. 1 gauge track. This gauge is 45mm between the rails. O scale uses 32mm between the tracks. O scale is sometimes thought of as a ‘toy train’ scale. Lionel trains use the O scale, and they certainly can be as lifelike as any other model train!

HO stands for ‘half of O’ and is half the size of O scale, at 1:87.1, and uses a track gauge of 16.5mm between the rails.

N stands for ‘Nine millimeter’ because this scale train uses 9mm between the rails.

The use of ‘scale’ and ‘gauge’ may be confusing, since many modelers and even article writers tend to use them interchangeably (HO ‘scale’). However, scale and gauge refer to two different aspects of model trains.

Scale refers to the ratio of the model to the prototype (the original). Thus with HO, 1 inch represents 87 inches of the prototype, and with N 1 inch represents 160 inches.

Gauge simply refers to the distance between the track rails.

See – that’s pretty simple, isn’t it!

by Scott Watkins model-train-info.com

Compression: Why it's evil, and why you need it

2010-11-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

At this point I'm going to focus on the bad word: Compression. Compression is going to be the watchword throughout the design process. It is our evil but necessary friend. Why, you ask?

We can't hope to include a true scale model of almost any yard on our layouts any more than we can expect to have more than a few scale miles of track to represent a division of 100 or more prototype miles. Something has to be left out (for the railroad, usually the long, boring miles in between interesting spots) in order to fit it into the average layout room. Yards are no different -- they are big places with miles and miles of track, which we can't hope to model in its entirety.

Real classification yards are huge, often consisting of many smaller special-purpose yards that make up the whole complex. A common plan uses three separate double-ended yards strung one after the other to move traffic efficiently: an arrival yard, a classification yard, and a departure yard. As might be expected, an arrival yard is where arriving trains drop off the cars of their train. They are picked up there and moved to the classification yard, being switched back and forth as necessary to get the right cars onto the right trains. As the trains are built out, they are moved to the departure yard, where they get a new caboose and locomotive and proceed to their next destination. Often an identical set of yards will exist on the other side of the main, serving trains moving in the other direction.

Since (almost) no one can model this, it's necessary to compress the essence of the operation down to a manageable and modelable level. What most folks do is compress the three yards into the space of one, forcing one or two tracks to do the work of many miles of prototype track. As you might imagine, this makes for a lot of pressure on the people you choose to operate your yard. They will often have to do nearly as much work as a prototype crew to get through a session.

How Model Train Classification Yards Work

2010-11-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

Most model railroaders have far more cars (rolling stock) and locomotives than they can possibly operate at once. One option is to simply store excess rolling stock and locomotives in boxes or on display shelves or cabinets. It is possible, however, to store all of your extra equipment and trains on tracks in a yard that may or may not be part of the visible operating portion of your model train layout.

However, design mistakes are a common feature of model railroad yard layouts. Yards don't always work out as well as they should. A major cause is the lack of available information on how to design a good model railroad yard layout. Without the resources, model railroaders are forced into a lot of guesswork.

Model Train Yard Layout Compression

Apart from the lack of available information on model railroad yards, another cause for less than satisfactory model railroad yard designs, is the need to compress a model railroad layout into the space available. 'Compression' is the model railroaders enemy, but in most cases, necessary.

Let's start by looking at the make up of real classification yards. Generally, they are huge. They often consist of many smaller special-purpose rail yards, that collectively, add up to a complex array of train track.

It is commonplace for there to be three separate double-ended rail yards strung one after the other. These are designed to move train traffic efficiently and usually comprise: an arrival yard, a classification yard, and a departure yard.

The Arrival Yard On Model Train Layouts

The arrival yard is where arriving trains drop off the cars of their train. The cars are then moved to the classification yard, being switched back and forth as necessary to get the right cars onto the right trains. The trains are then built out and moved to the departure yard. After getting a new caboose and locomotive, they then proceed to their next destination.

For more information on yard designs read the best-selling Model Train Help ebook by Robert Anderson (Highly Recommended).

How Model Train Locomotives Work

2010-11-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

A locomotive runs by picking up an electrical current from the metal rails through metal wheels that ride on the rails. The electricity is transferred from the wheels to the motor, which causes the motor to run.

The motor connects to the wheels through a mechanical drive system. When the electricity turns the motor, the motor turns the gears that turn the wheels and push the locomotive along the train tracks. Simple!

The contact point where your locomotive wheel meets the rail is extremely small. That's why; it doesn't take much in the way of dirt, dust, or debris to obstruct the wheel-to-rail contact. Dirt can build up, so it is important that you keep the wheels clean and free of accumulated dirt. If the wheels of your locomotive become dirty, they may not make good contact with the metal rails, and your train will stall. Remember, plastic wheels don’t conduct electricity.

Locomotive Wheels And Locomotive Gears

A good locomotive needs lots of wheels and lots of gears. A poor performing locomotive is often because of the gears and/or the wheels. Although in saying that, some locomotives with only a few wheels work surprisingly well... although it is considered to be unusual, rather than the norm.

