Back in the hobby, boy things have changed!


G

glohubby05

New Member
Well to start things off, my name is Brandon. I'm 26 years old and live in the High Desert of Southern California. When I was a kid, I always had such a fascination with trains, and it led me and my father, who was equally fascinated, to build a HO layout in the garage. It was never finished past trackwork and a little bit of scenery ( a couple mountains made out of plaster) but I had many, many hours of fun watching the train run through the tunnels and over the bridges.
Fast forward to today, be been bitten by the bug and would like to start a layout again. I'm not entirely surprised that the hobby has gone digital and I'm probably going to go DCC. Another thing I'm going to incorporate in my layout is going to be handlaid track. I want to handlay ALL of the track. I'm okay with taking as long as I need to make it right and look as good as it can. I think I enjoy building more than the operating so I'm really excited about that.
I do have some questions about handlaying track that I need answered. First off, I'm not interested in buying a jig to aid me in the construction of the track. I do think those jigs are fantastic, and they seem to be worth the money but I would rather do it all by hand, or build my own jigs cause I'm a true diy'er at heart. So with all that in mind, does anyone have any advice to give to me about hand laying track? What is the best type of roadbed to use under the ties? Cork? And how accurate does the gauge need to be? Obviously pretty close but just how close? For example if I'm off by a half MM in spots one way or another, will it be detrimental to the operation of the trains? And lastly, where can I find some good how to's for hand laying?
I'm looking forward to learning all of the tricks of the trade from these forums. It sure seems like there are a bunch of great, knowledgable people here.
Thanks!

-Brandon
 
Thanks for the quick reply, yea I was planing on getting an nmra gauge before I started. Where would be the best place to obtain one?

-Brandon
 
You can get the gauge directly from www.NMRA.org or check with a local hobby shop. Retail price is $12 but it's worth every penny.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Awesome! Thanks for the info, I'll need to check with the local HS, cause I would like to support them as much as I can.
 
Welcome to the forum, Brandon. Most use a couple of three-point contact gauges for the scale in question. They will greatly speed up your procedure.

As for roadbed, homabed is a commercial product that many use because it takes the spikes so well and is a very effective noise reduction medium. Or, you can find homasote at some builders supply stores. It comes in large sheets and will have to be cut into strips with a table saw or a band saw. Very messy, tons of dust. It is a mashed paper fiber product.

I can't help you with how-to's for hand-laying track. There are probably some videos on youtube if you scout them out.

Crandell
 
Thanks Crandall, I will need to look into the three point contact gauges, not sure how they work. As far as spiking the track, is that preferred more than gluing the rails straight to the ties with pliobond?

-Brandon
 
glohubby05 said:
I will need to look into the three point contact gauges, not sure how they work. As far as spiking the track, is that preferred more than gluing the rails straight to the ties with pliobond?

-Brandon
Click to expand...
The 3 point gauges hold the track in gauge so you can spike it to the rails without it going out of gauge. Even the real railroads use something similar (just a lot bigger). Spiking is the preferred method of attachment, I wore out a Kadee spiker when I was hand-laying track in a yard at our club layout.:eek:
 
Hey Brandon, I just Googled "hand laid track" and got tons of sites and info!
Good luck and post lots of pics!
 
Brandon, I'm going to be very honest here and say that I think that it is wildly optimistic of you to believe that, after a dozen or more years hiatus from the hobby, that you can walk in cold and re-start by hand-laying an entire layout without templates and jigs. Your post suggests that you have no prior experience at handlaying track and considering the difficulties this approach poses for the novice, together with the usual magnitude of the job newcomers settle on for their first attempt, it is all too common for the hobbyist to give up on such projects in total frustration long before any significant progress has been made.

If you do still intend to follow your plan, I would absolutely try to lay my hands of a wide assortment of books and particularly videos dealing with the handlaying of track, even before the purchase my first piece of rail. In a day and age when one still sees many new hobbyists encountering difficulties just getting flex track and commercial turnouts to operate fully trouble free on their layouts, those attempting to successfully handlay track rarely manage to accomplish that task.

NYW&B
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Here is another view on three point gauges from an expert on track and track laying.

I'm not saying he is right or wrong, just that there are different opinions out there, even among recognized experts.
 
Wow, that is quite a challenge to hand lay all the track without the jigs. For a beginner coming back into the hobby.

Good luck with that...
 
Thank you everyone for your information and your concerns. It is very ambitious of me to jump back into the hobby after being away for so long and expect to hand lay my entire layout. I'm sure I'll make mistakes, and I'm ok with that. I'm a builder, a "do it yourself" kinda person. The love for the hobby isn't so much the operating of the railroad, it's the creation and the construction that I love.

I appreciate you guys letting me know what I'm up against, and that's what makes this forum so great. Who knows, I may start handlaying and realize it's not for me and go buy some flex track, but I absolutly am going to give it a shot and hope to follow through with my plan.

Thanks again everyone, and please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

-Brandon
 
I'm just returning to the hobby myself, but I have been more or less keeping up with it over the years, which helps. I think it would be overwhelming to step into it with no background at all.
 
I just thought about another question to ask, what kind of wood is suitable for the ties? I'd like to try and cut my own. And what size is typical for the ties? Anybody done this before?
 
SDJeff said:
SRN- you wouldn't happen to be from the Orange, Tx area?
Click to expand...

Orange, I have never heard of, 'cept in Florida and California. Texas rings a bell, though. :D Used to live there, in fact. What part of the state is Orange in?
 
Sorry SRN, the SRN - Sabine River Northern shortline is in the Orange, TX area, on the southmost spot of the TX-LA border on the Gulf of Mexico. I live 15 miles from Orange.
 
Nothing to be sorry about. That was a actually a pretty good guess. SRN = Salt River Northern in my case, a purely fictional entity, but not too far off your SRN.

I used to live in downtown Austin near UT many years ago. Nice town. I liked it there, but I was in the military and got transfered out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top