New Member from Mississippi - Englishman not a native.

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L

LOCO_GUY

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am new to this stuff (I bought a "train set") which I now call a model railroad - someone enlightened me to that. I don't know all the terms and nuances so please forgive me if I ask something that sounds dumb.

I did ride old steam trains in England and never really considered this as a hobby. I bought a "life like train set" and used it at Christmas a few times - but no bitten by the bug. Then one day for whatever reason I decided to build a "Polar Express" layout for Christmas last year. This presented me with a few problems, grade, radius, etc. It was learning about how to overcome these issues that made me curious and more determined to make the layout. I did complete the layout and managed to find a "Pennsylvania Smoker 2-8-2" for $15 on ebay - I know the train in the movie was a 4-8-4 but who but me would notice. Anyhoo, it worked out fine but I couldn't stop there :-)

I decided to take over half of our garage with a 20 X 16 foot U shaped layout. Now all I needed was extra track - I use life like power loc - its easy to work with for a beginner. I bought lots of this stuff in bulk from Ebay and soon had more than enough to get started. I was a complete dummy when buying locomotives from Ebay and bought some awful stuff - my fault. However, as they were not that expensive I learned from my mistakes and soon became educated - by trial and error - into the working's of the loco innards. Now I wanted to make the crummy trains work again. So I took good shell and placed them on good motors (engines or whatever). This also gave me a nice supply of parts from the discarded stuff. Then I moved on to tools for fixing things, soldering iron, voltage meter, test bench, electrical connectors, wire, I even made my own turnout control switches from some SPDT switches with an auto-off spring loaded switch. By now I was totally consumed by what was possible. No happy to have Just a circle of track I converted a turnout so the I could isolate a "side line" so I could run two trains on the same track. One transformer powering the main line and one powering just the isolated area.

By now I think this has become an obsession. I wanted to experiment with sound for the layout and managed to find two cheap "MRC sound and power 7000's". Anyhow, things went from a simple layout to something a bit more complex - now I run the 2 MRC's, 2 Athern's and four life like transformers on the layout (I got 6 life like transformers for 99 cents on Ebay). I wanted a couple of nice trains to run on the layout so I bought a con-cor E7 with a nasty body shell but great motor. Then managed to pick up a factory fresh Pennsyvania E7 shell. This gave me a nice loco. I did the same thing with an Amtrak E7 and a Mantua F7 PRR.

So having got to this point I thought I would join a forum so I could get to know other enthusiast and maybe take this to the next level. As you can probably tell from this first post I was busting to tell somebody who understood my obsession. My wife's eyes just glaze over when I tell her about neat stuff I did on the layout - but she's happy to have me in the garage playing with my "train set" so as she can watch TV in peace.

Well thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
 
Hey Loco_Guy!

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you onboard! One of the esteemed model railroaders on here is fond of saying "the only dumb question is the one you don't ask" There are experts in every aspect of model railroading on here and most are happy to help you. Another thing I learned early on from another great forum member was "it's your railroad, you run it any way you want" and I will add my own advice; have fun!

So much of your post reminds me of my rapid decent into model train addiction, only the details are different, but the result is the same, we are train junkies! Mine even began with the Polar Express too! Our biggest differences are scale, I play with mostly O gauge, but I do dabble in HO. Yes, I openly, honestly and proudly admit I play with my toy trains! You will find that no 2 model railroaders are exactly the same, but we share a common bond.

I can completely relate to the need to share your enthusiasm for the hobby. Sounds like you have a great wife, like I do, but they just can't understand our train obsession! When I tell my wife about a new locomotive or a great piece of rolling stock I get the "that's nice honey' reply. Fortunately she never complains about my trains, the space, time or money they take up and I guess that is more then I can ask for.

You have gained a lot of experience already and now you have found the best resource for any questions you may have. Also check out the forum book store, I enjoy train books almost as much as I do my trains, almost! The forum book store is a portal to Amazon, but the forum does get a small commission for every sale so its a great way to support the forum and the price you pay is the same as if you went directly to Amazon.

