Introductions

[rswinnerton]

Very nice Grampy! I like it!
Russ

[JDouglasFisher]

Since its fashion for everyone to introduce themselves, let me introduce who I am and how I came to be here.

32 year old former tow truck driver, turned politicist, blogger, jack of all trades, energy independence supporter, activist, and railroad lover.

Unlike most people, I do not have 1 or a few specific railroads that I particularly enjoy, I have many. Thus far I have modeled the Burlington Northern, Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, CNJ, and a tiny bit of Conrail in HO Scale.

Took a hiatus for a couple years because of work, moves, time constrants etc.

When I decided that I needed a break from fighting the Eastern Front (I play as Soviets when our group plays Flames of War, nothing like a horde of T-34's dashing across the barren Russian steppe towards German Panzer 4's, flanking with some SU-122's and calling in IL-2 Shturmoviks for Air Support .) The model railroad bug was biting at my ankles.

But before I purchased anything, I was seriously thinking out 2 problems:

1.) what railroad(s) to model
2.) a switch in scales.

Dealing with problem #1

For a long time I faced a dilemma, as to what railroad I wanted to model. Round and round I go, researching many different carriers, not truly satisfied with any one of them.

Then I came across an article written by Russel Schoof, "Come and Go Layout Design". Although the premise of the article was to build a layout based on one specific town, It gave me an idea, what if my focus weren't specific to a railroad, but rather to a town or towns which had some interesting operation?

The rail carrier at that point wouldn't matter, it was the town and operations that mattered. This freed me up of obligation to 1 specific railroad, and I wouldn't feel guilt if I decided to change direction a year later. Ed K's thoughts on selling his door layout just strengthened my idea to build a door layout around a specific are, and once bored with it, sell it and the equipment, to do something different.

Now, instead of having a laundry list of railroads from which I must choose only 1 or 2, it has become a punch list of which railroad do I wish to model first? To give you a glimpse, heres an example

1.) Maine Central in the late 50's, as well as the early 80's (pre-guilford)
2.) Delaware Lackawanna and Western, Late 50's.
3.) Chessie System, early 80's.
4.) Reading Lines, 1975
5.) The Monon, 1970
6.) The Original Norfolk Southern
7.) The Interstate Railroad (pre southern rwy, plus an "alternate history")
8.) The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh division of the Baltimore and Ohio, 1950's
9.) The PRR's Elmira Branch, late 50's through 1965
10.) New York, Ontario and Western, circa 1957

As you can see, its rather eclectic, and scattered interest, not only geographically, but also spans several decades. With a smart implementation of freight car fleet purchases, the fleet could cover several different uses, only requiring the sale of locomotives, cabooses and a small train of cars along with the layout.

Dealing with Problem #2

The second problem was deciding whether or not I wanted to stick with HO Scale. I HO Scale for many reasons, but for us apartment dwellers, its size becomes a burden. For a while I was thinking of S scale, which is larger, but is considered a better scale in terms of operation, however its costs are astronomical and I felt that the return on investment wouldn't be there.

It was several months before I decided on N scale. I polled many N scale groups, trying to get an answer to one simple question: Can you perform switching in N scale. Almost all cases, the answer was either "no" or that "switching" was subjective. It wasn't until I decided to reach out to Bill Denton, who built the Milwaukee Road's Kingsbury Branch in N scale that I got a straight forward and honest answer. He explained that although your track has to be decent, and your equipment up to par, yes you can do heavy switching in the scale. That sold me on the idea.

(I should also note the Leo Bicknell's Reality Reduced episode regarding the McHenry coupler also reaffirmed my suspicions recently, great show, should be on channel 13, PBS.)

With scale decided, I've been playing around 2 basic concepts recently

A.) Spacial Relations of N scale track components.
B.) Door Layouts

I've been playing with Atlas' Right Track Software, as its free and I've always used Atlas in the past in HO Scale. Nothing against the other manufacturers, but Atlas has always done me well in model railroading, and I like sticking with winners that are proven. Just have to become familiar with the new radi and centerline spacing with the new scale. Should learn quickly with some time and experience.

As for Door Layouts, I've always liked 4x6's, 4x8's, 5x9's and shelf layouts in HO Scale. Although continuous run isn't my main focus, I do like watching them run laps on occasion. With the smaller scale, and the idea of using hollow core doors as a platform to build upon, benchwork becomes an overnighter, not a month long project in and of itself. I expect the first couple layouts to be 1 door versions, though I plan on experimenting with 2 doors in L shape configs, wider doors (36 inches) or perhaps narrow bi-fold closet doors for extensions. Really a cheap and modular idea that should be explored further than it has in my opinion, and a good selling point to new modelers.

I landed here after visiting Ed K's site. I've been member to quite a few yahoogroups and forums over the years, and my experiences were mixed. (some good, some bad, and some indifferent) I admit to having stayed in stealth mode for a bit before I signed up here, not sure what to expect. But after seeing that this is a very good group of modelers, who know how to poke some fun, and realize its just a hobby, I joined. I only hope that this forum stays high quality while membership increases. I've seen some boards go from great to horrible in the course of a year because of an increase in membership and lack of moderation.

Thats my $2.67 cents worth, now everyone knows who I am.

