This channel discusses the great hobby that is Model Railroading. We'll cover hints, tips, trick, concepts, philosophies, building projects, and also occasionally visit my own layout, the Chessie System Monument City Terminal Division (MCTD).
One cool detail for a future build could be if you cut some of those double windows in half and put one half at an angle to make it look like the window is tilted open, and then hang the window blinds straight to emphasise on this effect =)
This video was shared in our railroaders (Maerklin India) WhatsApp group. I hope many of the group members get inspired by this video and start building a layout. I totally echo the points articulated here. E.g.: dream layout, space constraints, too busy to spend time on the hobby, let me buy first etc. I'm building a small H0 layout that is 3.5 ft by 6 ft :) Videos like these make us keep going and railroading! Cheers
I have Electrofrog Peco turnouts and they are capped from the factory. The older Electrofrogs were not gapped. I chose not to use the Peco insulfrog because they can short out just past the plastic frog if the metal wheel tread is wide enough. I'm using Tam Valley Frog juicers to energize the frog. I too have an odd shaped basement but I managed to do 32" minimum radius curve. I am running the Ford FAST which have the 2 doors per side but D&RGW did have a few 8 door that ran in trains too.
Atlas hands down . . . Atlas's drive train and motor IMO is just a cut above on the account of the creep speed that can be achieved for ultra slow speed maneuvering giving a very realistic observation . . . Just don't know why Athearn hasn't upgraded they're engine and drive train along with all the other upgrades they've accomplished though the changes and years.
Little tip for the sanding down to thickness... If you have something that already has the right height, put it besides the wooden strips and place the sanding block onto there so that those spacers move with the block while the subject of sanding is attached to the bench. Then you will take off of the wood until the spacers prevent you from going down any lower 😊 Much like you can use chopsticks if you don't want to cut all the way through some food.
Coming late from the Miniature Wargaming side of things, something I tell my wargaming friends who say they don’t have time to paint: whatever you work on now, no matter how small, is something you don’t have to do later; and once you look back from the future, you’ll be amazed at how much you actually did accomplish.
Speaking of internal battles... I am currently planning on building my own shelf layout. This would be the first time I build something somehow permanent. Up until now I was just room floor railroading. Now I have to decide... Do I buy the tracks for this layout to not use up my floor stock, and pay about 400 Euros just for the tracks, or do I use what I already have and use most of my switches to then not being able to build floating switch layouts on the room floor anymore? Decisions, decisions...
First "layout" I finished the benchwork and started the plan, then laid track, I nearly had all the track down when a roadblock came up.... "we're moving!" said my father. So, not wanting to cut up all my work if I continued, I halted. Waited....then the move fell through, I continued, amassing all the scenery supplies I needed. I built my first scene, a river scene, I was reinvigorated and excited!..... "We're Moving! For REAL this time" the house went on the market and another was purchased...I tore up all the track, boxed up my buildings, and cut up the layout, my father broke off all the legs to the benchwork with a hammer and saw and put it in the shed so the house could be shown....I went to the new house for a month and was heavily discriminated based on who I was and where I was from, I was worked to the bone, spat on in public and treated like scum of the earth. The final straw was a trucker waving me into an oncoming pickup truck and then fleeing the scene and then the responding officer ticketing me as I stared at my broken baby sitting on the side of the road that I just got done building... I had a mental breakdown... My mom called and said me and dad had to return to help her pack up the house and that it still wasnt selling. I went on LOA and returned home....I refused to leave again and my sister and father agreed this whole thing was a colossal mistake. The house was taken off the market, my broken car was shipped home to be fixed ($3k later) and we sold the other house for a profit.... Now I destroyed my 7x9 dream layout for nothing..... and the space is filled with new furniture. This year I cleared a space in the garage for a 4x8 and have just finished the benchwork, taking a furniture-like approach with stained wood and varnish with a sandbox style cavity for the layout to sit in. I just laid down foam and I am currently working in AnyRail yet again to figure out what to do now.... *sigh*....
Nice work with the labels, really adds to it. Just as a tipp: you could use something like a thin masking tape and apply it (softly!), touching one of the straight edges of the building, and then align the label you want to put there to the masking tape. After this, remove the masking tape again, boom, straight label with distance to straight corner. Just be gentle enough to not peel the color coating off the model. And as a question: wouldn't it be more realistic to apply the labels and signs before the weathering to include them into the aging?
I like the way you present the wire against the rail. I believe that if you "tin" the spot on the rail and "tin" the tip of the wire, then you with one hand, position the wire and with the other the soldering iron, brief moment, not melting the ties, and get the solder done.
Crown, Cork and Seal brings memories of an old friend whose father used to threaten her and brother when they misbehaved that he would crown cork and seal them if they didn’t stop whatever they were doing. Yeah they lived in Dundalk.