Most of us learn the hard way about eBay, but eBay is a great resource once you understand how it works and what to watch out for! You have a great attitude and you are already a great model railroader in my book because it is obvious to me that you enjoy your hobby, that is the point of having a hobby!

I enjoyed hearing about your hobby and I hope to hear more and if you can some pictures would be great too!
 
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Welcome to the forums! Mississippi is a long ways from England. Got any photos of your layout? People always like to look at photos, even if its only track on plywood. Con-Cor/Model Power E units back in the day were great engines, although sometimes they had gear problems, but a great engine and flywheel. The Life Like Transformers, are more or less intended for toy trains, or as power supplies for things like switch machines and such. Keep us posted!
 


Bruette,

Thanks for the reply! I can take photos of the layout to post - I was hesitant to do this as I am so new at this. My layout is mainly track right now - no scenery to speak of and the buildings come from my wife's Christmas village collection she added to make it look "more realistic". I forgot to mention I have HO scale but It appears you figured that out. My son and daughter in Law bought me an engineers hat for Christmas so at least the family is "on board" with the hobby :-)

I went to an auction yesterday and found a Lionel train set - I think it was O gauge - it had a Union Pacific engine and 6 trucks plus track and transformer. I gave up bidding at $35 as I didn't know if it worked or its worth and it would have only been resold as I can't handle anything bigger than HO.

Anyhoo, I'll take some photo's to post and hopefully get some feedback from you or others on this site.
 
Hey again!

Don't worry about making the perfect layout your first attempt or setting a time table for completion. I started with my layout a year ago in January and it is still trains and tracks! I keep changing my mind and buying new and used equipment that has to be incorporated in. I don't care if I ever finish as long as I keep having fun with it as I am now I will be happy!

I have a 6.5'X13.5 O gauge layout and I have plans for a 4X8 HO layout, but not much progress with the HO yet, but I do have some great equipment, great to me any way.

There are Lionel HO sets out there but the seldom if ever do they make any now, maybe 3-6 in the last 35 years. They did make them in 1974-1977 and in the 60s, maybe the 50s too. Its easy to tell the difference O is twice the size of HO and If you had won that auction you would have at least gotten your money back, more then likely you would have made a modest profit if you had sold it on eBay. I sell some of my things on eBay, but only to get something back, not to make a profit. It seems to me the only one making a profit on eBay is eBay because of all the fees. You would almost have to double the price you paid to make a profit on eBay.

For a train under a Christmas tree nothing beats Lionel. The bigger size can attract attention from even the most beautiful Christmas tree. Here are the sets I run under my Christmas http://www.lionel.com/products/find... express&CategoryID=499&RailLineID=&CatalogId=

http://www.lionel.com/products/find...er bells&CategoryID=499&RailLineID=&CatalogId=

The even have wireless remote controls any child can use!

Also let me Welcome you to the USA, you don't have to be a native to be an American, almost all of us are all immigrants some where in our family trees.

Thanks again for sharing your hobby with us!
 
otiscnj ,

Thanks for the reply. I use the life like power packs for the turnouts and the AC accessories and to power the figure 8 stand-alone track.

Okay, I'm going to try and post some photos.

DSCF1643.jpg Here is the main console.

DSCF1647.jpg Left side of layout

DSCF1648.jpg

DSCF1650.jpg Right side of layout

Okay, Iv'e reached the limit for this post. I'll try to post a few more.
 
DSCF1655.jpg

DSCF1656.jpg This is the PRR E7 frankentrain

DSCF1644.jpg Here is the custom turnout controller made from a jewelry box from hobby lobby :-)

DSCF1645.jpg The innards of the box.
 
Louis,

As I said this became an obsession - don't know how many hours were spent putting this layout together - but lets just say if I spent as much time on my day job - i'd be rich by now :-)

In case anyone is interested - all of that track is standard life like power loc - no custom made bits. I used Anyrail 5 to work out how to fit all the bits together using standard track - which took ages but did help me get it done right.

Chris.
 


