I'm new to modeling trains, have some modeling experience of other things. Typical planes and cars as a kid, and products of various sorts as an adult. I went to school for industrial design so a bit of mold making and scratch building etc. to make truly random things. Model train dioramas caught my attention on YouTube and I intended to make a static layout just to make a highly detailed model. But then I got an N scale Amtrak to replicate the passenger trains in California, then I ran it on its little loop, and sort of got hooked... now I am building a T Trak shelf layout of some central and southern california features that I intend to run DCC++ on with a yard and a turnaround. The excuse is 'practice the model making skills from college', but this little Kato N scale Amtrak is absolutely gorgeous and just listening to it chug around while I do other things is sort of soothing. So its gone beyond make a model to make a robotic automated layout. I hope to include a Faller car system as well as some objects like cranes and city lights etc that are on arduinos and do 'stuff'. My education included manufacturing so the hobby just appeals on every level, from making stuff with my hands to appreciating a seriously detailed plastic part for the back end manufacturing details like slide molds and plastic chemistry. I had no idea about the digital side, and it's making it really appealing since I do a lot of electronics tomfoolery already. Glad to be here, thanks for the resource to get this new hobby moving forward.
Hey Ken, Welcome on board. Oh Man, have you come to the right place. Most of us just stumbled into model railroading for one reason or another and got hooked. Look at our various forums, especially N-Scale, where guys-n-gals have put together some neat stuff starting from nothing. But remember always that there's no right way to have fun building your own stuff.
Thanks for the warm welcome! No pictures of any layouts yet, I just got my first T Trak module of the california coastal marshland started. Its in the plaster and sculptamold stage. In about 3 days, after my new air compressor and airbrush arrive, I'll start a thread for the N scale Surfliner layout and post there.
PS- I failed to mention this earlier, but my name is also Ken.... And I have been an N scaler since 1972. Also active in HOn30.