Freebie

Hi Traincrazy247,

Welcome back to the hobby.  I have some O scale items that I can't use.  Please contact me:

BruceNscale@Yahoo.com

Welcome...

glad you're here. This is a great forum for asking and receiving answers to questions regarding model railroading. Your questions need to be a little more specific. By the way most model railroaders refer to the support structure for their layout as "bench work". If you don't have a track plan for your railroad check out the thread titled track plan database. You can use the search box in the upper right hand corner to find it. Good luck with your project and keep us posted.         Welcome aboard....John

Hello Again  Thank You Both

Hello Again 

Thank You Both for the warm welcome and support.  I'm trying to set up a Theme that's not really something with houses but more like a fueling depot for trains and a place to switch trains out or in.

I do want to have more a train station with multiple tracks were the trains are delivering fuel as well as timber, so if it's more Industrial then that's what i'm thinking in my plans and hope i'm explaining it correctly. lol

The space

Bob,

 I would think one might want to consider putting up sheet rock or some other sturdy material, to protect the vapor barrier on the foundation wall. No matter how careful one plans to be, there's always the chance of putting a hole in it.

 As O scale takes up quite a large chunk of real estate, I'm wondering how how wide are you planning on making your bench work? If your planning on going to the foundation wall, are you going to be able to reach it? Or are you planing on adding access points, so that you can reach it?  If not, what are your plans for reaching things against the wall? Some things also to be considered, before you get your bench work built; room lighting & outlets. It's always best to plan ahead.

Regards,

Charlie

Hello Charlie & AllGood

Hello Charlie & All

Good question Charlie,

I do plan on putting some type of plywood and i do have a plan to put my switch board right in the corner were the entrance door is shown and along the back part of the corner is going to be a tunnel with 3 tracks going through the tunnel and 1 track going above the tunnel and around to the insulated wall and back towards the front back to the white garage entrance door.

I'm a tractor trailer driver by trade so I never swung a hammer or used a square before so i have a few unleveled boards but all in all i'm doing fine alone at the age of 54 lol. I don't even have anything but maybe 25 cars, no engines or even 1/3 track so it's going to be a huge task and please ideas are welcome, i might not use them all but i would encourage them ....

I'm taking on a huge task and I hope and Pray it's not going to look terrible because I have grand idea's but I'm learning as i go on each and every day.  I've been saving huge blocks of Styrofoam and bought that molding tool to make my own tunnels and refineries as I'm so head strong over a dingy dirty massive train layout with tankers galore with graffiti on trains, under passes, bridges etc .. 

I guess through my travels in life i remember Chicago and NYC and PA etc..

Well it's always a pleasure to come visit this website and read the forums but most of all your opinions are really what brings me here, help and ides is what i need so please don't be shy I'm not

@ Bob

This is the time to learn by making mistakes.  Let this first layout not be your dream layout, but your test bed layout to learn skills.  Some of the guys here call the test bed layout a Chainsaw Layout.  The chainsaw will be the last tool used on the layout.  Until that day comes start with something easy.  Learn bench building.  Learn track laying and soldering.  Learn scenery techniques.  Learn from the guys here.  Ask a million questions and receive three times the answers if not more.  The list goes on and on.  There are videos to learn by on Trainmasters TV and on YouTube. A piece of advice, never be afraid to rip something out to try it again while doing it better.

Once you have learned the skills you need to build your dream layout, donate the test bed to a grandchild, neighborhood kid, or as some do, get out the chainsaw.  Clear it out for the dream layout!  You can recycle structures, bridges and track very easily.  Who knows, once you have the skills you need you might change scales?

The biggest thing, which many of us are bad at, is to do a little each day.

Den

One thing to do to get some

One thing to do to get some ideas are the many books on the subject from building bench work to designing layouts in general. I notice that you are in O scale and planning on some industrial areas. One book for the basics that should be in your library is the text track planning for realistic operation by John Armstrong. There are also lots of others that deal with shelf layouts. In your case it likely does not matter what scale they are in you just need to realize you will likely need twice as much space as any plan drawn in HO scale and 4 times as much as any drawn in N scale. Keep in mind your ability to reach things will not be changed and will likely be about a maximum of 30 inches.

Biggest thing you can do for yourself is to finish your layout space completely before you do anything else. It will never be easier to work on and while those projects don't get the layout built you will have time to begin to learn answers to the questions you know about now and the ones that come up later that you didn't know you needed to know.

As to figuring out basic skill sets to do what you want the back issues are a tremendous source of info as are the blogs on this site.

Below is Nick's O scale blog.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/22381

One of Paul's excellent entries on developing and building a layout although this is in HO scale it shows the process of design and development and construction that you might find helpful.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/18971

Jim Six also has some excellent concepts covered in his Blog and addresses the concept of trying to put too much into your space. Interestingly his track plan is such that it could likely be built in a larger scale in likely the same space or very near to it. There is lot's to take away from his blog.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/14150

Eric Hansmann has some great material on here in his blog and his frequent posts. He is building what many would call a small to medium industrial layout and does some great work in that regard.

http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/

He also has some nice info on building his layout and his freight cars and locomotives.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/18696

I also have some blogs you might find enjoyable that deal with the club layout and researching the past so you can model something that was or free lance based on some reality to achieve your goals. There are lots of construction on the infrastructure of the building as well as actual layout work and the humor that goes along with it in th club blog. Mine are listed at the bottom in my signature and there is a link to my clubs web site that you also might find entertaining and informative.

Now there are many, many more that you could look into and it would not take much for me to come up with at least another dozen that would fit the bill for things you really need to learn about building a model railroad. But I'll leave you with these for now and hope you are not overwhelmed or buried in information. 

The idea is to provide you with useful info before you have painted yourself into a corner or built a sailboat in your basement.

"the silver bell trainset"

  That's a Lionel set so you can probably find much useful info on the O Gauge Railroading magazine forum , those folks specialize in O trains, also has a nice readers buy and sell section for used trains ........DaveB

Thanks so much for all that

Thanks so much for all that Info, like a gold rush of Knowledge.

I always do things big so i really can say with all honesty that since i was 9 i always dreamed of some day owning a home and just going at it building a nice size table for a grand set up, i'm looking to have 3 tracks or more lanes and thanks on the books i have 1 already and plan to get as many as needed lol.

my layout or table is 5 wide by 15' Long, I also went and bought 3 4x8 cheap plywood and started putting it up, since i had my bypass surgery my projects have been on hold for 3 months or more.

I  while at home depot seen and got number #20 gage wire, I only bought the spool because of i'm not sure how mny accessories i will be adding.  The local store who sells Lionel products sold me the wire.

I have a question to who ever knows but if no answers i will ask in another forum, I purchased this spool of red&white together , not in cased together so you can take the 2 wire and hold them apart, do i use both as 1 wire red&white or unwrap the wire as it comes off easy.

I should have updated pics tomorrow or friday sometime.THANKS EVERYONE for Your Help and Vast Info & Links.. 

You All enjoy your evening.

Bob M  In Massachusetts 

TC247