Any model train enthusiasts?

My wife gave me gift cards for Christmas and I used them to buy a Hornby Duke of Gloucester 71000 train set.

I always wanted an electric train set when I was little but never got one. When I got older, I thought I was too old for them but I recently decided that it's now or never.

 

I have a few Lionel trains. One was mine as a little tyke, a 1974 Locomotive. I also picked up one from the 50's. I have them set up in a back room for the grandkids to play with. Ok, I play with them too...

Ed

 

You are never too old for playing with trains!!!
I'm more an H0 guy, have my stuff only in some show cases hanging on the wall, did not had a chance to build a layout but time will come...

 

Heavy into Lionel and HO.
Have a layout taking up half the basement.
Worked on and ran the full size ones too!

Bob

 

To the OP: good for you! I like to watch them and photograph them, but I decided long ago that it would be one too many a hobby money sink. I gave my American Flyer set to some family friends' kids when I was 20 and the kids were pre-teens.My dad had given it to me (us) when I was 10, and was proud of what I did. If you have some kids in your life to share them with, do it - it will make them even more enjoyable.

 

My HO layout used to take up a big chunk of my parents basement ... now the layout is but a memory but I do still have the engines, rolling stock, transformers, etc. Lots of really nice stuff.

 

I often wish British homes had basements like you do in America. I could go down some steps to a basement but I can't go up a ladder any more without great difficulty so putting a floor in the attic is not going to happen. I have a spare room that we use to store junk in so that's going to be cleared out. It's 9 feet by 10 feet so I should get a great layout in that space.
I even had a dream about it and because of my silly sense of humour, in the dream, wifey opened the room/station door to see me wearing one of those black leather caps the train drivers wore and I had a whistle in my hand and said to her "hello Sparkey" (Feeep!) and if you've seen that episode of Frasier where he defends an excentric guy who calls him Sparkey, I was kidding her on that I'd lost it.

 

Getting out of model RR'ing as my eyesight and hands ain't what they used to be. Selling off HO scale brass steam of the Norfolk & Western, cars, structures, scenery materials and the benchwork.

 

I've been into American Flyer S gauge for a long time,,, got to teh point of winding my own motors for steam engines,,, get two regular 1/2 " thick armatures and fields, strip em to lams, reassemble into inch thick stacks, lengthen the shaft, rewind and have torque monsters!!! guys buy them up at train meets!!!

 

My first 3 houses had big rooms for HO trains. My last house had a 15x24 workshop which was LARGE layout. My current house has no room and my HO stuff is all boxed in storage for 20 years.

I get out a G scale for Christmas.

 

My 1st journey into model trains was in the 60’s as a youngster and my fathers’ 1st train. No permanent set up other than what I pieced together on the floor. My fathers’ model train passion flourished with a permanent set up started in 1970. Helped move it 10 years later and a final time 6 years later.

His collection would grow to include enough power/tender units and cars to start each of his 7 grandsons with a setup while he was alive. They really enjoyed sharing his passion for his hobby. Early on, I spent some of my free time serving as the one small enough to get to the middle of his layouts and do some minor maintenance. It was his passion but I lived it through him and the time we enjoyed together.

I hope you get as much enjoyment from it as our family did!

 

Around the 1997-2001 period I acquired a whole bunch of stuff. Mostly O. I seemed to gravitate towards the streamline trains both steam and diesel. Pioneer and Mark Twain zephyr, UP M-10000, Baldwin Sharknose diesels, N&W J, C&O Chessie , B&O Royal Blue , Dreyfuss Hudson and such. Even acquired the GM Aerotrain and a Japanese bullet train in HO. Somewhere in the bunch I have an original in (ratty) box cast aluminumAmerican Flyer Zephyr train from the 1930's. Still have the well worn hand me down Lionel Scout set and American Flyer set that we had when I was little. Plus a few Lionel ZW transformers and AF transformers thrown in for good measure.

 

As former hobby shop model RR guy, before you get going on your layout, PLEASE read the best book for model railroad layout designs. Track Planning for realistic operation by John Armstrong. your oval will be boring and forgotten in months. I suggest a twice around or switching layout. You still get the scenery and structures aspect, but more fun than just watching one train go in circles. With a switching layout you can limit your cars and engines. Also look up "Switch track time saver" for how the switching layout works.

 

I am but no room for a layout last 8 years....going to see a new house tomorrow with a required man cave for my stereos and perhaps a small 6x12 walkin. I have all my PC/CR stuff boxed in adult diapers and stored, I have 50x that in stock at the store...just patiently waiting. I got some PC UxxC's from Atlas that have never felt rails...need to get em rollin. everything was weathered and non-DCC from last layout. still have my troller TM-5, not sure I am going dcc yet.

 

Sorry to hear about your eyesight and hands. I was thinking about the attic but my legs, because of my spinal injury, are too weak to climb a ladder.

 

Looking good already. If you have a tiny camera sitting on a flat bed car, pushed by the loco, you can view it as if you've made the miniature world full size! It's also a good way of checking how realistic it looks.

 

Thanks. I'm glad you've got great memories of your dad to enjoy.

 

Great, thanks. That'll be better than trying to figure it out by watching videos. Although I intend to set up as large a layout as 10 feet by 9 feet can get me, it's good to get ideas from all angles. I watched a great video on you tube about layouts in small spaces. N gauge. One guy had a layout inside a file box!

 

As I said. The train is the least of it. The Diorama is main thing.

 

While I was on ebay for a look around, Even though I've not got my new train set yet, I couldn't resist this bargain; I bought another Pullman carriage to go with the three that comes with the set. £7.50 plus £3 odds postage. New. The guy's splitting up and selling his stuff. Considering they cost about £70 on amazon, I got a great bargain.