It’s every thing to do with the O gauge:  Part of the explanation why Lionel fell from power in the post World War II era can be explained by the scale of its trains. Lionel trains were usually in O gauge, but with the expansion of model training in the 50’s more and more middle class model train hobbyists began to purchase trains for smaller spaces.  Real world trains are only 48 times the size of O scale model trains.  This was simply too great of a space requirement, so fans turned to HO scale which only required a 4’ x 8’ space.  Lionel’s failure to stay in tune with changing times is what cost it and what makes its odd scale a real draw for enthusiasts these days.

Lionel calls up long lost recollections:  Because Lionel has survived for so long and was so popular in yesteryear it is one of the favorites of collectors. We cannot under estimate the nostalgia that Lionel inspires. These are, after all, the hobby trains they were raised on or would like to have grown up on. Lionel’s trains seem never to break and so they’ve survived its lean years time capsulled in craft and second hand stores.

You’ll find no lack of manuals and news items on Lionel:  Lionel’s got its own little subset of devoted enthusiasts including the rocker Neil Young. There are two types of books on Lionel.  First, there are books that are specifically focused on to getting you started with model training using Lionel O gauge trains.  Second, there are several books that focus on the many repackagings of Lionel trains from the early days to the present.

Finally, Lionel is popular because they just made good trains:  Ahh, the engineering of Lionel trains!  Larger than most other trains, they are ideal for detailing and decaling and weathering. The size of Lionel trains make it a favorite among people who love to paint and detail model trains. Hobbyists also love that the trains are so big and so bold.  You simply can’t miss a Lionel train.

For the reasons that I have mentioned above, it is unlikely that Lionel O gauge trains will fall out of favor any time soon. It’s hard to contemplate the model train world without Lionel. Lionel never disappoints.

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

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It’s almost as much designing a toy railroad metropolis as it is the circuit design: 

First of all, a miniature toy railroad metropolis is just great to have for its own merits.  Just as we are directed to sky lines in the real world so are we drawn to them in toy train track design]s.  We love to look on the tiny people going about their days in their miniature make believe world.  I personally love the miniature details like the signs and storefront lettering.  They really draw me in. 

A toy railroad town provides great contrast for the trains: 

Having a building next to the road creates yet another way of framing your model trains.  So if you place a large building right next to the circuit, when your train moves by, the contrast between the building and the train will add a sense of space and depth that might otherwise be missing. A model railroad metropolis will add exponentially to the realism of your toy locomotives.

A toy railroad city is a good way of adding historical detail to your model train lay out:  

A good way of sneaking some history into your toy locomotive fun is to create a historically coherent set up.  So if you have a locomotive that is specific to the late 19^th century you can have your metropolis be a Southwestern boomtown, having telegraph lines, cowboys, 49’ers and saloons.  It really let’s you create a great miniature fictional setting for your train.  But this is also a setting that tells the watcher about the period of time that the locomotives were operating in.  You can sneak in history as a Trojan horse past your kid’s defenses.

Got a budding Michelangelo in the family? You’ve discovered the aspect of the model train hobby that will they can really get with: 

If you have some members of the family that aren’t that into toy trains but that enjoy drawing and painting, this is the ideal opportunity to draft them.  All those miniature artistic touches that bring a model locomotive world together and that drive your logical mind crazy, your tiny Rembrandt will find a joy.  Just watch in wonder as their precise tiny brush strokes bring out details you couldn’t even envision but that now seem so obvious locomotive design you will definitely want to leave an area for a toy railroad city.  It will be sure to add yet another compelling aspect to your toy train empire!

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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Use locomotives as a subtle vehicle for the past:

Try to make your track plan time and place specific. Imagine a track design that is set during Reconstruction in the American Southwest.  You can feign ignorance and get your boys and girls to “help” you figure out what would make for correct scenic details to your setup.  Imagine stringing up a long row of telegraph poles next to your track to depict the communications system of the time.  Or they might create a vibrant town near the tracks to represent the boom cities that were the winners in the railroad speculation game.  Maybe even have a few washed out prospectors still panning for gold in the nearby stream.

