Start by putting together a model locomotive weathering toolbox:

You will be helped out by having a group of tools to apply your detailing.  Paintbrushes, small sponges and a square of cloth are a good start.  Those are the absolute fundamentals.

Step Two—Crafts Materials:  

Ask yourself, “What look do I want for my locomotive?”  Sometimes it’s easy achieving the effect you want.  Other times you have to really work at it.  The web often has materials like decals that can really help you.  Sometimes you just have to experiment until you get the impression you want. You can find a host of articles on line on how to use these different materials for the goal that you want.  Look for articles specifically on weathering in crafts magazines.  In the end, you will just have to feel around for the effect you are looking for.

Find inspiration for your toy locomotive weathering in historical pictures:  

A good thing to do is to watch out for pictures of actual trains from a period and place that has to do with the one that you have created.  Photos from such sites will help you picture your locomotive “in your mind’s eye”.  It helps to ask specific questions like what shade does navy blue become when exposed to Northwestern fog year and year?  What effect does the hot air have on a paint coating of a locomotive that goes through desert conditions day after day? Etc.

The natural world gets weathered too: 

We train lovers often get hyper-focused on our trains to the exclusion of the rest of our layout.  But our locomotives are only as impressive as the worlds they travel through.  The figures and objects in the world too should be appropriately weathered.  The desert sun will fade the paint on buildings and cars just as much as locomotives.  That sort of eye for detail is one of the things that so captures our imagination in model training.

Weathering takes a creative touch.  For this reason it is a wonderful opportunity for drafting members of the family that may not have been into the mechanical/technical aspects of model training but that loves painting and other sorts of crafts.  Someone with a real eye for colors and details can really bring such a design to life.  If your daughter can distinguish between 15 types of pink for her lipstick, she can certainly choose and apply the right weathering to a freight car.  If your son likes to make up cartoon characters to draw on his notebooks he can help highlight the figures in your fictional world.  Draft them to help you.  Aren’t these the sorts of memories you have from when you were young?

Here is more information on Model Railroad Track Plans. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

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Nostalgia: 

Baby boomers grew up with these trains and had their impressions ensconced into their minds even before they developed a notion of their own identities.  They’re the model trains from the holiday displays you remember as a boy.  They’re the o toy railroad that you wished you would wake up to on Christmas morning.  And they’re also likely to be the toy locomotives that you didn’t get because they were too expensive.  Because of this they are also the trains that remained forever in the realm of the wished for. Now that you have become a hobbyist again, they are the trains that are most likely to scratch that long festering itch.

Lionel:  

It was Lionel (now Lionel LLC) that popularized these trains.  Lionel is probably the representative model train making company in the United States.  They have survived more ups and downs than any other train maker and had more face lifts than Elizabeth Taylor’s had husbands. The reason why you associate toy trains with holiday is because of an advertising campaign invented by Lionel in the 1930’s.  It was these strategies that made them the kings of the model training world in the first half of the 1900’s.  It was mainly because Lionel started to corner themselves at the higher tier of the market that the prestigious train maker opened themselves up to usurpers.  By the Vietnam era when model training was at an all time low in terms of American participation, Lionel’s cheaper, littler sized fellow train makers drove it out of business. Now produced in China like most toy locomotive manufacturers, Lionel is ready to make a comeback.  The Lionel brand still retains a certain allure that other long standing train makers like Bachmann don’t.

Weathering and detailing are a breeze with O scale trains:  

Even though O gauge requires a lot more room than HO or N, its size also adds a great host of positives.  O scale model railroads are not as large as the German g scale that appeals to out-doorsy enthusiasts.  Real world trains are 48 times bigger than O gauge model locomotives.  It is a locomotive that is easy to pigment, decal and weather.  You don’t require incredibly fine motor skills so even the least coordinated of young people or most palsied of old folks can work with these locomotives.  Trust me, even when I’ve had one too many lattés and my mits are shaking like leaves in a storm I still have no problems with these locomotives.  Also, because of its dimensions, you can really take in the little aspects of these trains.  The O gauge human miniatures have discernable faces and the locomotives can be detailed to the point of making individual sleeper windows look open or closed. O gauges reputation is well deserved.