Thanks for the insights. I've been a "modeler" for over 70 years but until this year have never set up a layout with track, running stock, and (heaven forbid) scenery and buildings. Part of my reason why that has been so is because my dad was in the army--and we moved a lot. That meant not having a true layout because, well, it would never have traveled well. In fact, most of my setups were "built" on the carpet or floor of wherever we lived, only to be dismantled them it was time to go to bed. In fact, I have purchased and then sold/given away close to 14 sets of trains, beginning with Marklin (predecessor of the Kato format and given to me for the first Christmas that I remember) through to Lionel and then Fleischmann (which I feel is one of the first "true" prototypical rail systems) all the way to Bachmann and now Kato. I have never lost my interest in modeling a railroad, so this year I am finally doing it, thanks to Woodland Scenics' kits that provide all the materials to build a full-fledged layout without taking up a lot of space, and I am finding that building such a layout "from scratch" has been both rewarding and challenging. While it will never be a "show" setup matters not to me. It's the running of the train(s) as well as the enjoyment of creating my own "personal world" that gives me pleasure. If I can manage to add lighting and electronic switching and signaling, so much the better. Side note to show what a nut I was about trains: When I was seven years old, my mom was pregnant with a baby that became my first brother. As it turned out, the night came (winter, no less) when my soon-to-be brother decided to make his entry into the world, and the family jumped into the family car to make the 60-mile trip to Ft. Sheridan (we lived in Chicago then) which had the closest military hospital. On the way (it was not only snowy but also quite dark), my mom, sitting in the front seat, kept reminding my dad to "go faster--the baby is coming" while I was in the back seat urging him to go faster so we'd keep up with the express train chugging along on the adjacent rail line (Chicago and Northwestern). Finally my day told both of us to "shut up. I've already nearly got the gas pedal through the floor! There is no way in hell I can go any faster!" Two hours later my dad came out from the hospital and told me (I'd been told to stay in the car) that I "did indeed have a brother. Now go to sleep!" I never found out whether Dad was glad he'd made it or whether he was glad to have a second son.
Just found this series - very impressed with the Grunge and its design. Two comments - with suitcase connectors, you don't need to strip the connector end of the dropper. Secondly, for a DCC system, this would be an ideal candidate for a DCC-EX controller. Thanks for sharing your progress with us.
Curious as to why the BD needs to be rigid? I just used 5/16" foam core that slid into a slot at the back of the shelf layout. It doesn't hold anything other than some building flats - no need for anything stronger than that. It's strong enough to mount a canopy with LED lighting if I wanted.
There is no requirement that it's rigid. As you mention, foam core would work fine. The rigidity is more of a personal preference, especially since I was mounting a photo on the backdrop.
OK i am old school, I am 58 going on 59. I am truly on a shoestring budget, I cannot afford the beautiful models out there but about 5 years ago I started getting the urge to run a train, I could only afford cheap toy trains made in China (Said like Mr D Trump says it "CHINA!") for the equivalent of 10$ I get a battery powered steam engine, an oval of track and 2 to 3 cars... but I wanted a Big-Boy so I grabbed a few of my cheap steam engines and kit bashed a big boy, I am still building and it is going to take a little time, as I have to overcome the limitations of the base models I am cannibalizing and my Big boy is not as fancy as the Big Boys that Riverossi or Kato offers but I have had endless fun twisting my brain around the limited abilities of a toy train but the challenge is intense. Right now everything is literally shelved as I don't have the cash to buy more materiel's to build my big boy but one of these days I will manage to scrounge a buck or too, so yes I agree the hobby is far from dead and as long as there are stupid old buggers like me around who enjoy making low quality models that almost look like the real thing, there are 100's of others with the financial clout to build nice set ups like you and SMT or Sam or Scott, etc so no Model railroading is not dead / busy dying/ on its last legs, I am not dead yet!
You are a straight shooter. I’m a physical therapist and I’d love for 90% of my patients to watch this. The philosophy you present here can be applied to all facets of life. (2 years too late): hope you go viral
My mom has forbid me from building a layout in our apartment lol. I gotta wait until I get my own I suppose. Though this summer with enough time and money I may build a semi-portable modular thing I can deconstruct and store/move more easily
Rivet counting has become the biggest killer of this hobby, folks are driving prices through the roof for minor details they'll never even notice on the layout. Let's not even get into several of these Locomotives running about at night putting out the same noise as 300 cicadas that got into the basement. $300+ and the customer doesn't even get a choice, 100 people demanded rivet counting so now everyone has to pay for that detail.
Just happened to have YT suggest this video. All of the things you bring up are very true. Now if I can just get up out of my chair and actually start working on something. Thanks for sharing.
As a European who lived in FL for 12 years I never understood the grade crossing mentality whereas in Europe we’ll build a bridge, tunnel or full barrier crossing gates where needed.
