Hi, I am new to MR and am starting to get into the hobby. I would like to know where and how I can research railroads to model them. Also are there some books I can read that would teach me about trains and railroads and how they function? I also want to what is a good source for researching all the train stuff i see in the hobby stores ( I have no idea what the difference is between one brand of train products and another ). Any help in the right direction would be appreciated.
Julio, first of all welcome to the Trainboard and I think you will get more answers so I am going to move this to the Inspection Pit. Lady Sunshine Moderator
Thank You Ladysunshine. I look forward to becoming a full fledge railfan with the info i can get here.
Julio~ What railroads are you interested in? What Scale would you like to model? There is a favorite Railroad in your area? I suggest you look farther down the forum list and you will see a modeling section....but feel free to E-mail me at any time...Welcome to Trainboard, hope you like it here!
Hi Julio .. let me add my welcome to you as well As for your researching railroads and their operation, you are sitting at the finest source of information right now ... the internet! You can enter any question you like into a search engine (like Google) and you will get a whole list of places to find your answer .. including the Federal Railroad Administration for rules of operation. Good luck in developing your hobby.
Thank you for the information. I guess learning the rules is a great start to knowing how the industry functions. Thank you inadvance for any help you can give me.
You have asked a lot of questions. What I suggest is ask one question which will get you started. For example, you don't mention what scale you are interested in - different brands for different scales. If you want to build a layout, the two most popular are N scale and HO. HO is the most popular. N is a good scale if you don't have a lot of room but you want to run your trains without getting bored of them quickly. Don't forget your public library for a source of researching railroads, they might have videos as well; ours does. If you don't have a favourite railroad, I suggest you pick something around your home, or close to it. It is alwasy more fun to research something that you can look at any time, and access is easy. Before you chose a scale, talk to different people here and at your local hobby train store.
Julio, Another welcome to our rather large family of memebers here at Trainboard. You are in the best possible site in my mind for a wealth of knowledge with a few of the memebers here. I would take all the information I could get from your local library, and even real railroaders that you may know. They would give you the run down on things. With scale modeling, theirs plenty of it. what railroad name you plan to model? What scale? As said N and HO scale are the major scales at the moment so... Ho is larger and has a plentyfull supply of everything from track to the tinniest train detail part from steam to diesel. N sclae is really close to HO but smaller in size and hasn't got the ready avaliable steam locomotives that Ho has at the moment but they are comming up right behind us HO scalers. And then to figure out what railroad name you want to model.. As said a good choice would be to model a railroad close to you. Then you could model exactly the how it is or even do some of your own modeling... to make it as close as possible. The biggest thing is...... HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT That is the main thing of the hobby. If your not having fun doing it, then your missing the point of the hobby....
Welcome to TrainBoard. Visit hobby shops, train museums, join a model RR club, and in all cases, don't be afraid to ask questions, even the seemingly simple ones. There are tons of excellent invormation on this board. Browse all sections. You will find enough information, diagrams, pictures, etc. to make your head spin. So, then, ask more questions, and, as said earlier, have fun.
Also, for some of the basics of building a layout and a list of model and prototype magazines, I would suggest a visit to the NMRA Beginner Pages at: http://www.nmra.org/beginner/ . It won't help you tell the difference between an SD9 and an SD40-2, but it can help with a lot of primary model railroad info.
Welcome aboard! You would probably enjoy modeling the Frisco Railroad - a railroad that operated in Florida among other states. You can't go wrong there! Charlie
welcome aboard! Always good to help out a newcomer! First of all, decide what scale (size) you want to model. The 2 most popular are N scale, & HO scale. Also, get some of the EXELLENT model railroading books from Kalmbach. They're availible through their website at WWW.KALMBACHBOOKS.COM or through mail order or at your local hobby shop. They also have some video tapes. Whenever you have questions, or run into problems (and you will, we all do-even those of us who have been at it for years) just post them on this forum, or on the exellent one at WWW.ATLASRR.COM Anothher good one is at TRAINS.COM One more thing: don't get discouraged by any mistakes you make (that's another thing we all do, sometimes). Also, GOOD LUCK!!
First and foremost thank you all for the help and encouragement. I am presently working in HO scale on the Callahan railroad, a plan I got from one of the beginner books put out by Model Railroad. I took the basic track plan but am modifying the scenery layout since I have no real interest in City scapes but more in the industrial and outdoorsy type of layout. My next question is about reference materials. I am thinking about buying The Railroad Encyclopedia, The Rouglet ( ? ) Railroad Atlas of North America which i imagine has maps and finally The train and locomotive encyclopedia. Once again Thank you for everything and i hope to share my new found hobby with all of you.
you're welcome! And don't forget to post all your questions on here, and on the HO forum on this site, no matter how dumb you may think they are. Remember, we've all been in your boaat before!
Julio~ Please visit my thread I put up and am working on "HELP, Back to basics" it is focused on the railfanning aspect and we are slowly getting pictures of everything out there that we commonly see in North America.
Julioengineer, for more information for beginners, such as which are the different scales, how to choose one, toy trains vs. scale modeling, and other topics, click on this link: http://www.greatesthobby.com/ It has a lot of info for beginners, and it was started by a group of model railroad manufacturers in league with Kalmbach Publishing and Model RailRoader magazine. [ 03 April 2002, 07:28: Message edited by: Black Cloud ]
Thanks for all the new info but I forgot to finish my question about these books. I wanted to know if anybody had used them and what you thought of them.
The books, videos, hobby shops, etc are out there... just have to read, read, read, read, read. My BEST RESOURCES while building my first kits and my first layout were: </font> Kalmback "How to" books... ie, wiring, scenery, benchwork, kit building, projects, etc </font> Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, and other magazines... read them each month like a religion </font> Go to shows. Visit club layouts </font> Go buy a kit... any kit, of the scale that interests you, and dive in. Just DO IT </font> Ask your boss for a raise </font> Last and the most important for me: JOIN the historical society of the railroad that interest you. Modeling as close as YOU WANT to a specific prototype, or emulating that prototype in some fashion is very rewarding. Again... JUST DO IT </font> Have at it and enjoy! -Kitbash
My advice to you is to go out and look at and study all the things you never really noticed before. -RUST AND GRIM -THE COLOR OF YOUR LOCAL DIRT -THE COLOR OF THE SKY -MOUNTAINS -WEATHERED BUILDINGS -CRACKS IN SIDEWALKS -WEATHERED PAVEMENT -SMOKE STACKS -JUNK YARDS -RAIL YARDS -BACK YARDS -FRONT YARDS -DRIVEWAYS -TREES -STORE FRONTS -SITUATIONS THAT YOU SEE EVERY DAY (FOR EXAMPLE: A SMALL EXCAVATION SITE WITH A DUMP TRUCK AND A COUPLE OF GUYS WITH PICKS AND SHOVELS). -MUD -DIRTY WATER DITCHES -ETC All these things you will want to recreate on your layout to make it realistic. IT'S THE THINGS PEOPLE TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT WE LIKE TO DUPLICATE IN MINIATURE!