Hobbyists appreciate O gauge because of its full tradition:  

Mostly because of Lionel’s long history in American model training O scale is one of the favorite collector’s items.  Vintage Lionel locomotives of bygone eras consistently fetch good prices on e-bay and many toy locomotive enthusiasts like to collect Lionel locomotives from different decades so that they can have a sort of living history of the evolution of toy locomotives. 

But O scale is also a wonder in itself. It does take up more room than other smaller kinds of trains, but this drawback seems well worth it for most of us.  Lionel, because of its wonderful brand identification, is unlikely to fall to its debt troubles.  Even if all Lionel died, it is likely that someone would design a train of this scale.  Just ask the rocker Neal Young who loved O gauge locomotives so much that he was at one point part owner in Lionel and is still kept on an advisor to the company!

Here is more information on Model Train Scale. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.  

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Build model railroad roads like we would build them in real life:

Make roads like in the actual world. Begin with the foundation.  Then use molding plaster to shape a dome over this surface.  The border of the road should be lower than the middle since roads are built to direct rain towards the edges.  A cool tip:  Here’s a real cool effect that I saw recently. This model railroad setup was going for a rural feel so when it made a road that crossed down into the model little prairie house it made it a dirt road.  To get this effect the hobbyist used actual sand. What an effect!

Railroad roads can be detailed too:

Weathering and detailing are indispensable to avid model train hobbyists. Like the paths we traverse in real life, model train roads should be equally beaten up.  You will find that the effect really adds whole new dimensions of realism to your model railway train world.

Pre-fab toy railroad roads:

Even though we train hobbyists really love the result that we get when we design anything on our model locomotive railroad layouts, sometimes it is better to just purchase pre-fabricated roads and streets.  A fast google search on “toy railroad roads and streets” will turn up several good leads.  Walthers Cornerstone is a great little company for HO scale.  They make lots of fantastic structures but I especially like the roads.  I personally also like their brick streets. They are really, really neat.  Walthers also makes several real cool accessories. Check out their line of steel products that they bundle under the title of  “Ashland Iron and Steel”.  If you’re into HO gauge Walthers Cornerstone is good place to go to get your accessories.

The borders of the road are just as important:

Your average sidewalk has pedestrians, stray cats, fire hydrants and street signs and so should yours. The childlike joy of such details is unquestionable! There is a form of awe that we get from looking at the uncannily shrunken that is every bit as powerful as what we get from the Grand Canyon.  Also, if you have a family member that is into the arts but not generally into the whole mechanical or historical aspect of the model railway trains experience, this may be the perfect opportunity to recruit them in the family fun.

Suggestion: Check this product out. Cool little working lamps that really light up lend a lot to a set up. Think of your train set up as a night scene and change the whole nature of your lay out. Soooo cooool!

Model railroad roads are just one of the many parts of the model train world that you can choose to focus your artistic gifts on.  Natural scenery also can really foreground a landscape.  A uneven surface, for example, is far more interesting than a flat one.  Oaks and redwoods and streams and mountain faces all really add to the uncanny feeling that you are looking at a shrunken world. A vintage phone booth, a sheriff’s station, a telegraph line—such historical detail helps paint the picture of the world we are creating.

Here is more information on Model Railway Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.  

Technorati Tags: model railroad accessories, model railroad roads, model railroads, model railway trains

No matter what your vision is, there are many retailers available, both in your neighborhood and online who can help bring it to life.

One thing that you should consider when you design your model landscape is the overall scope you would like to include. Human eyes cannot really take in more than one scene at any given time, so if you want to include more than one setting, you should be sure to separate them with a nice stretch of track that will allow your brain to identify what is coming.

This means that you will not only need enough pieces to establish your multiple settings, but other minor accessories to fit in between the scenes. This could be trees to follow a long stretch between two rural areas or a small patch of mountainside that connects a small country ranch with a nearby town.

These can be very simple things, like a lake with some deer, or a glen of trees near a modest hillside. If you do this properly, everything will flow together smoothly and you will not be overwhelmed by an overabundance of intrusive detail.