Historic toy locomotives are also a good alternative to the usual diorama or scale model:  

You might also manage to talk your youngster’s history teacher into allowing him to bring in a historic toy locomotive lay out in place of the usual boring diorama.  A static diorama really can’t compete with the dynamic movement of a historic model locomotive layout.  Just imagine, for example, adding a model train display to your youngster’s essay on Jesse James.  As your period specific locomotive rounds the curve there are Jesse and his whole gang just waiting to attack and continue his wrong headed crusade.  It’s sure to be a success!

Visit Historic locomotive Locales:  

There are also a few toy train museums and other locomotive related historic sites where you can see historic toy locomotives and some real trains as well.  If your local historic locomotive site doesn’t have toy trains consider suggesting they incorporate some to the curator or manager of the site.  Some rolling exhibits may come around as well. Just keep your ears pricked and you are sure to come across one sooner or later.

Whatever you decide to do, you will find that toy trains are a door to the past even if you don’t explicitly use them as such.  Even if you just do model training without even considering the educational possibilities you will inevitably instill a greater sense of historical knowledge simply by handling these little mechanical doorways to the past.  

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

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Just throw it on the floor like your laundry in college:  

The lazy solution is to just leave it on the ground.  This preserves the time and trouble of getting or making a hobby table, but it is not very good for tinier locomotives.  Bending over and kneeling down do not make for the best hobbying experiences for adults.  The bird’s eye view of the tinier gauges foregrounds the weaknesses of theses locomotives.  It also addes to the chances of taking unexpected slips when you accidentally step on your trains.  You really need a display hobby locomotive surface for the HO and smaller variety locomotives.  Even O locomotives look better on a train table.

Pre-existing shelves, the fortunate lazy man’s option  

If you’re really fortunate there is a location in your house that is already elevated and large enough that it can play a dual role as display area.  This natural shelf answers the problem of line of sight perhaps and if you are extremely fortunate can find the perfect place for our toy trains.  This is certainly better than putting your locomotives on the carpet for the visual aspect of things.  You might try to fool yourself into believing that you have found the perfect spot but think of the problem aspects of this arrangement.  These spaces tend to be too small for a hobby train layout and they tend not to be configured in the right way.  So, such spots dictate a host of limitations to your toy training.  This is never a good way to grow your model train empire.

Another fortunate possibility is that you happen to have a spare area just lying around somewhere:  

Some hobby trainers just use an old table they had lying around unused.  This helps in that you can carry it to the spot you would like, but the majority of tables that are not specifically built for toy training have other problems.  Not only are many such tables wobbly, but you still have to adjust your train display to fit with the pre-existing measurements of your area rather than the other way around.

A table that screams “I’m cheap but I know the value of hard work crafting”:  

For the make-it-from-scratch crowd, nothing is better than creating and building a display area themselves.  It is incredibly satisfying to design a table that exactly matches the precise requirements of our track plan.  You can also really give your locomotive surface some unique personality in this manner.  This isn’t for everyone.  If you aren’t that into making furniture then you’ll want to avoid trying this.  Just as large of a drawback is the fact that such tables tend to be permanently one size and as your hobby training empire expands you have to go through the trouble of building yet another surface to increase your surface area.  Also, if you are pressed for time, this will really add a substantial amount of time that you have to spend getting ready before you even start your actual model locomotiveing.  I won’t put down homemade tables except to say that if your engineering talents don’t extend beyond model locomotives, trying to build a surface can really be a black hole of time and effort that you may not have much to show for on the other side.

Hobby tables, the option if for those who are willing to shell out the clams:

There are these special kind of hobby table that is just perfect for hobby locomotiveing.  They are called “domino” tables because that can be connected on any side to form any shape, no matter how idiosyncratic the shape.  The tables also can be adjusted to sit at more than one height so that you can customize it to the specifics of the surroundings you’ll be displaying your locomotive setup in.  They let you realize your mental plan as you saw it.  Also, because they are lightweight they can more easily be moved out of the way and since they can easily be changed and added to as you see fit, they can grow with your model training ambitions.  You can also more easily transport your table if you want to show your design around.  For this reason, these areas are really the best decision for toy locomotive displays.

