HO Model RR ROOKIE


H

hammerhead53

New Member
I just retired from BNSF after 40 yrs (former BN / CBQ) and have decided to try my hand at HO model railroading. I was told to make sure I had a good table before doing anything. The pic below is the table with bench work provided by Mianne Benchwork (www.miannebenchwork.com/). It's an awesome table and now I'm ready to move forward. Prior to building the table, I went to my local model RR shop (and that's all they sell) and told them what I was planning. They sold me the Bachman ATSF train set you see laid out (not much more then a terminal switching road...). This isn't what I had in mind but am open to most all suggestions. I have some questions going forward if someone can help.

The dimensions are noted on the pic. I'm currently looking at some sort of U config with appropriate sidings, etc. but am open to ideas.

1. Currently the table is 1/2" Sandeply plywood from Home Depot
2. Should I cover it with cork or foam or cloth or something?
3. Type of track to use. I see a lot of people use Atlas. If so, what do you attach it to the surface with?
4. Is it better to lay out the potential scenery first before the track?
5. Best brand of power and rolling stock to buy. I'm only looking for BN and it's former roads.

I'm sure I'll have more questions down the road but a little help with these for now will be appreciated.
 

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In the short of it - Most of those questions can be answered best by picking up a few books at your local hobby shop. Plus, many of them have boxes of older back -issues of Model Railroader or Craftsman magazine that you can get for maybe a buck each. The pictures and diagrams will exceed anything you can get off of a forum in typed text.

Forums are great for solving focused problems. This forum is probably the best thing going for that, and it's a personable thing too. But perhaps you need sweeping swaths of ideas before you just charge in. There are lots of how-to videos on youtube that are good to watch too. Spend a few months absorbing it all before charging off and buying more than you might need or the wrong stuff like many of us did. :)
 
Just a few opinions from the peanut gallery!
NUMBER 1- decide on a time and place to model. If you choose 1985 Minnesota, do not buy a lot of steam engines or desert cactus for scenery.

2. Should I cover it with cork or foam or cloth or something? Will you have hills and valleys? Then use expanded foam insulation board (blue or pink) to biuld up scenery. if flat switching layout, you can use your plywood top. Paint your top or foam with a latex ground color.

3. Type of track to use. I see a lot of people use Atlas. If so, what do you attach it to the surface with? Most people use flex track under cork roadbed, attached with glue or caulk and track nails. Decide the guage (size) of track to use, like code 100 (heavy mainline), code 83 (more prototypical) or code 55 (spurs and light rail traffic).

4. Is it better to lay out the potential scenery first before the track? NO NO NO! Your track, sidings and switches have to blend together. I recommend a minimum of 18 inch radius curves and sidings 1-1/2 the length of the longest train you plan to run. Buy a NMRA guage to detiremine minimum HO clearances to buildings, tunnel and scenery. Layout the centerline of your track, mark sidings spurs and switches. THEN look to where you can place your scenery. You can adjust track or scenery easily at this point.

5. Best brand of power and rolling stock to buy. I'm only looking for BN and it's former roads. Do NOt buy anymore trainsets (fewer choices and lesser quality). There are several good manufacturers of engines and rolling stock made in BN livery. Decide how to power your layout, with DC or DCC. DC is simpler to begin with and you can convert to DCC to control each engine separetely, sound, lights and speed control. If you think you will go to DCC, buy your engines DCC ready (chip easily added), but will run on DC now.

You have some choices to make that will cost you less now and make you happier with decisions later. Yes, you can change your mind later, but you have to start somewhere.
 
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Having been a conductor all that time you probably have a pretty good idea what you want your model to do, or at least know the possibilities.

Some like myself put track down and take it up again. I got to where I draw it out on a piece of paper and then lay out the pieces. If you are using inclines, hills, tunnels, that is going to take some planning.

My priority is always getting things so I can run trains around, then filling in a corner at a time with buildings and ground cover.

I hope you have a lot of fun planning your new creation and I am not giving any more advice because I know model railroads become a series of very personal choices, likes, and dislikes. I do wonder where you live and what parts of the BN you are most familiar with?

lasm
 
Hammerhead53,

Welcome to the forums and to the world of model railroading, especially HO Scale.

1. Currently the table is 1/2" Sandeply plywood from Home Depot

That is a good benchtop to work with.

2. Should I cover it with cork or foam or cloth or something?

I would suggest you cover the entire bench top with either 1" or 2" EPS Foam.

