When designing your model railway layout, one of the first things to consider is determining which scale you’ll want to use.

Scale is the term used to identify the actual measurement of the model compared to its prototype. Your scale will determine the overall layout of your model railway, among other things.

Scale affects model railway layouts because it ultimately determines how big the train set will be, how much money can be devoted to your hobby, and whether you have the patience or the dexterity to detail with very small trains.

Luckily, there are quite a few options when it comes to selecting you train scale.

Some of the more popular model train scales include:

• O Scale – O Scale is usually used for general toy trains. This classic scale has been used by the Lionel Train Company since its inception. If you have younger children who enjoy the thrill of an impressive locomotive, or if your children are helping you construct your model railway, then an O scale may best suit your needs.

Most O scale trains run on AC current and feature standard, three-rail tracks. Because of their larger size, the scenery of O scale model railways layouts tend to be much smaller than the train, but this is usually not a problem for novice model railway train enthusiasts.

You can also find a nice variety of accessories when using O scale, which may make the process of building a model railway a bit more fun.

S Scale

• S scale model trains are reminiscent of days past, so many baby boomers of today enjoy using S scale because it reminds them of the trains from their youth.

Although not as popular as the O scale model railways, you can certainly still find a nice selection of S scale accessories for different types of model railway layouts.

Buy 101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders (Track plans for N, HO, S, and O scale model railroads) to help you on your way

HO Scale

• HO Scale - If you are new to mode railroading, then you will have likely already seen HO scale train sets.

HO scale offers model train builders the best of both worlds when working with model railway layouts. This is because it’s large enough to work with easily, and small enough to fit on a reasonably sized platform.

If you are looking for a scale that offers a huge variety of accessories and supplies, then look no further than the HO scale.

Ho Scale Model Railroading: Getting Started in the Hobby (Model Railroader Books) is great book for getting started

Z Scale

• Z Scale – If you have a passion for model railways, but standard model railway layouts take up too much space, then consider the intricate Z scale.

Your ability to manipulate and maneuver the accessories and equipment of a Z scale may prove challenging, but it sure does make a fantastic accessory in your den or office.

The super-small Z scale is surely the most complex in terms of model railway layouts, but it can provide you with the opportunity to become a model railway builder, even if your space is at a minimum.

Mid-Size Track Plans for Realistic Layouts: [26 Innovative Model Railroad Track Plans in Z, N, Ho, O, and G Scales] has some great ideas for Z scale layouts

Choosing your scale first when deciding upon your model railway’s layout is the easiest way to get your train up and running. With a bit of forethought regarding your needs and desires, you can be showing off your model train sooner than you think!

I have been modeling for almost 20 years now. This is what I think of the current state of locomotives:

Bachmann Spectrum Steam

- I bought two 2-8-0 Consolidations. These are decent runners, granted I am not to crazy about the cogged rubber band gear drive, but I have not had any problems with them.

Bachmann Spectrum Diesels

- The old adage “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. I have been fooled twice so shame on me. About 15 years ago I bought two Bachmann Spectrum GP35s. They both screamed right out of the box. I took them back to my local hobby shop and exchanged them for two Proto 2000 GP18s, which still run today on my layout. A couple of years later I bought a Bachman Plus B23-7. I got it home it would not run, I took it back to LHS and exchanged it for one that did. After a few hours it started to scream. I don’t care if Tony Koester, Alan McClelland, or any other famous modeler came back and told me the new Bachmann Diesels are great, I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER BACHMANN SPECTRUM DIESEL!!!

Atlas:

Three categories, the old Atlas with the Roco drives are crap. The Atlas with the Kato Drives are excellent. The Atlas locomotives with the Chinese drive built with the Kato Designed motor are just as good. I have no problem laying down hard earned money for an Atlas.

Kato:

I love Kato. I have four. I have two SD45’s and two SD80macs. The Kato drives are consistent. Right out of the box I put my 80macs, and SD45 together in a consist. There speed is matched perfectly, not one locomotive pushed or pulled faster than the other. My only beef with Kato is with my eyes and not so nimble fingers. I think I counted close to 80 separately applied pieces to the 80mac. This included the antennas, grab irons, handrails, windshield wipers, brake cylinders and lines, couplers and separately applied individual air hoses. I believe I spent about 3-4 hours on each locomotive applying all those parts. Fortunately Kato supplied extra parts. Some manufacturers will supply any extra spares in case a grab iron goes flying through the air.

Proto 2000:

Great runners, if you are running straight DC you can have them running on your layout in the amount of time it takes to put on the couplers. If you are running DCC, you may spend an amount of time trying to figure out how to get the shell off, only to find there is one almost inaccessible screw that has to be undone to finally get the shell off. This screw is sometimes hidden by a truck.

Athearn RTR and Old Blue Box:

I ran the crap out of my old blue box Athearns. I have since updated some with Helix Humper motors, when I converted to DCC and they continue to soldier on. I knew this one hobby shop owner who had an Athearn running the display train everyday he was opened. He told me it was on its 5th or 6th year and probably had over 10,000 hours on it. He just lightly lubes periodically. I have since bought 3 Athearn RTR units. Two SD45’s and an SD40. I have no complaints so far.

Athearn Genesis, Steam and Diesel.

I bought an Genesis 2-8-2. It is sitting on my to-do shelf where it needs more weight in the front to keep it from derailing everytime it goes over a switch.

I have an Athearn Genesis SD60i. It is nice looking and runs nice. However, I will not take it out to run on my modular group’s layout or to a club. The detail is just too fine and delicate to put up with packing and
unpacking it. I will say this about the sound units. I do not like the MRC sound decoders, I have known too many people who have had some issues with them. For my SD60i I put in a Lok-Sound decoder and it is really nice. I also am planning to put a Lok-Sound into one of my SD45 rtr models.