You should also try to include different levels of elevation in your model train scenery, both topographically and urbanely. In your cities, you need buildings of different heights, much like in real life. Along your countryside you should form hills, valleys, and mesas perhaps with hidden groves or orchards.

These different levels help your eye to appreciate the perspective of relative space and the overall scale degree to which you have constructed your model. There are even designers who put smaller buildings behind larger ones to create an illusion of distance. The more realistic it seems, the more you and your friends and family will appreciate your hard work.

Technorati Tags: g scale trains, model railroading, model train, model train scenery, model trains, n gauge trains, o gauge trains

What’s so great about Bachmann’s Thomas the Tank Engine starter set?

Four words: Thomas the Tank Engine! 

If the kid is into Thomas the Tank Engine already he’ll just go coo coo over this beginner set.  The starter sets are great for both boys and girls, since they usually include Claribel as well.  But the real thrill for Thomas lovers is watching as Thomas makes his way around the track by himself.  Bachmann really gets it correct, even including the moving eyes that imitate what the little ones are used to on the TV program.

One more word: Bachmann! 

Bachmann is one of the best brands for amateurs just starting in on the model locomotive hobby.  You get everything you need to get going within minutes all bundled in one reasonably priced package.  It includes the locomotives and digital controllers so you can run them easily.  The starter sets also give you enough track to get you started right out of the box and enough options so that you can get exactly what you want.  You couldn’t ask for anything more in a beginner kit. The whole thing can be up in running within minutes of having it out of package.

Still not convinced about Bachmann, Mr. Paranoid?

Bachmann is actually the industry leader when it comes to HO scale starter kits.  Bachmann has remained at the top of the model locomotive world since the 1950’s by undercutting the price of higher end train makers like Lionel while still preserving quality.

The other cool thing about a gift like this is that it’s a gift that your nephew and his dad can grow on.  Model train operating is really a great hobby and once the kid starts to outgrow his Thomas locomotive phase and leaves the island of Sodor behind, he might come to appreciate the more realistic trains that Bachmann and other model train companies have to offer.  There are great learning opportunities for kids who get involved with the model train hobby.  It is great for developing a kid’s geometrical skills, his engineering skills and his imagination.  Model train making and operating is a great hobby in general for growing the mind.  It is also a great bonding experience for parent and child.  Many model locomotive enthusiasts have fond memories of working on model trains with their own moms and dads way back in the day.  In short, it’s the perfect gift!  

Here is more information on Bachmann Model Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

Technorati Tags: Bachmann Model Trains, Bachmann Thomas Train, Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas the Tank Engine Model Trains, Thomas train

A unbalanced surface can’t handle it:

To begin, you don’t want to choose a surface that is weak and that will lean or that can be easily bumped over. You don’t need your trains to stay upright against a the “Big One” but they shouldn’t fall over when the school bus shakes by outside. One horrible moment and your locomotives could be in fragments tossed about the ground. Imagine the possible cost and the time you just trashed! Don’t open yourself up to this setback.  If you’re practiced with your hardware you could fashion this train table yourself.

Cool Tip: Here’s a cool suggestion. Remember that unused ping-pong table that lays forgotten in the basement? Sure you do, it’s the ping pong table that became your new model train table. Ping pong tables are nice and big so they free lots of options for your design.  Think of how complicated you could make your HO track plan on a table of these measurements.  Even if you have a Lionel O or one of those new S gauge trains, you’ll find that you can really do a lot with a table this big.

Portable tables for travel:

Look to shell out a bit for a strong train table. A quick web search will list a gaggle of leads focused on train tables.

Cool suggestion #2: Here’s a room saver: Lower your table from the ceiling.  Want your car port back for your cars?   Attach your table to the ceiling with a pulley device and your problem is overcome.

Interlocking tables:

The best bet when it comes to tables, though, is domino style tables that can be used in any configuration. These tables usually come in 2’ x 4’ cuts that can be fastened in any direction so that you can make really long pieces by connecting the thin sides or you can make wider tables by connecting the 4’ to 4’ sides.  What these great domino tables let you to do most however is to grow your train layout in any way that you would like.  Unlike other types of tables that force you to change your design to match their dimensions, these tables allow you to control the limits of your layout. The light weight design is ideal for model train lovers.  If you want to take your model train down in the basement, you can just carry the table down to your work area.  If you want to take this over to your brother’s house to show his kids your track, it is light enough to be hauled.  They are so easy to reconfigure that you might actually have difficulty keeping to one track plan.

