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Newbie starting out with embarrasement of riches Getting started
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Regular poster 126 posts JaredW Regular poster 126 posts
JaredW
Hello all! I just started on the forum and already I have found an abundance of helpful tips and advice! Thank you for that already! A little background...I have been interested in trains for years, but honestly have never had the money to start putting one together. The closest I ever got was the layout my best friend of 25 years' dad had in his basement. We would go down and admire his setup (albeit unfinished) and try to get him to let us use it. It was so old and dirty though that he never would let us run it, so instead he let us build some of the building models he had aquired over the decades. Great fun! About 12 years ago he sold the house they were living in, and one of the requests of the buyer was that he leave the benchwork and track where it was, but he would take all of the other equipment he had...locos, cars, buildings, etc. He moved an hour north and everything was put in storage for the next decade or so, never to be run or thought of again (except by me of course). Shortly after that, my son was born and over the years has developed an acute LOVE of all things trains. He is autistic, so you can imagine just how deep that love runs. We started out buying wooden Thomas trains for him, and his collection has exploded over the years. He still spends a great deal of time making his own layouts in his room and running through scenarios. When he was 6, i took him to a LHS and we were done for at that point. He saw so many trains that he started begging me to get a model train going. So I bought a few pieces of track and a couple of kit cars (Proto 2000) for me to build. We ended up moving shortly after that, and the hobby got shuffled back on my to do list since the house needed a LOT of tlc, and I went back to college. Fast forward to two Christmas's ago and my son got his first Bachmann basic layout from grandma and grandpa. 1 loco, 2 cars, and a caboose. He played with rhe simple oval for hours. So, for his birthdays and next Christmas, he got more track and a couple of new cars. We have to set it up in the living room and then tear it down each time, but he still loves playing with them. He even has a Thomas engine to run on it. Last year, Pa (friend's dad) was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 6 months. He made it the 6 before losing to the multiple cancers earlier this spring. After the funeral, we started cleaning out the house, and figuring what to do with everything. He had a room in the house with all of his trains (HO mainly, some N, and LOTS of old Meccano stuff). My friend talked to his mom and brothers, and they decided that because of mine and my sons love of trains, that they wanted me to have the HO equipment...all of it. I was dumbfounded. Little did I know exactly what I was getting at the time. We started cleaning, and loading up my car with the trains as we moved stuff around. Two PACKED car loads later, I have nearly all of it in my basement. Like the title said, its an embarrasement of riches. I dont know what to do with most of it at this point other than store it and build it over the next few decades. There were 30+ engines (diesel and steam, all sizes, all DC), over 200 cars (almost every kind available from box, to hoppers to flat to repair cars), and literally a couple hundred buildings, some put together some not. Some buildings are plastic, some are balsa wood. But everything is at least 20 years old. Bridges, houses, stations, utility buildings, you name it its there. Some even still have the price tags on them, freight cars that he paid 2 dollars for and bought 10 at a time that are unbuilt, 75 cent buildings...I still havent gone through it all yet. But, like I said earlier, very little track. He ran with code 100 track when he did build, and I found a few pieces of his spares in the boxes...a couple of #4 left turn outs, 2 triple Y's (left, middle, right), and a one piece left/right switch assembly that he had paid 6 dollars for. 0.0 There were also a fee various pieces of track (a few 9 inch straights and some curved) as well as some pieces that he had assembled and others that had been cut that can still be used. As well as all of his tools and spare parts, people, scenery, etc. You can imagine the fun my son had when we started going through everything. His eyes lit up like it was Christmas time again, and then the question of when we could start using it all, lol. So now, it's time to start buying track and power parts (have a ton of wire and switches too) best part for me, is everything is from the 50's or older, which is the period of railroading that I love! I have a room in the basement that is 14x13 that I get use, and I have been trying to figure out the best layout for the space in order to reach eveything. Not nearly as simple as I thought it would be for sure. I think we're going to start out with a simple single track dogbone style layout, with a grade on both ends, for a little change in running, and then expand it from there. In the meantime, we have a lot of cleaning up to do, and a bunch of maintenance to perform on the various engines. I am going to leave some of the dust on the bodies, since it helps to weather the cars, and I bought an oil kit from Bachmann through Amazon to lube everything up before running them...since I made a mistake on one when I got them. I got out the Rivarossi 2-10-2 and tried to run it before cleaning the motor and gears. Heard a POP from inside when I gave it power, and then the motor just spun with no movement. Took it apart, took the drive assembly out, and found that the lube that was on the drive gear had turned almost to epoxy, and cracked the brass transfer gear at the worm assembly. So, that's my story, and I look forward to reading more of everyones's advise and tips. Only wish there were more LHS's here and more clubs (nearest one is 2 hours at least from me) Cheers and happy railroading! Jared
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DougA Active Member 47 posts
DougA

youre in the right place

welcome to mrh!  over a year ago, i came back to model railroading after a couple of decades being away.  some important changes have happened, like dcc, but the best change ever has been the internet.  its great to be able to share our stories and to get advice so readily.  mrh is incredible.  i really like this place.  ive purchased stuff from mrh advertisers and have been very pleased.  the forums are great resource with wonderfully helpful people.

