hey everyone

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gcollin

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Hey everyone, My name is Collin, I am 13 years old and live in colorado.
My great grandparents were model rail road fanatics, their entire basement was filed with models and trains and ext. My grandpa passed away last year and my grandma passed away just a short while ago, and I inheriting half of the rail road. But because the railroad was a big part of the family, a lot of people had asked for a train, and i only got a train, and maybe some carts, but i get half of all the other stuff. (houses tracks some cars ext.) so i will be coming here while i try to build a railroad from what i get.


thanks for your time, and sorry for the bad grammer.

-Collin
 
Welcome to MR forums, Sorry to hear about your grandparents. What did they model and what are you planning on modeling.
 
Thanks,. Umm i have no idea yet. They modeled lots of stuff, mostly junctions.
 


Hi Collin,
Welcome and sorry for your loss. Trains will be a great way to keep their memory alive.
My uncle was an Engineer for the LIRR and got me hooked on trains when I was like 6.
He also got me into model RR so I think of him often.

If you don't know alot about the different types of trains, no worries, that's what we're all here for. I guess the first question will be "What scale?" HO, G, etc... If you don't know, simply measure a track. Let us know how far apart the rails are and we're half way there.

Good Luck!
Dan

ps. You now have the title of youngest member!
 
thanks...

thank you,.
The rail road takes up 4 rooms, 3 are average size and one is a storage closet, but my cousin who likes trains gets the other half of the rail road. Sometime this week me and him are going to go through all of it and see who wants what and so on. The one train i got seems kinda beating up, no windows on it, the paint is fading away and it seems very old, but hey at least i have something to start with :) .
Once i get the tracks i will measure them as you said.

-Collin
 
lionel 0-27 has three rails the rest are 2 proto type looking 2 rail, just trying to get a better idea on what it is that your grandparents modeled
 
gcollin,

welcome to the forums, i beleive your officially the youngest here now.

irongrave is trying to determine if your grandparents modeled o scale, or On30 or something, im not real familiar with O scale. If the tracks had 3 rails, its a good start without pictures. If you said you cousin was into trains, he would most likely know the scale. Do you know what era they modeled, or better put did the have any steam locomotives or were the diesel?

Welcome to the forums
 


I will bet my cousin is not very good with trains anymore, but they mostly had diesel trains, a lot of BNSF and santa fe.
 
I'll bet it was Lionel 3 rail, since that was the most popular scale in your grandfather's day. They also took up lots of room. If you can post some pictures, we'll know for sure. Some older Lionel equipment has some value so don't be too quick to modify anything until you know if you may hurt the potential value.
 
sounds like your grandparents modeled the modern era, saying how bnsf was incorperated in '95. Do you remember what the terrain looked like, was it desert like, or was it wooded or was there a big city? Or do you remember any other roadnames? Maybe Union Pacific?
 
most of them were small towns in the rockies, and yes union pacific was one of them, the tracks are very small, but the dacorations are so vast that they take up a lot of space. he started to get into model railroad about 17 years ago.
 
your grandparents modeled HO scale, im 95% sure of it. HO scale is one of the easiest scales for a begginner and theres a ton of manufacturers for the scale. I'd like to see pictures of some of the trains you got as well if you dont mind
 
I'll try to get some pictures, umm, what is reasonable space for a small rail road?
 
If the locos are a little shorter than a pencil, then it sounds like HO.

Whatever the scale, get enough track to make a complete circuit; simple oval is good for starters. Get a transformer - to get power to your rails; a locomotive - to pull your trains.
The rest is fluff, but you will eventually want every bit of it.

As previously mentioned, if your cousin knows more about it, it may be a good idea to take an inventory of everything. This way you can both make operational sets.

Welcome to the addiction...
 


Are you asking what is the distance between the rails?
6/8 of an inch is about right for HO, based on a few real quick measurments. The whole distance, from one end of a tie to the other should be a 1 1/8 inches.
 
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