Hello all from Central Ohio


Hello everyone!! I am an ex model raliroader, who is looking to get back into the activity after 30+ years away from the activity!! I was really into it as a youngster in the late 70's through the mid 80's. Had a large bedroom set up (lived in the attic of our house)...roughly 8x16 square foot HO double loop layout. Mostly Aethern, Bachmann and Tyco stuff bought individually. The layout was not a focused replica of any area, just me making a little world of my own based on the Canadian wilderness kind of "look".

Got out of it as I got older, and started playing and touring around the country in bands, doing college etc. Now that I have "landed", i want to get back into it. I saved all of my stuff from the 70's/80's, and also inherited a TON of stuff from my grandfather from the 20'-70's.

I would LOVE to incorporate all of the old stuff I have in a new set up here in the future. I KNOW that many things have changed in the activity, and am hoping to learn about all of that!!
 
Welcome.
You will find a lot of culture shock as far as what's changed. Almost everything except the gauge of the rails is different.

that is what I figured...an ex student of mine's dad is HUGE into model RR around here, and I am definitely going to pick his brain about stuff. His set up is monstrous, and just awesome. It is actually pretty intimidating...but I really miss the challenges and the results of putting the work in. I still have about 6-8months before I am going to have space to do what I want to do. Where should I start studying? I feel like the electric/power systems are probably going to throw me the most...
 
that is what I figured...an ex student of mine's dad is HUGE into model RR around here, and I am definitely going to pick his brain about stuff. His set up is monstrous, and just awesome. It is actually pretty intimidating...but I really miss the challenges and the results of putting the work in. I still have about 6-8months before I am going to have space to do what I want to do. Where should I start studying? I feel like the electric/power systems are probably going to throw me the most...
Here's a clip from one of my trains. The sounds are generated by the engine and cars.

 
Welcome, the hobby has changed so much and changes every day as technology changes.
The speakers are in the engines and everything is run off a chip in the shell. Some cars you can get with sound like a refridged car for example. Though DCC may seem difficult,but it makes wiring a layout much easier. No blocks all the track is powered. Your controller sends a signal to the chip in the engine to tell it to move.
 
Welcome to the forum and welcome back to the hobby! As others have noted, there are lots of changes. However, there's nothing to prevent you from building an "old school" DC style layout. In fact, that's what I'd suggest to get started. Plan it to change over to DCC at some point, but build a basic layout and get some trains running. Just don't get all fancy with the wiring, since with DCC you don't need as many blocks etc. Dividing it up a bit is good for power supply and trouble shooting, but you can get by with only a few, or only one for that matter.
 
Welcome, the hobby has changed so much and changes every day as technology changes.
The speakers are in the engines and everything is run off a chip in the shell. Some cars you can get with sound like a refridged car for example. Though DCC may seem difficult,but it makes wiring a layout much easier. No blocks all the track is powered. Your controller sends a signal to the chip in the engine to tell it to move.

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to the hobby! As others have noted, there are lots of changes. However, there's nothing to prevent you from building an "old school" DC style layout. In fact, that's what I'd suggest to get started. Plan it to change over to DCC at some point, but build a basic layout and get some trains running. Just don't get all fancy with the wiring, since with DCC you don't need as many blocks etc. Dividing it up a bit is good for power supply and trouble shooting, but you can get by with only a few, or only one for that matter.

thanks guys!! I am super excited to get back into it!! I am glad that bob mentioned starting simple, because my brain is the type to want to dive in full on...I am definitely going to be haunting many different threads on this sight to see what i can learn

looks like i need to get into the electrical side a lot more...where is a good place to start?

I do have my old Tech II controller from back in the day. I guess I could fire up a simple set up with that, and go on?
 
That's definitely my suggestion. Start simple, get trains running, build a test loop. Who knows, you may find you enjoy running trains the old way and don't need DCC. After all, we did it that way for close to a century, and had a lot of fun. DCC is cool, and can do some really neat stuff. But for a home layout you can still have plenty of fun "old school".

Oh, and here's something else to think about. Many DCC decoders are "dual mode" these days. You can run them on your regular DC layout and have sound. Not all of them work that way, and you don't get quite all the bells and whistles. That's literal in this case. With DCC you can press controls and ring the bell, blow the whistle, make all kind of other noises. Usually there's some support for that under DC as well, but it's more limited. Some companies do make special control systems that expand the sound options under DC as well.

But for now, since you already have some trains, set some track up and get them running. Then look at getting more complicated.
 



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