Is anyone here involved on model railroading?


GALTGULCH8

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My grandson loves trains but is too young for serious modeling.

Still I began to wonder if there might be someone here in the hobby. After all our heroine is vice president of operations of a transcontinental railroad!

It has advanced so much in my life time what with DCC (Digital Command Control) and the like.

It is certainly more expensive than when I was in my youth.

Just thought I would mention this here to see if anyone has any experience with the railroading hobby.

Gg

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My grandson loves trains but is too young for serious modeling.

Still I began to wonder if there might be someone here in the hobby. After all our heroine is vice president of operations of a transcontinental railroad!

It has advanced so much in my life time what with DCC (Digital Command Control) and the like.

It is certainly more expensive than when I was in my youth.

Just thought I would mention this here to see if anyone has any experience with the railroading hobby.

Gg

Lionel, or, HO?

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1) Not in the last 60 years, Does that count.

2) Paradoxically, the train systems in Europe (at least Western Europe). that carry passengers are very modern, comfortable, fast, efficient, (AND electric! Just like Lionel!) in contrast to the U.S. Amtrak. See, that's what you get in social(ist) democratic utopias: extremely high gas prices, mostly tiny cars, motorscooters, not motorcycles (In Rome, anyway), socialized medicine, and great passenger trains. All this for only 70-90% tax rate What's not to like? (Oh, and a McDonald's quarter pounder in Copenhagen starts at $14 Euros)..

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1) Not in the last 60 years, Does that count.

2) Paradoxically, the train systems in Europe (at least Western Europe). that carry passengers are very modern, comfortable, fast, efficient, (AND electric! Just like Lionel!) in contrast to the U.S. Amtrak. See, that's what you get in social(ist) democratic utopias: extremely high gas prices, mostly tiny cars, motorscooters, not motorcycles (In Rome, anyway), socialized medicine, and great passenger trains. All this for only 70-90% tax rate What's not to like? (Oh, and a McDonald's quarter pounder in Copenhagen starts at $14 Euros)..

You might say the Socialists made the trains run on time.

Ba'al Chatzaf

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My wife made a deal with a salesman in a model railroad store to buy a Lionel starter train so there is that which now occupies the outer rim of a standard piece of plywood covered with a thin green i/o carpet. I added a couple of switches and a few more pieces of track which comes already attached to ballast which facilitates a tight connection. Runs by remote control with a bell or a horn sound too! The two year old loves it.

Inside that is an HO oval and inside that are two ovals of N gauge the cars and engines of which are adorable. Lots more cars and engines available on EBay for auction purchase. Can be addictive!

Its a several billion dollar industry now. Every step is a challenge from the infrastructure or benchwork to design of layout to operation so it has been fun so far.

Still read every spare minute plus exercise.

Doesn't appear anyone else here so far dabbles in this hobby. I haven't decided to stick with one guage over another but will attempt to incorporate the three, O, HO and N, as unrealistic as that may appear.

gg

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

IMG_6874_zps77fc5f44.jpg

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

I also have a bicycle pedal powered engine but it doesn't have any brakes yet.

I also did a little bit of modeling in HO scale, but didn't get very far once I started building the one in the yard.

Greg

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When I was a kid, I hated my Lionel Electric Train Set. It had this ridiculous third rail track down the middle. Bah!

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

IMG_6874_zps77fc5f44.jpg

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

Greg

Excellent work. My compliments.

Love the stone paths, I have built many up in Pennsylvania and anywhere else I have lived.

We used slate for some of ours in PA.. However, they do have a potentially slight "slip" problem in light rain.

A...

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

IMG_6874_zps77fc5f44.jpg

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

Greg

Excellent work. My compliments.

Love the stone paths, I have built many up in Pennsylvania and anywhere else I have lived.

We used slate for some of ours in PA.. However, they do have a potentially slight "slip" problem in light rain.

A...

It took a year and a half and a fair amount of engineering to lay those rails. And except for the scale (1:8), it's like building a real railroad.

IMG_6802_zps7e34821a.jpg

But it's so much fun. I love mechanical things. The grade is insane, 7% in places so the little pull cart needed a lot of leverage and all wheel drive to work.

That stone path is actually on site cast concrete and is extremely rough, and my wife did it. She's also a mechanic like me. :wink:

IMG_6842_zps36791572.jpg

She also built the stone retaining wall along the fence.

Greg

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Very nice. You must have truly enjoyed the scene when Dagny is in the value** valley and she starts to visually plan the small gauge railroad that would transport Francisco's copper ore to another place in the valley to be processed.

Those blue "cross ties" [?] that are adjustable look really efficient. Is that a levelling device on top of it?

Now the key question?

How did you get the power drill to learn to levitate in the turn by the wall?

**wow, now there was a Maslowian Bra!

A...

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Very nice. You must have truly enjoyed the scene when Dagny is in the value** valley and she starts to visually plan the small gauge railroad that would transport Francisco's copper ore to another place in the valley to be processed.

Those blue "cross ties" [?] that are adjustable look really efficient. Is that a levelling device on top of it?