I got interested in model railroading as a kid in the 80s with a basic train set. I’ve been back at it in my 30s and 40s now getting satisfaction out of building, painting, and weathering more than running trains. I’m going to be realistic here. Most of the stuff that was cheap in the old days is garbage compared to what’s available now. Yes prices have went up but the quality has went up by leaps and bounds as you state. There’s nothing I want that was built before the 90s unless it’s an old brass engine from the 60s and 70s. I mostly don’t want anything before 2010 anymore. Stuff is just good now and Rome wasn’t built in a day. What isn’t expensive now? I’ve accumulated over years. Everyone can do it if they have a passion for it. If you don’t, then anybody is welcome to complain in comment sections below videos. I’m thankful the quality of everything has went up.
I dont agree about the quality being better now than 30 years ago. Chinese models have spotty quality, whereas Athearn & Atlas/Kato was extremely reliable 30 years ago.
@@ThePixelDepotLLC I've never heard that evidence, in fact I've heard a multitude of complaints about Chinese manufactured model railroad equipment. Show me the study where that is indicated.
@@TK-ec5bv you know as well as I do there is no official “study” on the topic. All we have is anecdotal evidence. All the anecdotal evidence I see, including that which I see with my own eyes, is that the newer models run smoother and better than those from the 80s and 90s. The Athearns I bought in that time frame can’t hold a candle to the operating properties of the new models.
@@ThePixelDepotLLC Take a look at Athearn F7/GP7 trucks 42011, if you want a clear example of poor Chinese quality compared to the previous generation of this Athearn product. Truck sideframes don't align with the truck center, there is a large amount of plastic sprue which must be cut away to get them to run smoothly, and many of the rivets are not installed correctly. Kato models are the gold standard of smooth running, and these came out starting in the 1980's with the Atlas yellow box line. These models run smoother than just about any Chinese model. I've been in this business for over 40 years, and I've seen this firsthand.
My interest in the hobby got reignited again somehow, for some reason. My dad had built a great layout when i was very young. And i destroyed most of it, because i was not born with a fully functioning brain. But now i have worked hard to get this brain functioning a bit. As a dutch guy. (probably nobody will understand the joke, but anyways) Could you, mr Joe from the Pixel Depot, take a look at google maps. I live in 's-Hertogenbosch. In the Netherlands. My mother was born and raised in a city close to 's-Hertogenbosch. That city is called Tilburg. And we all know Philips. Eindhoven. If you look at Google earth or maps or what ever, you can see it is a nice triangle. With small towns like Boxtel, Vught, Helvoirt, Best, Cromvoirt, etc. All in between. I should have bought N scale, but jumped into it like a noob. And so i bought HO scale stuff. I have a room, 370 centimeter long and 270 centimeter wide. If i convert it with google to feet and inches, it comes to roughly 12 feet by lets say 8.75 feet. I could knock down a wall which would give me a bit more space, but not yet planning to do so. My dream is to make a somewhat realistic looking layout between these 3 cities, 's-Hertogenbosch, Tilburg and Eindhoven. With the town Vught as well between the 3. For historical reasons. Old lines came into 's-Hertogenbosch. "Halve zolen lijntje". And into Boxtel, a small town between 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven. "Het Duits Lijntje" And into Tilburg, "Het Bels Lijntje" Old tracks that have been converted to bicycle lanes. But you can retrace them with Google maps/earth. I was thinking of layering it a bit. The bottom layer showing my city, and the villages closeby. A second layer showing Tilburg and villages close by. And a third layer showing Eindhoven and villages close by. (if that makes sense.) My question to you in short is this: Please have a look at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, check the line to Tilburg and Eindhoven. The one to Eindhoven will also show Het Duits Lijntje easily, no detective skills required. Het Halve Zolen Lijntje running from 's-Hertogenbosch to Raamsdonkveer and beyond is also still clearly visible in the landscape as well as the fact that we still have the Moerputten brug in 's-Hertogenbosch, a bridge running through a park built for the train to pass over, it still exists. Het Bels Lijntje from Tilburg does require a bit of looking around to discover where it use to run through the landscape, but even Stevie Wonder can find it. And so here is the question: Can you imagine having a room with said dimensions using HO scale and a layout like this? A triangle between these 3 cities? It does not have to be the most realistic layout, but just a representation of it. And if you can imagine such a layout, how would you go about it? I think i should layer it. Multiple layers. Bit of an odd question, but what to expect from a dutch guy ey?
I have been a model railroader since the 1960's, at least. Yes, locomotives and the quality ready made rolling stock is pricey. But, how many locos do you need? On a small layout, which is what most of us can afford, how many locomotives can you run at a time? All the rest, sit on a shelf or in the box, NOT NEEDED! MORE IS NOT NECESSARY! Save your money, buy a good locomotive, and run it. Nuff, said.