3. Type of track to use. I see a lot of people use Atlas. If so, what do you attach it to the surface with?

Okay, from experience - stay away from Atlas and go with Peco Flex Track. Both types of track are similarly priced; HOWEVER, Peco Track is far better quality, easier to lay and most importantly is available, unlike some Atlas track.

If you want to know just how impressed I am with Peco over Atlas - I pulled all of my 60' of Atlas Track up and am replacing it with Peco Track. What makes this even more impressive is, I have not even completed the layout so the Atlas track is still brand new. I wouldn't be throwing aside band new track if I didn't think or believe that Peco was far superior.

One question - do you want to go with Code 83 or Code 100 track? The difference in negligible and only in the actual realism of the track. Code 83 track is more realistic than Code 100, but honestly, they are hard to tell apart. Essentially, Code 83 is the "new standard" if you like.

4. Is it better to lay out the potential scenery first before the track?

No. Do your track plan and layout your track first. Once you have your track loose laid, trace it on the foam then start putting in your inclines and roadbed. Once that is down it is up to you if you leave the track on the layout or keep it off. I left my track work on while doing my scenery on my first layout but am leaving it off while I at least do the scenery that runs along side the track. Just easier to keep the track clean and out of harms way.

5. Best brand of power and rolling stock to buy. I'm only looking for BN and it's former roads.

If money is no consideration then you have a number of good manufacturers to pick from. I use Athearn Loco's and passenger cars and some rolling stock. Walthers make some nice cars and engines as do other manufacturers. Some times one company will make a brilliant type of train, while another will make better rolling stock etc etc etc.

You also need to decide on whether you will be using DC or DCC. The cost of the models will change greatly dependent on that decision. For example, a pure DC Loco might cost you say $60, the same loco DCC Ready might cost you $160 while the same loco again that is fully DCC (decoders with sound, lighting etc) may well cost you from $250 to $400.

Hope this helps a little and hasn't confused you or confused you too much. Trust me, if your not already over whelmed or confused with this great hobby - you will be :)
 
Charles Smiley said:
In the short of it - Most of those questions can be answered best by picking up a few books at your local hobby shop. Plus, many of them have boxes of older back -issues of Model Railroader or Craftsman magazine that you can get for maybe a buck each. The pictures and diagrams will exceed anything you can get off of a forum in typed text.

Forums are great for solving focused problems. This forum is probably the best thing going for that, and it's a personable thing too. But perhaps you need sweeping swaths of ideas before you just charge in. There are lots of how-to videos on youtube that are good to watch too. Spend a few months absorbing it all before charging off and buying more than you might need or the wrong stuff like many of us did. :)
Click to expand...

Books are a great option, as are back-issues of MRR magazines.

Also, check out youtube.com. There are quite a few "how to build a layout from scratch" type videos there, plus specific ones on doing scenery, laying track, etc. once you get to that. Would suggest starting with one of the "basic overview" vids to start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMWfOpnMsCM is one that's had a lot of views. Suggest watching several to get perspective (different folks have different techniques, viewpoints on what kind of track to use, etc.)

And FWIW... Model Railroading and Video Production don't seem to be hobbies that go together! I'm sure I'd do far worse, but I do notice that the MRR videos tend to be heavy on talking, light on editing... But listen and learn.

Good luck!
 
Welcome to the forums, glad to have you onboard!

Being a Lionel O gauge guy primarily I will leave technical advice to the HO experts, but I can give you one bit of advice. Have fun with your trains!

I am sure your years of experience with real railroads will be priceless to us. I hope we hear from you many times.
 
You've gotten a lot of good answers here. Since you're new at it, I would suggest not gluing down your corkroad bed just yet, but do use it since it's really noisy and unrealistic without it. Use track nails on it for now since it's quite likely you are going to have a change of heart on the layout unless you are profoundly mature and unlike the rest of us.

If you want to be able to have two engines coming at each other creeping at different speeds in a yard - like in the real world, you need DCC control which is expensive initially but it makes your train come alive with the exact problems you faced as a conductor. It turns your railroad into a puzzle to be solved and that alone will sustain you. If you want trains to go in circles, straight DC is fine. I happen to use Digitrax but there's a lot of legitimate choices.