J. Douglas Fisher

[wm3798]

Welcome to the fold, Doug.  I think you'll like it here.  Your among a lot of door layout aficionados, too.  We look forward to seeing your results.
Lee

[joe935]

Hi My name is Joe. Returned to N_Scale about 3 years ago after a long absence. If you like you can check out my layout here:
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/joe935/

[PM-CN-IOX]

I'm new here too, and new to N scale... found here on the tip of a friend.

Modellingwise, my plan is to model an area around Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan: the Pere Marquette line from Sarnia to Courtright (and perhaps on a bit further, maybe to Wallaceburg), the Canada Southern from Courtright to Oil City, including the branches to Petrolia and Oil Springs, and CN just for a short hop from Sarnia to Camlachie. Key here besides the PM line are the Imperial Oil fields at Petrolia and the Sarnia refinery. THEN, there's the other side of the river: Port Huron as a (could be independent, even) switching layout with PM, GTW and Michigan Central, and the PM secondary line north from Port Huron to Applegate, and maybe the branch off that line to Sandusky. A large area, I know...

...but I have an idea as to how to (eventually) get it all together as a layout. I'm thinking very modular here, with each town/yard/industrial complex (besides Imperial Oil there's Dominion Salt and Polymer Corp. in Sarnia, too) being on its own independent module of a size appropriate for the setting; Sarnia itself I'm foreseeing as a few separate modules: the CN yard, Imperial Oil, Dominion Salt, Polymer Corp., the CN riverfront Yard, perhaps the train ferries, the tunnel station and entrance. A similar concept would apply to Port Huron. These, and the various smaller town/whatever modules would be connected by narrow (wide enough for trackage and a bit of scenery - say about 6", wider if there's some shack or shanty near the track, or a level crossing. Then during operations, a train from say Courtright to Petrolia would leave the Courtright module onto the "open line" eastbound; it could then stop for an appropriate amount of time on the linking track (to represent more accurately the transit time) before continuing on to the Kimball module; do its thing there, then move to the next linking track, hold, then at the right time go onto the Petrolia Junction module. Et cetera, et cetera. This is all just a rather ephemeral theory in my head at the moment, but I think it could be made to work. Scenery in my mind is a "necessary evil", and instead of scenicking vast swaths of agricultural land or forest, I'd rather cut that down to the essential minimum (and saving space, too!), and concentrate on building accurate equipment and structures, and then having more accurate operations within yards and industrial switching areas.

[cv_acr]

PM-CN-IOX: Interesting layout plan, and that's my old stomping ground. Born and raised in Sarnia, before going to the University of Guelph and deciding to stay here.

[JDouglasFisher]

Just a word of warning to the new members,

these guys are a real gas at times, you might end up with a belly ache laughing so hard...

J..........

[davidone]

Hi my name is Dave, i started out in N scale in the 70's and then went to O scale in the late 70's and came back to N scale after downsizing my home about 3 years ago. I don't model any specific prototype. I just love to run my favorite trains, especially steam engines  on my layout. I came to railwire because of people that are on it. I lurked for some time and now have decided to join this fine group.

Dave

[csolivais1979]

Tom:

    My name is Chad and I am just getting in to model railroading. I am just starting to make my first layout so wish me luck!

[DKS]

My name is Chad and I am just getting in to model railroading. I am just starting to make my first layout so wish me luck!

Chad, good luck! And welcome to the funny farm.

[dmc92311]

Hi my name is David,  I live in Barstow CA.  I have been interested in trains since i was 4 or 5. My better half suggested i get a hobby, So I went N scale.. I am  a member of avnscalers (avnscalers.org) who do module layouts.  I have a layout at home that is in the making it is 9 feet wide by 17ft long with a walkway in the middle. Both wired for DCC or DC I am running 3 rails right now and am planning on my second level for the mountain Division.  I found this forum by just searching the internet for Block Detection, ( I am working on automation of my track). So far there is a lot of GOOD stuff on this forum.

Thanks again for a GREAT Board

David C

[tom mann]

Welcome everyone!

[milepost48]

hallo,

I'm following the forum for some weeks now and thought to give it a go. I live in Belgium and I am busy with trains for 48 years. I went through practical every scale. :

Now I'm in O and HO scale. Together with 2 friends I have built a modular HO layout set in the late seventies that we show on exhibitions.

I'm building a tiny O scale switching layout with material I will paint in my own company paint scheme of the South Chicago Industrial.

I will post some pics of the HO layout and from some cars I have already painted for my O scale.


Paul

[davefoxx]

hallo,

I'm following the forum for some weeks now and thought to give it a go. I live in Belgium and I am busy with trains for 48 years. I went through practical every scale. :

Now I'm in O and HO scale. Together with 2 friends I have built a modular HO layout set in the late seventies that we show on exhibitions.

I'm building a tiny O scale switching layout with material I will paint in my own company paint scheme of the South Chicago Industrial.

I will post some pics of the HO layout and from some cars I have already painted for my O scale.


Paul

Paul,

Welcome to the Railwire!  Please feel free to post often, whether you are asking for information or able to answer questions.  I like to think of this forum as a vast trading post for facts- some of it correct.    Seriously, there is a ton of experience here that I like to tap into, and I try to give back where I can.  Keep us posted on the progress of your layouts and send pictures, regardless of scale.

Dave Foxx

[Midniteflyer]

Have just been lurking here for sometime, thought i better registyer and maybe show some of my novice work. My name is Marc. i model "N" the NATUARL scale.