By Robert Anderson - Author of the best-selling Model Train Help ebook.

Why Build A Branch Line Model Train Layout?

2010-11-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

Branch lines are a popular theme for small model train layouts. A branch line is a quieter alternative to a main line layout and can be fascinating to build and operate. Although not always the case, a branch line layout generally requires less rolling stock. It can also mean greater flexibility in the complexity of your track plan depending on what you want to achieve.

Building a branch line is a favorite for many model railroaders, because it can allow more opportunities to include small dioramas within the model train layout.

More About Model Train Branch Lines

A branch line will commonly have a small station where trains can pass. The station has some shunting possibilities, e.g. serving a freight shed. To make the operations more interesting a "shadow station" or passing loop can be added to a branch line layout.

For for ideas on planning a branch line layout see the section in the Model Train Help Book.

Many branch line layout designs consist of an oval shaped line, though on a shelf-based layout an out-and-back format is also reasonably common. The branch line theme often includes mixed freight and passenger trains running to a timetable-based operation.

Why Model Train Branch Lines Are So Much Fun

Most branch lines run through countryside giving the possibility for creating some truly amazing scenery. But, when creating a small layout branch line, you'll need to accept that it can be hard to depict the wide-open space of the countryside on a small train layout. One option is to use forests to "box-in" the scene. Another option, which works well, is to depict a branch line in a cityscape. This makes sense considering that most branch lines start off in a larger town. That way you can build a small station located in this larger town. The buildings will have the same effect of "boxing-in" the theme.

Plus you can add connections to several industries, although this does conflict with a countryside theme.

By Robert Anderson - Author of the best-selling Model Train Help ebook.

How Model Train Track Works And What Can Go Wrong

2010-11-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

Model train track consists of two metal rails separated by plastic tie sections. Each rail carries one side of the electrical circuit. To work properly, the two rails should not contact each other and no metal object should contact both rails together. This would cause a short circuit, which could damage your model train power pack if it happened too often.

With this in mind, assemble your model train track and connect the power pack... and you'll be ready to start operating your model trains. It is as easy as plugging in the power pack, carefully placing the locomotive on the train track, turning up the throttle...and enjoying!

More About Model Train Tracks

It's best to set up your train track on a sheet of plywood, a tabletop, or other hard surface. Carpet fuzz and floor dirt can hamper smooth train operation.

Model train track comes in different types made of brass, zinc-coated steel, nickel silver and steel. Regardless of what the train tracks are made of, most track sets come with a terminal section so that you can hook into the transformer. Brass track and zinc-coated steel track are common in starter sets and, when purchased separately, are usually cheaper in price than nickel silver tracks.

By Robert Anderson - Author of the best-selling Model Train Help ebook.

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Planning A Small Model Railroad Layout?

2010-11-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

When you plan a small model railroad layout, it's important that you know the limitations the small space imposes on you and your model train set.

Although the space you have available for your RR layout might limit your choice of scales, the major limitation is usually in the choice of themes you can model. In most cases main line model train themes wouldn't fit. Whereas, given that you only have a limited space available for your layout; industrial, branch line and tramway themes are possibly the best model train layout options to consider. If you must have a mainline theme, but don't have space for it, then you'll probably have to scale your model railroad layout down.

If don't want to compromise, then don't start a small model railroad layout.

There are a number of differences that you will need to accept or adapt yourself to when choosing a small layout: the curves may be too sharp, the angles of the switches may be too steep, and the sidings too short. With a small layout everything is compressed to the max. But when you think about it, although a small layout may not be your first choice, it is better than no train set at all!

By Robert Anderson - Author of the best-selling Model Train Help ebook.

What Model Railroaders Get From The Hobby Of Model Railroading

2010-11-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

If you ask model railway enthusiasts "what appeals about the hobby?" you'll get a variety of answers. For some model railway enthusiasts, it is a way of re-creating a fond childhood memory. Others; simply enjoy building a world in miniature with all its detail and realism. Then there are those model railway enthusiasts who love solving the technical problems of building and operating an electronic control system.

It doesn't seem to matter whether you’re 5 or 95... or somewhere in between. The personal satisfaction of building and operating a realistic miniature railway layout is rewarding and fun... no matter how old you are. Model railroading is a truly rewarding leisure activity that will keep most model railway enthusiasts busy and entertained for hours...if not a lifetime.

The Model Railroaders Own Wonderful World

Model railroading is a fun-filled leisure activity that provides plenty of scope for the creative individual with a technical bent. It incorporates a variety of interesting activities from building, maintaining, upgrading and operating a model railway. What kind of world you create, where you create it, and how much time you spend in it... is entirely over to the individual model railroading enthusiast. We are all different.

A model railroader can build a layout in the solitude of his or her basement, attic, shed or garage workshop...or they can sit in a sun lounger and watch trains weave around their garden... or the model railway enthusiast can join a local model railroad club and share their model railway ideas and experiences with others. The opportunities for the model railroading enthusiast are endless!

'We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing' George Bernard Shaw

By Robert Anderson - Author of the best-selling Model Train Help ebook.