IMG_6802_zps7e34821a.jpg

The three bars slipped over the tops of the rails are precisely sized to retain the proper gauge while attaching the rails to the ties. The small black piece on top of the ties, but underneath the rails incorporates the baseplates upon which the rails rest. The baseplates cant the rails a few degrees towards the center of the right of way to provide the proper relationship to the profile of the train wheels. After the rails have been screwed onto the ties, the center section is cut out to leave the baseplates.

IMG_6835_zps50d6946f.jpg

Now the key question?

How did you get the power drill to learn to levitate in the turn by the wall?

**wow, now there was a Maslowian Bra!

A...

It doesn't show up in the picture, but the demolition hammer has a spade attachment on it with the spade stuck into the ground. There's a lot of digging involved in installing the right of way, and our ground is really rocky. I also used the same tool with a chisel tip to jackhammer out a 12'x24' basement under the house. It took a year.

IMG_4859.jpg

Greg

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

IMG_6874_zps77fc5f44.jpg

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

Greg

Excellent work. My compliments.

Love the stone paths, I have built many up in Pennsylvania and anywhere else I have lived.

We used slate for some of ours in PA.. However, they do have a potentially slight "slip" problem in light rain.

A...

It took a year and a half and a fair amount of engineering to lay those rails. And except for the scale (1:8), it's like building a real railroad.

IMG_6802_zps7e34821a.jpg

But it's so much fun. I love mechanical things. The grade is insane, 7% in places so the little pull cart needed a lot of leverage and all wheel drive to work.

That stone path is actually on site cast concrete and is extremely rough, and my wife did it. She's also a mechanic like me. :wink:

IMG_6842_zps36791572.jpg

She also built the stone retaining wall along the fence.

Greg

That is some serious handiwork. I remember watching a video of you(?) using the tracks. Until then, I didn't know people actually used those tracks. I thought it was all just for show, lol.

I think I'll just stick to sound production and editing, lol.

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That is some serious handiwork.

It's just playing around compared to building our house. I enjoy doing mechanical things.

I remember watching a video of you(?) using the tracks. Until then, I didn't know people actually used those tracks. I thought it was all just for show, lol.

It's a lot of fun because the steep grade makes it almost as much a rollercoaster as a railroad. This was the first manned run. (I like to clown around :wink:)

And this is what the pedal engine looks like.

Greg

I think I'll just stick to sound production and editing, lol.

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My grandson loves trains but is too young for serious modeling.

Still I began to wonder if there might be someone here in the hobby.

Not for many years, but, yes, the novel was some incentive to build some cars and lay some track. Everything is digital now, of course, but about ten years ago when we were in Albuquerque, I met a model railroad club. Their set-up was in former retail space in a shopping mall, very large, multi-level, but nothing I saw was any different than I expected. So, convenient as digital is, perhaps legacy systems are still within the hobby. Have you searched online or at a hobby shop?

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

I also have a bicycle pedal powered engine but it doesn't have any brakes yet.

I also did a little bit of modeling in HO scale, but didn't get very far once I started building the one in the yard.

Greg

Wow! Way cool!! Very nice work and obviously a lot of it.

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I built a small narrow gauge riding railroad in my yard... :smile:

...and built a hand operated pull cart for the engine.

I also have a bicycle pedal powered engine but it doesn't have any brakes yet.

I also did a little bit of modeling in HO scale, but didn't get very far once I started building the one in the yard.

Greg

Wow! Way cool!! Very nice work and obviously a lot of it.

Thanks, Michael. But it's not work. It's play. :smile:

Greg

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The only railroads (in the real world) that I truly loved were subways, interurban light-rail electric powered railways, and trolley cars.

How would one go about building a model subway? I would that that cool beyond freezing.

Ba'al Chatzaf

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My grandson loves trains but is too young for serious modeling.

Still I began to wonder if there might be someone here in the hobby.

Not for many years, but, yes, the novel was some incentive to build some cars and lay some track. Everything is digital now, of course, but about ten years ago when we were in Albuquerque, I met a model railroad club. Their set-up was in former retail space in a shopping mall, very large, multi-level, but nothing I saw was any different than I expected. So, convenient as digital is, perhaps legacy systems are still within the hobby. Have you searched online or at a hobby shop?

You're right. DCC remains mostly undetected (except for LED lighting and locomotive sounds) so the overall appearance of current model railroads is basically the same as older ones. Also it's worth taking a look at Japanese model railroads, as some modelers take it in a completely different direction.

15.jpg

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  • 2 years later...
14 minutes ago, Dennis Edwall said:

I joined a club about six months ago, part of which is shown below. 

 

Ops 7:16-1.jpg

I used to do that when I was young.  Is that HO guage?  

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12 hours ago, Dennis Edwall said:

Yes, it's HO gauge. 

 

While I have your attention,  what is the scale-speed of your locomotives?  how many scale miles  per hour (actual hour)  and how many scale miles per scale hour (hour x scaling factor) 

Have any of  your club mates and fellow scale rail fans thought about modelling a mag-lev system?   You could simulate a mag-lev by suspending the model vehicles from a fine wire and use a linear motor to propel them.  Modelling a mag-lev  might popularize that mode of transit and inspire rich folks into investing in them.  Wheels on rails  is very retro. Back in 1825  wheels rolled on rails.  In 2016 wheels still  roll on rails (faster and smoother to some extent).  It is time to make the Great Technological Leap and get the locomotives off the ground.

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