Howdy, I was introduced to model railroads in the early 50's. I had a simple layout for and American Flyer on a 1/4" plywood sheet that I kept under my bed. Even though I tried my hand a elevating the track, I didn't have the skills or knowledge of what to do. Soon all of that was packed away. In '71, my daughter was born and here was my chance to get in to the small stuff...HO. She was not interested. My son came along and sparked an interest but it was replaced by soccer, football, basketball, etc. and the HO went to storage. Grandsons came along and another chance to get into this hobby. With 3 boys, about 4 years apart, the fire has been burning for almost 11 years and is still alive; especially with #3. It is time for a new layout. I'm looking for something with water, a bridge or two, one or two elevated portions, a few hills, and a yard with turntable. I want to explore using a 4x8 HO layout with N scale track. That should give me great curves and a lot of wide open spaces. My work experience is with electronics and I have definite opinions but am willing to try most anything. I want to participate on the forums where I can. John
John- Welcome to TrainBoard! Be sure to check out our Layout Design Discussion and N Scale Forums. There are message archives, and collectively an enormous base of experience to draw upon.
Hi John. welcome to the TrainBoard, we're glad to have you on board. As Ken says, please join us on the N-Scale Forum where we enjoy sharing ideas.
Welcome aboard, John. Let me guess the origin of your "poppyfixit" handle. Grandsons come to you to fix everything? I'm sure you will find a lot of useful help here.
John, I think you'll like it here. Lots of folks willing to provide answers to any question put out there. Hope you and the little'uns have a ball!
I'll add my "welcome to Trainboard," John. Have fun. I suspect that once you get some running stock in motion, the other kids will find interest too.
John, Welcome aboard. Do you read any of the magazines for inspiration? There was an article in Model Railroader in July 2012 on the very same subject - taking an HO layout, using the same space but with N gauge track and having far more realistic curves. And since there's a reply about how the "handle" originated, in my case it's an anagram of my name! Regards, Pete Davies
Welcome, from another N00b!!! it seems N scale is dominant in this forum. You'll get - and give a lot! Feel free to share Tinplate stories, and if you have them, pictures.... A great number of us started in S or O gauge tinplate - some still are in it, or at least have them!!
