Hi All, I'm a new member

[trainrails]

Hi All, I just joined the group & I just want to thank you for letting me join. My name is Sal & I'm 73 years old. I have HO trains & as soon as I clean out & make room in my workshop room I will be starting a 4x8 HO layout because that's all I have room for. I have small collection of Athearn BB, Tyco/Mantua, & MDC Roundhouse from 1970's--80's & would like to use them. I bought some HO Kato Unitrack a few months ago. I don't think I will be converting to DCC. If anyone can help me when I start it would be appreciated.

 

[trailrider]

Welcome! Feel free to ask questions. You'll probably get more advice then you need! Do the Tyco/Mantua pieces include any steam locomotives? They can be the best, especially if you do a little tweaking, but good anyway. Any particular railroad you like? Freelance is also fine!
Stay well and safe!
Hi-ball!

 

[2Tracks]

Hey welcome Sal....nice that you joined the forum! Be prepared to be overwhelmed with information..Ha Ha
Certainly DC is going to keep things simpler. I myself converted to DCC because I like the options that it offers.
I see trailrider threw the Hi-ball at ya. That is a good thing! Full speed ahead!
(Do a google search on railroad hiball signal)

 

[JazzDad]

Welcome from an old DC diehard!

 

[trainrails]

Welcome! Feel free to ask questions. You'll probably get more advice then you need! Do the Tyco/Mantua pieces include any steam locomotives? They can be the best, especially if you do a little tweaking, but good anyway. Any particular railroad you like? Freelance is also fine!
Stay well and safe!
Hi-ball!

Hi, Thanks for the welcome. I had a HO layout that I started about 1981 & took it down about 1987. It had only trackwork done. No real scenery done on it. I used the room for storage & tools when I took down the layout. Now I want to clean out part of the room & put up a 4x8 layout because that's all I have room for. My Tyco collection is steam. I have a Pacific & a Mikado that were built from kits. They both have Cary Boilers with detail parts. They are painted & lettered for ATSF.

 

[santafewillie]

Welcome to our forum Sal. If you haven't done so already, change all of your couplers to Kadee #146 or #156. They are today's equivalent to the old KD #5's. If you're stuck with a 4' x 8', I'd go with the #146 as they seem to be more reliable on those 22" radius curves. There's nothing wrong with DC, I use it on my 640 sq. ft. double-decker. But I am a lone operator and cannot pay attention to two trains at once.

 

[trainrails]

Welcome! Feel free to ask questions. You'll probably get more advice then you need! Do the Tyco/Mantua pieces include any steam locomotives? They can be the best, especially if you do a little tweaking, but good anyway. Any particular railroad you like? Freelance is also fine!
Stay well and safe!
Hi-ball!

Hi, Thanks for the welcome. I have a Tyco Pacific & Mikado that I built & painted & lettered for ATSF from kits. They have Cary Boilers & Cary detail parts. Santa Fe is my railroad rolling stock. From what I remember the Tyco engine's didn't run that great. I probably will try to remotor them.
Sal

 

[BigGRacing]

Hey Sal,
First of all welcome to the forum! May I suggest an excellent read in my opinion (Layout Vision dot com) version of 4x8 considerations, it might help you. Also read all the forums here, so many great ideas !

 

[Bob T]

Hi All, I just joined the group & I just want to thank you for letting me join. My name is Sal & I'm 73 years old. I have HO trains & as soon as I clean out & make room in my workshop room I will be starting a 4x8 HO layout because that's all I have room for. I have small collection of Athearn BB, Tyco/Mantua, & MDC Roundhouse from 1970's--80's & would like to use them. I bought some HO Kato Unitrack a few months ago. I don't think I will be converting to DCC. If anyone can help me when I start it would be appreciated.

Seems like we are on similar paths, trainrails. A bunch of older gear, and some space.

Good luck, and I'll be watching your progress.

 

[Patrick]

Greetings and welcome.

 

[Iron Horseman]

I have small collection of Athearn BB, Tyco/Mantua, & MDC Roundhouse from 1970's--80's & would like to use them. I bought some HO Kato Unitrack a few months ago.

Other than the Tyco that is pretty reliable stuff so using it should work well. It could be rather than remotoring it just needs a tune up. Is it steam or diesel? Could just be a matter of making certain gears aren't jamming/binding, wheels aren't on too tight, and if steam that the drivers are properly quartered (the side rods are properly aligned side to side).

 

[trainrails]

Other than the Tyco that is pretty reliable stuff so using it should work well. It could be rather than remotoring it just needs a tune up. Is it steam or diesel? Could just be a matter of making certain gears aren't jamming/binding, wheels aren't on too tight, and if steam that the drivers are properly quartered (the side rods are properly aligned side to side).

Hi,
I have a Tyco Pacific & Mikado with Cary Boilers with Cary detail parts that I built sometime in the 70's--80's. From what I can remember they ran better in one direction than the other. For that reason I didn't run them. They are lettered for ATSF. That's my road name. Santa Fe all the way. I bought some Kato Unitrack to use for my layout. I hope my stuff will run OK on it. I'm hoping someone in the forum that uses HO Kato track could let me know how it is.

 

[GeeTee]

I bought some HO Kato Unitrack a few months ago.

I think Texas Hobo has Kato Unitrack . If you look in the Coffee Shop /Running Bear thread he posts some pics from time to time . He usually shows up about once a day. Feel free to go in there and annoy him with many questions.