Have you considered a DCC system? You can run multiple DCC sound locomotives at the same time all wired to one single DCC control system. It very easy to wire and use.

It looks like you have a complicated DC setup running multiple controllers.
 
Michael,

Thanks for the reply.

When I started I didn't even know these were called DC layouts - I thought DCC was a channel on cable TV. I started out just wanting to run trains around the track then moved on to doing more with the track than was "normal". Along the way I saw some DDC loco's and did a bit of research and found out that DCC would have solved some of the problems I was facing. I am not disappointed that I didn't do more up front research as I learned a lot from trying to force the DC layout to do what I wanted. But you are right - it's getting more and more complicated to do the things I want to - and Radio Shack is running out of wire :-) there is lots of the stuff running all over the place.

DCC is the way to go - but my wife would be less than pleased if I started down that track right now. Also, although I did some research into DCC - it's still very confusing and difficult to work out what type of system to buy. Also, I think each train has an address you have to punch in to control it. I'm just wondering if it may just get too complex to remember which train is on what setting an so forth. I would appreciate any feedback on this (good DCC systems, good price - I'm not rich, ease of use, etc). I'm not very good at soldering tiny parts so I don't think I could convert locos to DCC by adding stuff under the shell. So it makes me wonder just how much I would need to spend to get a decent DCC system up and working. Also, it would have to use the current track - I spent to much on it to replace it.

Thanks, Chris.
 
Hey again Chris!

I love AnyRail, its fun to just play around with that!

Before you go down the DCC road I would do some reading. Here is a link to a book from the forum book store. I read this book and found this very helpful The DCC Guide: How to Select and Use Your Command Control System It does a great job of explaining the basics. Its out of date so you would have to do the research into the different systems (all are adequate, some are better then others), but I found it a great to learn the basics.

You can use your track with DCC, but there is nothing wrong with DC many great model railroads are still operated with DC.

I went with the NCE DCC Twin and a ProCab with a 3 amp power supply and it cost me $250, Then the locomotives start at about $50 and go up to $500 DCC gets expensive fast! Some older DC locomotives are not suited to be upgraded to DCC so I chose to have dual controls DC or DCC by flipping a switch. You can always add DCC later.
 
I recommend getting the NCE Powercab system. Its a complete system for around $150. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/NCE-Power-Cab-Complete-DCC-Starter-Set-w-Power-p/nce-524025.htm

It will run up to 6 different locomotives at the same time. All you have to do is wire all your current track wires to it, using a single bus wire to each of the rails. Just combine all your DC controllers into one single two-wire bus, that connects to the DCC power.

Then all you need to do is convert your DC locomotives by adding a DCC decoder. They have sound decoders and non-sound decoders depending on your preference. Or you can even buy new locomotives with the DCC and Sound factory installed. So they will run in DCC out of the box.

Controlling the different locomotives is very easy. You select the loco number (which needs to be programmed), then increase the speed on it. Then select the second loco, set the speed on it. Swap between them by using the recall button. Very easy to do without getting all confused. You will be a DCC expert within a few months!
 
Thanks for the feedback on DCC.

For me it is a big step forward - I really know little or nothing about model railroading apart from the stuff I did on my layout. Somehow, I feel as though I should become a bit better acquainted with everything DC first. Discover what types of trains I want to run and which railroads I prefer before going into DCC. If I had deep pockets I would just go and do it - but I want to have fun and not have to worry about paying for expensive DCC locos with all the fancy bells an whistles (pardon the pun).

The other side of me say's that if I do go DCC - I will end up asking the question "why didn't I do this sooner?".

Anyhow, this seems to be a great and active forum with a good membership - I'm glad I signed up.
 
LOCO_GUY said:
...Discover what types of trains I want to run and which railroads I prefer before going into DCC...
Click to expand...

That is a very good point! When I first started I bought steam engines, then I discovered I preferred diesels! Fortunately my grandson were happy to play with the steam engines.
 
No I didn't I'm a recent transplant to mississippi myself. But I have been trying to locate others here interested in model rail.


Sent from Pete's Pad using Tapatalk
 


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