MODEL RAILROADING with TRACK and TRAIN |
Amateur Model Railroading -- Electric Model Trains for the Rest of Us |
What I learned landscaping and experimenting with various brands of track and trains
or ... 100 ways to get to the result you want your way
I use the term "landscaping" for the process of building model railroad scenery. As in Japanese gardening, we are building a small model of the real thing -- not just the trains but the mountains, oceans, lakes and deserts in the background. Not everyone will have Mt. Fuji on their layout, but everyone should build what they know. It's not much different from writing a book, you can't write what you don't know and you will have a hard time modeling what you don't know.After deciding what geographical features your are shooting for, you could just go to the hobby shop and buy every single material sold by the scenics companies. I suggest you be a little more creative and use what you already know. If you are in construction you already know a lot about materials, and things like drywall mud tend to be cheaper at the home store and buying specific scenery plaster
Be willing to experiment, but most importantly, know the limits of your materials. For example, if you live in a dry environment you might find that drywall mud cracks too easily. In that case, spend the extra bucks for higher quality model-specific materials. You may have other restriction like material weight, and this may be another reason not to use drywall mud. It's popular to see model railroad articles showing the extensive use of foam to build features. Since foam is an oil-based material, it's getting more expensive. Chicken wire and newspaper is still pretty cheap.
Before I go on to specifics, let me say this: model railroading is something like growing roses. There's a professional "approved" approach that the rest of us will never attain. Beyond what the "experts" agree on, there are no perfect standards. There is a lot of bias in model railroading. Don't ever forget that there's 100 ways to grow a rose well, and there's 100 ways to build your railroad.
WORTH MENTIONING: I think the superior value of Kato trains is undisputed. Other trains are harder to delineate. While I love Intermountain for their detail and slow running, many people think Atlas trains are better built. This may be true, and Atlas has a good selection. It's also worth mentioning Red Caboose. They, like Intermountain, make incredibly detailed N scale models. COUPLERS One more thing that's very important is couplers, the things that hold the trains and cars together on the track. RAPIDO vs. KNUCKLE COUPLERS Cheap Bachmann equipment comes with Rapido style couplers. Don't waste money buying this equipment. Instead, study the different knuckle couplers available: Microtrains, Kato and others. While knuckle couplers are somewhat interconnecting, it's best of have one style coupler for all your cars. DIFFERENT KNUCKLE COUPLERS I have mostly Kato equipment. Kato couples are fussy to work with, especially the cushioned couplers on the Bethgon Coalporter cars. On a thirty car train it's good to have the shock absorbers, though it detracts from realism. layout_photos_coming so you can see what imperfection looks like. "It's OK to be perpetually in progress..." A LITTLE JOKE AT PURITY'S EXPENSE Purists and realism -- worthy goals, and worthy targets of a little humor -- poking fun in the "let your hair down" style. I refer repeatedly to purists and realism. I mean to poke fun at purists in a friendly, fraternal way. At the same time, unless your really into model railroading purely for the modeling aspect, perfection is only an appropriate goal for perfectionists. For the rest of us, just running trains around the track is satisfaction enough. RAILROADING AS NOSTALGIA AND ART One domain I have registered truly summarizes my approach to trains and model railroading: trainarts.com THE ART OF TRAINS My approach to model railroading stems from my interest in art, trainwatching, train photography and my nostalgia for the miles I rode around the country on Amtrak. It's a bit like listening to the radio vs. watching television. TV is great but it requires less imagination and creativity to watch TV. Radio is theater of the mind. From the old Classics like the Shadow, Gunsmoke and Jack Benny to modern talk radio, you get to make up the images based on the limits of your imagination. SWITCHING SCHMITCHING Since I have no operational background in railroads, I place virtually zero emphasis on realistic operations beyond mainline operation. While I have many switches, there are only enough sidings to keep extra trains off the mainline. I like modeling landscapes more than cities, and I don't focus on scheduled operation. One friend of mine came over to see my layout-in-progress. He got it right away. Instead of commenting on the unfinished condition, he noticed the sound immediately. I don't mean the realistic sounds of trains, I don't have that yet. He and I both noticed that the native sound of model trains running on tracks is soothing. Maybe it's because I'm from California, but it's a Zen thing. It's like raking gravel in a Japanese garden -- you do it for the sake of doing it as much as for the finished product. Another angle of attack for me is that my model railroad is an art project in three dimensions. One a future page, I will talk about how to integrate traditional art techniques into your layout. NO SOUP FOR YOU! NEXT! or IT'S OK TO SAY 'kay-toh Since Kato trains are Japanese, and Japanese has roughly the same pronunciation as Spanish, Kato should be spoken to rhyme with "grotto." If you are in the presence of a train purist, you may want to say "Kah-toh." Really cool train store people don't care how you say it, and probably say "Kay-Tow" themselves. That was a joke, Tom. |