With your area decision out of the way you are now free to really embark on your hobby locomotive adventure.  Good lucky and happy hobbying!   

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 accessories, model train table, model train track, model 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

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.

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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.  

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Two words, “American Flyer”:  

This line of locomotives has entered the hall of fame of toy locomotives.  Nostalgia explains a lot.  American Flyer’s s gauge trains had their hey-day right after World War II when the baby boomers were starting to sprout up.  This was in large part an attempt to challenge Lionel who was the king of the roost through the 50’s. S scale is an “inbetween” scale, way huger than HO but smaller than Lionel’s O.  S scale is one 64^th the size of a real train whereas Lionel’s O scale is one 48^th the size.   These are still pretty substantial trains but not so much so that you would have to have them only outside. These locomotives are a lot of fun to color and weather.

S gauge is not common:  

Since American Flyer pretty much created s scale and then went out of business shortly after, you don’t stumble across it much.  A.C. Gilbert, who ran American Flyer at the time, manufactured this gauge as an attempt to make a line of trains that would keep up with Lionel by producing high quality locomotives that weren’t interchangeable with Lionel locomotives. That means there are not that many vintage s scale American Flyer trains.   Because of the law of supply and demand, American Flyers brief life span has increased the demand for their parts and sets.   The nature of this devotion has just made the trains that much more valuable.

American Flyers are about to enter the market again:  

American Flyer’s arch-enemy Lionel bought them out in the 60’s and is now looking to resurrect both brands by re-introducing the vintage 1950’s toys that are so cherished by collectors.  The fantastic success of these releases has driven Lionel to commit to reproduce the s scale locomotives that avid fans are so in love with.  It might not be long before we have to make room for s gauge as yet another main scale in the model training world.

Now’s the instant to put your chips down if you want to cash in early on this tip.  If you want to say “I told you so” to your model train friends you should jump in now.  Don’t say I didn’t give you a heads up later on. It’s like the coffee house fad of the early 90s.  And you said no one would ever pay more just for some coffee. 

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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Get a solid Model Train Table:  

Having your tracks on the floor is a disastrous idea. You look proficient with your tools so you could probably design the surface yourself. There’s lots of drawbacks to living with a setup that are permanently fixed to one location.  If possible we want to have a unattached display area that we can haul as when necessary. Perfect hobby tables can be located by just doing a simple search on the internet.  These tables are designed to link to each other so that you can fill almost any space as you desire and so that if you have second thoughts about your design later, they are easily altered into new shapes and into new sizes. Sturdy, light, easily movable—they’re everything you want in display table. Portability may also be significant if you ever would like to motor your layout to a model train convention. If you relocate, being able to keep your set up roughly as is can also be a big relief.

Keep your HO model train layout simple:  

Don’t attempt to do too much with such a small area.  You fundamentally have a choice between three separate designs: a simple oval, a figure 8 or concentric circles. They’re all about equal in regards to pros and cons. If you love creating model cities the basic donut shape leaves you the most options. The focus will fall largely on the craft and artwork involved in your buildings. A figure 8 leaves you less space for crafting topographical features and structures and places the focus back on your model. Concentric circles tends to be the golden mean between the first two layouts.  Model train fans often place a rail yard with such a design and just use other model trains.  You can also add other locomotives to your roundhouse in the middle to really freshen up this set up. These are all good starting set ups and none of them shut out any future layout possibilities. The figure 8 is the least conducive to future expansion.

Use the angle of display to conjure a enhanced sense of size:

The corner of your layout forms an apex to a triangular viewpoint that can really maximize the sense of depth if used well.  This effect can be further maximized by decaling cardboard or plywood walls extending from the back corner of your layout with fading mountain ranges and a smattering of clouds.

Finally, use accessories like buildings and uneven topography to conjure a greater sense of contrast:  

Have you ever noticed how when you see one object next to another the contrast points out new aspects of both of them? If you work this effect right you will really enhance the viewing experience.

Don’t think of this first step as the final stage of your model train experience but just as the first step in the journey.  As you become more accustomed to the joys of model train design, construction and decoration you will find many imaginative novel ways to add to this basic design.

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

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