i dont have any real advice, other than to get some trains running asap.  im guessing that your son wont care about having the finest detailed track, like code 100 easy flex track compared to code 83 weathered but hard to flex track.  since youve got a boat load of dc equipment, its probably easiest to just start with a dc powerpack and get the trains going.  oval designs such as the dog bone are great for train watching and dont require reverse loop wiring.

the main thing is to start and have fun.

ps. my condolences to your friend's family.  all too many of us know cancer.
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Michael Tondee MRH Author 5,540 posts
Michael Tondee

Welcome from another parent of an autistic child....

Except for now mine is a grown man of 23 years of age. He never really took the kind of interest and love in trains your son has but he's pretty much interested in anything I do. He likes to watch me work on my hobbies rather than actually participating. Sounds like a wonderful start you have there with all that equipment and I know you're going to have loads of fun. It's great that your son has the love for trains that he does.

I feel for your friend and his family, I lost both my Dad and my brother to cancer.

Regards,

Michael

Michael, A.R.S. W4HIJ

 Model Rail, electronics experimenter and "mad scientist" for over 50 years.

Member of  "The Amigos" and staunch disciple of the "Wizard of Monterey"

My Pike: The Blackwater Island Logging&Mining Co.
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CSXShenandoahSub Active Member 44 posts
CSXShenandoahSub

Welcome!!!

Welcome to MRH, and glad you have a hobby you can share with your son.  

Joe Stuart

http://www.facebook.com/CSXShenandoahSub
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Russ Bellinis Prolific poster 3,335 posts
Russ Bellinis

Don't despair over the Rivarossi.

Northwest Shortline makes replacement drives for the older Rivarossi locos.
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dehanley Frequent poster 559 posts
dehanley

Riches

I'm not trying to sound repetitious, but welcome. In this issue, Joe has his one module challenge along with Lance's one turnout layout. I would suggest that you do something simple along those lines and then use your dog-bone on each end that can be detached an moved as you expand the layout.  Most important however is to have fun with your son building the layout.

Best Wishes

Don Hanley

Proto-lancing a fictitious Erie branch line.

2%20erie.gif 
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Prof_Klyzlr Moderator 7,962 posts
Prof_Klyzlr

...and ex-factory new-in-box

...and ex-factory new-in-box replacement parts are ofen available via eBay... Welcome aboard! Happy Modelling, Aim to Improve, Prof Klyzlr
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JaredW Regular poster 126 posts
JaredW

Thank you!

Thanks for the wlecome all. One thing that was recommended to me was to clean the gear and the shaft really well and use a couple small spots of jb weld to hold them together.
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DKRickman Prolific poster 3,069 posts
DKRickman

Reattaching the gear

If it's just the joint between gear and shaft that broke, then you shouldn't have any trouble repairing the model.  JB weld will work, but you might want to consider one of the Locktite (blue, I think, is the one you want) products, as they're made for just such an application.  You might also be able to solder them together if they're brass and steel, but that might be risky depending on the exact design.

Ken Rickman

Danville & Western HO modeler and web historian

http://southern-railway.railfan.net/dw/
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robteed Frequent poster 865 posts
robteed

Track

I have found that "Brass" track is something to stay away from.  Use Nickel Silver. Thats about the best advise I can give ya.

Rob Teed

Railyard Productions

http://www.youtube.com/user/dreambuilders48808?feature=mhee

http://www.modelrailroadtech.com

http://railyardproductions.com
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JaredW Regular poster 126 posts
JaredW

The gear just fit very

The gear just fit very snuggly on the shaft, it didnt fasten to it at all, so when it cracked, it just spins around the shaft now. There is no play up or down with it, so I'll try the loctite method. The track that I did find is all silver nickel, so I'm good there at least.
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JaredW Regular poster 126 posts
JaredW

Wow...a full day of work, and

Wow...a full day of work, and 8 engines torn apart, cleaned, oiled, and reworked. Now theyre running smooth as the day they were new. Some of them im sure hadnt ever had their wheels cleaned, and most of the old lube went solid and had to be scrapped out before new oil could be applied. One loco in particular, a 2-8-4 Rivarossi needed extra tlc. Had to take the gear boxes apart to get them lubed up and get it to stop making chunking sounds when running. Cant wait to see how the work on a layout...
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