SCALE Scale is pretty easy. Using a big scale like O makes it hard to run long trains cheaply. Think about it, an O scale layout takes up sixteen times the space of an N scale layout. The downside of N scale is that it's small. It may not satisfy people who really like modeling specific rolling stock. N scale is my favorite because of two things: space limits and long trains. One of my prime goals is running long trains. I have a 32-car coal train with three Kato UP locomotives. It's so cool! (To me.) There's really not a whole lot more to say but this: HO is the most common scale, has the most fans and the most accessories available. If you can, go HO. HO is big enough to have a real presence and quality of realism that just isn't possible in N scale. Just remember, unless you have a 20' x 20' room and a big budget, it's much harder to run trains that model new unit trains with auto carriers, containers or coal cars. This is really a personal decision -- for example, if you have arthritis, you should stay away from N scale. Me, I love N scale, again, for the ability to run thirty car trains in a 10'x10' space. BENCHWORK You need to make some decisions about your railroad. How will you build the tables or benches that hold the track and scenes up? While some articles show the use of 1"x1" sticks, and I have used this material for other projects, a railroad is sensitive. A simple bump can knock rolling stock off the track. If you are perfectly graceful and will never bump into your project, then why not just hang the layout from the ceiling on high-test fishing line? No, for me, over 200 pounds and klutzy, I chose to use 2"x4"s and Simpson Strong Tie plates. While carpentry purists use nails, I want future flexibility so I use screws. It doesn't take many 2"x4"s to support a lot of weight, so need fewer legs than with smaller sticks. If you are building your first layout you may want to spend a few hours at the local home store taking a fresh look at materials. In the end, I built my layout using stiff foam board from Dow. While my frame needed to be sturdy, I live in a condo and my back is pretty bad. I'd be paying in pain later for carrying 4'x8' plywood, so the foam board works well. There are many types of foam, look in the roofing materials section. Some made from compressed foam pellets make a big mess when cut, avoid them. Use extruded foam. When I picked out the 2"x4"s, I specifically chose the fully dried pieces. They are much lighter, and if your back is like mine you want to get the fully dried pieces. Excepting my affinity for drywall mud, I always look for the lightest materials for the surface of my layout. Your personal circumstances will dictate your choices. HOW HIGH IS HIGH ENOUGH? One big decision is how high to build your layout? While many people build layouts only 30" from the ground, mine is at 55". There are three reasons for this. First, bending over a low layout would kill my back. Second, I'm six feet tall and enjoy looking out across my layout, instead of down on it. Most important, due to lack of space, this high layout allows me to have a workbench, computers and a desk underneath. It may be weird but it's very practical. I basically build my layout over my office. If you are building your layout with your kids, I would suggest you build it low. If you want to keep your kids away from it, then the 55" option makes more sense. THE PRIME MATERIAL -- TRACK My best advice to a new model railroader is to build a solid roadbed. While some may jump directly to flextrack and cork roadbed, it's really not much cheaper than Kato track. I don't like any other brand for prefab track. Bachmann sucks and others don't have the roadbed built in. While snap-together track may not satisfy your sense of purism, it allows you to try many different layouts before settling on a final version. Once you ballast the track in place it's hard to go back! Finally, there's a lot of expert discussion about track code. Leaving out the numbers, purists go for shorter track because it's more realistic. These are the same people who put z-scale couplers on N-scale equipment for realism. I'm not knocking them, I'm just not there, and may never get there. I suggest, especially for your first layout, to use the taller track. There's more clearance so equipment will run better and ballasting will be easier. Good locomotives can make up for a lot of other imperfections. Having said that, buy Kato track too. Bachmann track is popular but typically more expensive than Kato track. The only reason to go with flextrack, in my humble opinion, is to model modern rail which is 1400 feet long and welded. Getting away from jointed track and having the freedom of flextrack is worth it, I just prefer the practicality of Kato Unitrack. KATO LOCOMOTIVES RUN ON NEARLY ANY TRACK My second best advice to new model railroaders: spend the bucks on good motive power. Great locomotives will pull cheap cars, and not the other way around. Great locomotives will run on bad track, and not the other way around. My first trainset was a Bachmann trainset. In short, what cracks me up is that Kato trains run on any kind of badly installed track, whereas Bachmann trains have a hard time even on good track. Remember, I am not striving for perfection. If you're like most people you will try and try again to get it right. While landscaping projects can go undone indefinitely, it's important to have locomotives and track that run well. Trust me, spending a lot of time on a railroad that derails trains is NOT satisfying. Your layout may be in chaos, but if you can still run a train around the track it's a lot more fulfilling. FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY BACHMANN You may be tempted to skimp on money when buying locomotives. Remember, friends don't let friends buy Bachmann locomotives. Having said that, there are many other brands of locomotives, and some may serve you well. I will sell only Kato products because I really believe in them. Many other companies make locomotives: Atlas, Athearn, and Intermountain are well known. You ultimately may have to stray from Kato to get the exact model you want. Based on my experience, nothing else runs like a Kato locomotive. If it's possible, buy all Kato trains. The only other