And these tables can grow with your model training experience letting you expand your surface setup along with your developing toy railroad layout.

Here is more information on N Scale Model Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

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2’ x 4’ N model railroad layout:

This is the smallest layout that we can use for these little trains.  We could set it up on the coffee table if this is all the space we’re going to use.  If we do this layout though, we are really limited to just having the trains go around in a circle. The only other choices would be a figure 8 or concentric circles.

Pre-fab n scale scenic highlights:

N-scale is so small it is hard to work with. Craftwork is not really feasible for these little guys but don’t worry, several companies offer lines of pre-fab accessories.  A good way of adding interest to your n-model railroad layout is to purchase some of these and add them to your layout. Atlas is a good first stop for these accessories.

Square setup:

A square 3’ x 3’ hobby space will really open up fun possibilities.  I’ve seen some pretty interesting designs for a space of this size and larger. Try a peak at the center of your setup with your train circling around it.  This makes for a really captivating scene in a really tight space.  I wouldn’t advise trying it in a space any smaller than this however.  The attempts I’ve seen to do this just don’t really work.

Add systematically to your track area:

A good way of constructing your design is to add incrementally to it.  You could begin with a simple 2’ x 4’ design and then add to it so that it is a 2’ by 8’ long island type configuration and then turn it into an “L” shape, etc., etc..  You might extend a river so that it is at the center and then have your track criss-cross it as it moves down the table. Use your imagination to come up with captivating detail.  Little ruins or perhaps a delapadated castle by the side of a tributary can really make for a varied and captivating scenic experience.

N scale gives you the most variations for the least amount of space. Challenge yourself to let your imagination overcome the physical limitations of your space.  If you find a particular landscape fascinating, build it.  Others are likely to find it captivating as well.

Here is more information on N Scale Model Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

Technorati Tags: model train layouts, model trains, N Model Railroad Layout, n scale model railroad layouts, n scale model trains, toy trains

Model Train Software to help plan your layout:  

One of the great products you can track down on the internet is the layout visualization and planning software. lots of programs allow you to consider the spatial limitations of your play area and use them to think through your track design ahead of time.  Some of the software also help you by offering default base tracks as spring boards that can then be built on to fit your individual space. The space age graphics of the layout planning software even help you to view your prospective model in life-like eye popping graphics!  It’s a pretty indispensible tool, especially if you were born without the gene for spatial imagination like me.

Model Train Software to help detail your model train and its landscape:  

Another really good bit of software is one of these programs that allow you to print out and sometimes to even individualize the details for your trains and landscape.  So if you want to make one of the buildings in your little town seem as if it made out of red bricks, you just print out a sheet of red bricks and then paste it onto the building to create the façade that you are looking for. To create the lettering in the font and size that you fits your train’s specific type and design, you just select the style you want, print it, and decal it on your locomotive.  The software allows you to change the sizes and to customize the styles so that they are unique to your needs. Pre-fab decals will go the way of the dodo.  It opens up far more options for you to individualize your model train empire.

Model Train Software will soon be able to help you with signaling:  

One of the most intriguing developing stories in the model train field is the current effort to create a Java based computer controlled signaling system.  Such a system would allow hobbyists to control their complex multi-train tracks and accessories from Windows or other common platforms on their computer.  This would take the mystery out of signaling for those that have never been able to fully grasp the more technical aspects of this part of model training. Wow.  You could just control your entire model train layout right from the comfort of your laptop.  No more fussing with the signaling box. I certainly know it would help me.

I can see that you finally see a couple of helpful features in your PC. I am willing to bet these won’t be the last computer innovations we’ll want to know about. There is no getting around the important effects that computer technology have had in the world| of real trains.

Here is more information on Model Railway Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

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Try a simple loop format to begin with:  It doesn’t get simpler than this. Around and around it goes like water in a whirlpool.  This works great for the limitations of a 4’ x 8’ space. Don’t let the interior space stay unused. This setup begs for a little model metropolis at the center. Add small details like hills to the central space to spice this basic track plan up.