I totally agree about stopping the purchase of train sets. They are almost always lowball. Get the BNSF engines you want. The rolling stock could be from anywhere and still be realistic and ask yourself if you care about that realism right now . I build my cars almost entirely from basswood since that is the process I like the most. Many don't and prefer a ready to roll car. On my own railroad, I like to keep car lengths to 40 ft boxcars and that defines the time period they live in pretty well but it also defines your minimum radius. Long cars look silly hanging over the track on 18 inch radius stuff.

Put good quality trucks and wheelsets on your cars first thing. Learn about Kadee and Intermountain for trucks and couplers. . Those are the single biggest downer in MR operations causing derailments. Start early. Check those cars with NMRA tools available at your local hobby shop- and you need to say where that really is. Someone selling you a bachman set for starters sounds more like a salesman than a railroader to me. Beyond Modelrailroader magazine, check out Model railroad hobbyist on the internet. It's free and it's reall really good. Click on the ads, open up your world. You have come to a good place here. Some excellent advice and experienced people can help make the first steps into good ones. See, I run the BnSF too, but its the Bangor 'n Santa Fe. We have a lot of trackage issues.
 
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Given the current manufacturing state of Atlas, go PECO till they straighten up. There is kinda an unwritten rule about planning, don't always have your track parallel your edgeboard, curve/angle it in-around a bit. You are starting new and this hobby can go very deep in what you can do, get some ideas, snap track/flex track and lay out some track and run trains and get a feel about the layout, experiment about, you might be changing track and a bit or a lot. Make a few hand drawn maps detailing some things, depending how you want to model is the key how the layout may turn out. Looking at some track plans helps, there are some good books on just track plans. Any good layout will have a yard, some industries for switching, and enough running length for the effect of going somewhere. This is a great hobby and the challenges can be forever and keeps ya goin..
 
You don't need foam over all the plywood, unless you plan to carve it out to make gullies and such. Adding foam over all the plywood makes it trickier to drop power feeds. A lot of folks use a cookie cutter style benchwork, slicing up the plywood for grades and such and mounting all the plywood on risers.
 
Greetings HH53, I have just read your first post and you're getting good replies. You'll find many threads on your current questions and lots of friendly help. Considering your long background in real railroading, and what you want to model, I'm stunned that the staff at that model shop would consider what they foisted on to you would in any way satisfy your needs. I wouldn't expect much in the way of further good advice from them.
 
I would second what the Serial Kidder says. Your 40 years of work in the prototype environment will have a major effect on what and how you model. You will immediately see the difference between the restricted curves of your table setup compared to the real sweeping curves that you rode through. The up and down hill grades of the real world are almost mocked by the short and steep grades or the complete absence of any surface contours you will be forced into on your layout. The working details of the real world trains will be noticeably absent on the Bachman models that the hobby shop unloaded on you.
I would recommend that you take the kit back to the hobby shop and tell them your grandson didn't like it, then find a local Model Railroad club and join up with them to get a working knowledge of what can be had in the model railroad world.
You modeling world can range from the table you have there to a full basement layout, like the D&J Railroad. Check the link in my signature below for a culmination of a life of model railroading into the last layout I'll build.
 
I agree that you don't need foam everywhere. I use an open grid where 1x4's are on edge and homosote is laid down on top of it, sometimes big pieces, sometimes narrow strips. You will have a lot of trouble putting track nails straight into plywood. The support structure has a bunch of holes pre drilled in it to let wiring looms pass through. Given where you are, that would be hard to do now but don't make it even more difficult on yourself in the future. Particulary true if you plan to use switch machines.
 
Well Pete, I think you just illustrated why I mentioned him hitting the books - and magazines - at least for awhile to sort out so many little issues with spreading ripples of future ramifications. I wound up having to relocate some supports under the decking once I encountered clearance problems to where planned switch machines needed to go. I'm not sure that is easy with that type of store-bought table system.
 
There is some sort of strange mystical attraction between joists and turnout switch machine locations I have yet to really understand but it is clear to me that if you want a switch machine, the odds are that there is a joist that will have to move. I suspect the next big breakthrough will be radio controlled turnouts with the machine being on the surface about the size of a dime.

I don't mind the notion of getting track down at all even though it's likely it will be pulled up and redone. I think it's easy to begin to fibrillate over the potential mistakes than could come down the road and then to never start anything at all. There really is something to be said for having a train slowly working it's way around the layout while you're working on some other aspect of the layout. That first time you complete a cycle, or point to point or however you've planned is just so enormously satisfying.
 
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