brand I like is Intermountain. They run slower than Kato trains so they won't run with my Katos on my DC layout. I could install a resistor on the Katos to slow them down, but I haven't. The Intermountains are geared better -- with a good throttle and great track, they really creep along well, while the Katos surge a bit, making the long coal trains surge. The number one reason to run Intermountain over Kato is realism. I choose not to use Intermountain for the same reasons others do choose Intermountain: the models are so realistic they are delicate. They're much harder to pick up and put down. They will break more easily if you bump or drop them or crash them on the track. The are more finicky. At the point of repetition, if you're not a purist and you want trains that run really well, buy Kato. The Atlas and Athearn locomotives I bought just sit on a shelf on a display track. The cheaper locomotives just don't run consistently well enough on my imperfect track to be usable. COLOR MATCHING VARIES AMONG MANUFACTURERS Another reason to stick mostly with Kato (or any one manufacturer of your ultimate choice) -- colors. Different train builders have different ideas about colors. Kato tends to be brighter than the real thing, but I like their paint. Purists tend to like Intermountain, aside from superior detail, for their muted colors and more realistic look. THE HERESY OF NOT WEATHERING MY EQUIPMENT To weather or not to weather? It depends on what effect you're after. I commit the heresy of having no intent to ever weather my models. Many do intend to weather their models, in which case Intermountain may be the way to go. MATCHING DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS TRAIN SPEEDS One factor to consider is that different manufacturers trains run at different speeds given the same throttle setting. Unless you run a speed matching DCC system, you will be limited to running like trains with like trains. If you put a slower train with a faster one, the faster one will slip its wheels and over time the track and train will wear out. In the short term, the two locomotives may separate on sharp corners. SHARP CURVES AND SIX-WHEEL TRUCKS Speaking generally, in N scale, curves of 15" radius or more will run all equipment and will look good. Many longer cars like passenger cars, autoracks and intermodal container cars may run on smaller radius track but won't look good, and you'll need a lot of trackside clearance to accommodate the overhang. I have found that in N scale, the tightest curves will not accomodate longer cars or bigger road locomotives. While the Amtrak Genesis P42 Kato locomotives run nearly anywhere, they only have two axles per truck. Most road locomotives have three axles (or six wheels) per truck. Even if these locomotives run on sharp corners by themselves, you will have three problems running long equipment on tight curves. First, it may not look good, because of the previously mentioned overhang. Second, while in the short term the locomotive may run OK, in the long term the worm gears and gears on the trucks will wear prematurely because the trucks turns at too much of an angle. The gears in the trucks can only swivel so far before they suffer excessive wear, slipping, or, under heavy trainloads, they may just strip out on you. KEEPING THE TRAIN ON THE TRACK The third reason not to run big locomotives on tight curves is operational. If you run long three-axle locomotives with short cars like coal cars, when the train enters the corner the back of the locomotive may move so far off the track center that the first car behind it will derail to the outside of curves. I have found that when running multiple locomotives, keeping them pointed forward typically makes the back of the locomotive overhang less, and will accomodate shorter cars directly attached to the locomotive. If you have a long unit coal train that won't stay connected to your big locomotives, cheat and put a couple of longer boxcars between the coal cars and the locomotives. Even within locomotives, you may not have full flexibility turning the B unit around backwards. I learned trying to fit a GP40 Amtrak locomotive in with two Genesis P42 Amtrak locomotives. While I'm talking about smooth running trains, I must put the Amtrak Superliner coaches, sleepers, diners and observation cars high on the list of well behaved trains. The Amtrak smoothside baggage cars between the locomotive and the front sleeper will make train less stable on steep tight curves, and may need to be located at the rear of the train. A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE. I have my Christmas track setup and ballasted with broad Kato curves on the outer loop, and tight Kato curves on the inner folded dogbone. With a thirty car coal train the two Intermountain locomotives must work hard to pull the train through multiple curves. Just today I walked up to the layout and the Intermountain train was making a noise like it was derailed, but it was still moving. On closer inspection, it turns out the worm gear is slipping inside the locomotive. I have to repair this and shorten the train so it has less drag. Solution for now? Shorten the train on the sub-10" N-scale curves with swithbacks and run with just one Kato AC4400 with Operation LIfesaver on the side. IT'S ACTUALLY LIKE RUNNING THE REAL THING! To finish up this article, let me relate a conversation I had with a Union Pacific engineer I met once. He said that he could teach me how to drive a locomotive alone in one day, but driving a full length train is a totally different story. Many of the issues that affect real railroads occur on model railroads too. If you have a great long train but the grade is too steep, you may suffer separations just like the real thing. Going down grades, you'll have the whole train pushing your locomotives, with the engines acting more like brakes. Remember, your model trains don't have the benefit of air brakes or dynamic brakes. Long model trains on downgrades with curves may well push the locomotives off the track. |