After I sold all my N scale stuff, I decided to get back into model railroading (missed it after I sold everything) I decided to go with HO scale due to the fact that its better to see the wheels when they are on the track. I have some decisions to make but want some help for you HO scalers: What is a good era to model (I was born in the 80's.....1980's not 1880's) steam?? diesel combination (steam for excursions, diesel for freight) to weather or not to weather (never done it so this would be first time) Track.........set comes with power-loc....keep or sell?? type of roadbed (if go with snap-track) Paint plywood all green or leave as is? horn hook or kadee couplers (like kadee....looks like real couplers) tunnels (have 2 but they are N scale How many signal bridges (have 1) If anyone has pictures of there HO layouts that I might use as a reference, pm me or E-mail me @ firepatchcollector2006@yahoo.com or IM me on yahoo messenger.....ID is pennyanfire62E!. Thanks guys
Answers You have asked, so I answered; no rationale is offered for my responses. Either the 1980's or the current era. No steam. You have a lot of work to do before you weather your stuff. Atlas Code 100 with Atlas turnouts, Caboose ground throws. Cork BEFORE you put down the cork and track, paint the plywood UMBER (brown), you can buy it from HD or Lowes After you get your railroad running, convert to Kadees. If you buy new stuff, most will have Kadee compatible McHenry etc couplers. Don't buy them, learn how to make them and use Woodland Scenics plaster cloth with a cardboard framework. That is all up to you. Spend a few hours looking at the pictures on Railimages, a button link is at the bottom of this page. Joe
That's entirely up to you. What is it about railroading you like? Getting things up and running is an earlier priority. After that... well, learn something about the weathering techniques in use, and you can decide what to do. I'm not sure why you'd want to paint the plywood green. Once scenery is built, you'll only be seeing the wood on the edges of the layout and the legs. As noted above, green isn't a good base color for ground. Again, as noted, most modern equipment has knuckle couplers. Certainly not all Kadee, but generally compatible.
Good advice from all, your username Conrail Fan suggests that the period just before Conrail (Penn Central) into the early Conrail era would give you some interesting opportunities. You seldom see the Penn Central/Conrail transition equipment as the mix I observed here in Central Pa modeled. Some of the survivor 1st & 2nd generation PC equipment was stenciled "PC" and used until scrapped or traded. A good reference, if you can find a copy is Penn Central Power by Yanosey. Havn't seen any late, may be out-of-print. There is a wealth of books on Conrail. Just a suggestion on a seldom-modeled era. Cheers, Phil
Does anyone have track without any type of roadbed? As for the question from the poster, of course you can model any era you like. However, I for one really love the more present day railroads. It seems like every layout I see is set in the 50's. There's nothing wrong with that, and I love looking at these layouts, it's just seeing a modern day layout really gets me going, and is really refreshing to look at.
Roadbed choices At the most basic level not having SOME kind of roadbed would be impossible. However, I'm going to suppose you mean is there anyone who lays track directly to the 'board' without cork, foam or something else. IF indeed that is the question, the answer is absolutely yes, many of us lay track directly on the board, be it plywood, soundboard, Homasote or foam board. I personally have laid my yards directly on the flat soundboard. When I ballast, the track will be extremely flat with little or no elevation. As far as I can tell, the prototype does the same thing. Not totally sure I answered your question. Joe
I run diesel, but the Westport Terminal RR has some steamer at the museum. I go with the prototype, it's weathered. Even very new engines have some dirt at the trucks after the first miles. I would go (if I had to start new) with code 83, code 70 and code 55 for spurs. I've used with my last project Central Valley track. I use cork. I leave it for the first time. It will be covered with Woodland and paint (for street) and more. Kadee, what else? If you want them, build your own. I would use it if there's a suitable place. That means for me if the prototype would have a signal bridge. My 2 cents. Enjoy it. Wolfgang
You did! By having no roadbed, I meant nailing the track directly to the plywood. This is what I have been doing since day one, while everyone is talking about laying down cork or whatever else is out there. I wondered why everyone did that while the way I did it worked just fine. So why do people do this?
Partly for sound deadening - though there is some debate about whether it actually makes a difference. Sometimes because they've been told to. Most often (I think) to get the track up off the ground so the ballast looks the right depth. Hence you might use thinner cork on a siding than the adjacent main. My layout is all industrial area, so there will be no noticeable ballast shoulders and my track is directly on the base. If I do a main line layout one day (I hope I will) then I will quite likely use some sort of underlay.
How much sound does HO scale trains actually make? Not that much. Just a note, because the lionel trains under the Christmas tree were so loud, we decided to put cork roadbed under the tracks a couple of years ago. Didn't do a thing! (soundwise)