Just like in ice skating, a figure eight can be simple yet elegant: Don’t underestimate the figure eight. The symbol for infinity is a nice little plan. The figure 8 divides the space into four distinct areas where you can still add decorative detail to the landscape by setting up little buildings and other landscape features.

Concentric tracks also work well:  A loop within a loop works better than you might think at first. You could perhaps have two trains, one on the interior and one on the outside track. Although a train yard usually brings this setup together, you might try a period specific town at its center instead.

Two train tracks:  Another way of adding interest to this set-up is to have two separate trains, one on the interior and one on the exterior of the track   Now it’s a contest to see which little train will draw the most interest. Don’t bother with extra decoration, there’s a war on.

Using N Scale trains increases your track possibilities greatly:  To get more bang for your buck in terms of space, use n-scale trains.  These miniature locomotives are just one 160^th the size of real trains. With these guys you will no longer be trapped into the three types of formats I have mentioned. You can add interest to your layout and variation to your landscape. Try a little city at one pole and a lush forrest on the other. But, of course, n-scale is virtually microscopic to the point of eye strain.

Whatever you choose to do with your 4’ x 8’ space, don’t let the area definitions limit your imagination. Space limitations are the perennial problem in model training but the puzzle solving aspect of this can be quite enjoyable.  Some of the most captivating model train setups I have seen were in spaces where you would never have thought to make a model train layout in the first place.

Here is more information on Model Train Information. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.  

Technorati Tags: 4' x 8' model railroad, model train information, model train layouts, model trains

Start by choosing the area your toy locomotive will reside in:

Recall that the more area you have the more options you give yourself for expanding your empire.  Be aware there are some simple location requirements under which you really won’t be able to build any track at all.  Your tracks need their elbow room for turns.  Too sharp a turn and you will have constant derailments, so don’t attempt to do too much in too little of a location.

What is the minimum location?  

Alright, well here are the extreme minimum requirements for location.  You can never get too huge but you can definitely get too small.  So here they are: If you have the little guys, N size trains, you will need at least a 2’ x 4’ area.  If you have HO models like one of the many beginner kits made by Bachmann, then you’ll need a 4’ x 8’ space.  If you you’re into those O scale Lionel locomotives, you’ll need an 8’ x 16’ area.  Don’t even bother penning up those G scales inside—they should go out in your back yard with the other wild things.  You’ll only be capable of doing the most simple designs with these minimums.  If you want more than a fundamental oval then the price is more real estate.  You should really think of them as a starting point and not a goal.

What can you do within these fundamental requirements? 

There are 3 basic designs that work in these spaces.   The oval shape is the most common and straight forward setup for most beginning model train enthusiasts.  You leave the inside usused like a donut hole or fill it with a creamy mountain or jelly model city and then just wrap a circuit around the edges.  Think Matterhorn at Disneyland with the Disneyland Monorail circling around it.  The version I saw was fairly successful for what it was trying to do.  The second option is to have a figure 8.  It divides the circuit into four areas, though none really leaves much room to do much.  But if you’re mainly into watching the locomotives go round this is a wonderful track.  Like the pebble dropped in a pond effect?  Then concentric circles is your setup.  Most beginners end up making this into a locomotive yard and then expanding outward from this seed.

Any other suggestions for rookies?  

My giant suggestion would be that you use what are called domino tables.  With these tables you can configure your display space to any shape you can imagine.  Since we often change our minds as we expand our tracks, these tables are a God send.  Wife bothering you about what an eye sore your circuit has become? Just move it.  It’s no huge deal with hobby tables.  So you’ll still be able to park your car in the garage.

Just remember the usual cliché; a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.  Most complications that you dream up never really materialize, while the complications you’re not even thinking of can really cripple a train project. But figuring out a solution to a seemingly untenable complication can be half the fun of model locomotives.  So why are you still here? Get going!   

Here is more information on Model Train Track. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.

Technorati Tags: model train layouts, model train track, model train track design, track plans for model railroads, track plans for model trains