Broadway Limited.

I have two SD40-2 Diesels that run like charms, these are equipped with QSI factory installed decoders. They are my favorite locomotives to run and I take them to shows and my old clubs open house. Broadway Limited Steam. I have three steamers. The only one I had problem with was the N&W A class steamer. I had to send it back to Broadway on two separate occasions.

One was warranty covered, the other time was out of warranty and it might have partly been my
fault. Both times within a week after they received it Broadway, fixed and had it back to me. One time I shipped it out on a Friday and had it back on my layout running on the very next Thursday night, six days! Their service guy even sent even called me to discuss what was going on. I also have a Precision Craft Models (associated with Broadway Limited), steamer. No problems with that unit. My only complaint with Broadway is that they announce a product and you have to wait forever until it shows up. For example, they announced the SD40-2 high hood back in the fall of 2006 and then kept pushing back the date. Their website now says it will be March 2009.

First what does a beginner do to start getting into 2mm model railway layouts?

- The 2mm Scale Association website (www.2mm.org.uk)

- A booklet called “The Beginner’s Guide to 2mm Modelling” from the 2mm Scale Association.

And you’ll pretty much have to join the 2mm Scale Association to get the bits you need to make the model.

If you are quick off the mark, you could sign up for a day-long tutorial on getting started in Oxford in December

Can I use Steam or use a diesel shunter?

Its slightly harder for both DCC and 2mm in that there are not many easy to convert small N steam locos around. Would a Farish 04 diesel be acceptable; its a bit easier to convert ?

If happy with a bigger locomotive, a new Farish class 37 runs excellently, converts to 2mm very easily, and has a DCC decoder socket inside it.

If you are willing to build your own locos (or assemble 2mm kits) then steam is practical.

I want to do the inglenook layout like the one above, and I think I want to go straight to DCC because of the better slow operation it allows (is this correct?)

Yes in my experience. Clive Road runs extremely well under DCC, I was using it a few weeks ago with its current owner.

But DCC won’t hide basic mistakes; track needs to be level and clean. Locomotives need to pickup from all their wheels, etc.

But I don’t yet know enough about 2mm - what exactly is different in scale - everything? Do I need to get 2mm specific everything? Or just the gauge?

Depends how pedantic you get about scale. Officially 2mm is 1:152, whereas British N gauge is 1:148. If you are a total purist you will therefore build all your stock to 1:152. However, most modellers I know use a mixture, at least when starting out.

At a minimum you will be:

1) Building your own model railway layouts, or commissioning someone to make it for you (not expensive, around £15/turnout from the track builder I know).
2) Rewheeling N rolling stock, a simple matter of removing old wheels and dropping in
new ones.
3) Converting N locomotives. In some cases the wheel tread can be turned to a 2mm profile and the back-to-back adjusted. This tends to work better for diesels, though is possible for some steam locomotives.

Optionally, you will be:
4) Building finescale kit rolling stock; either for items not available commercially, or because you think the finescale item looks better than the commercial one (eg. contrast Stephen Harris kit mineral wagons with any plastic ones, and appearance wise, the Harris ones win. But they cost more and take time to assemble).
5) Building finescale locomotives. There are a handful of complete 2mm scale locomotive kits, the majority being North Eastern prototypes.
6) Changing the couplings on N stock to something smaller and capable of remote operation. The Clive Road pictures will show DG couplers which are opened by an electromagnet below the baseboard, once open the wagon can be propelled into a siding and left behind. There are numerous coupling options with various pros and cons.

For the DCC side, you just need a decent chip in your locomotives. Suggest you buy either Zimo 620 or CT Elektronik DCX74 or DCX75. They run really well with small motors at low speeds. If picking a DCC (or analogue) controller for such a simple layout, then don’t go overboard on keys; you’ll only have one or two locomotives so won’t need to select from a thousand ! Feeling good in your hand is the critical issue; there are quite a few decent and not overly expensive options.

> Finally, what books/resources can I go off and read and then get going I don’t yet even though what sort of stuff I should be putting on an inglenook, as I do want it to be realistic, so don’t want to just go off and fo my own thing, if it is unrealistic and not what such siding would be used for.

In some respects you are starting from the wrong position; the Inglenook concept was a “trainset” shunting puzzle. If looking for a prototype, you need to dig around to find a small siding or industrial yard of about that arrangement and work up from it. In steam days before Beeching, there were many on minor branch lines (I can think of half a dozen within 8 miles of my home in rural Suffolk).

Alternatively, look at more modern items such as loco stabling and refueling points.

Before you start to build any model railway you need to decide on what model railway layout you are going to use.

I am going to offer a number of resources that will help you to design and build the perfect model railway layout.

First things first you need to beg, steal or buy a copy of Model Railroad Bridges & Trestles: A Guide to Designing and Building Bridges for Your Layout (Model Railroad Handbook, No 33) as this book will teach you how to plan your layout from start to finish with clear diagrams and descriptions.

If your budget stretches, I would also look at getting a copy of Railway Modelling: The complete guidewhich is a hardback book that will offer help and advice for all aspects of model railway building.

Starting out there are three main railway layouts to choose from:

1. Oval model railway layout:

This is your basic layout that most people start with when they buy a model train starter kit.

Benefits:

• Cheap and easy to set up
• Trains can run continuously without a change of direction

Disadvantages

• Not very realistic (how many oval railway layouts do you see in real life?)
• Train can look like its chasing its own tail

2. Covered Oval Model Railway Layout

This is the most popular railway layout used and is very similar to the oval layout but this time a part of the track is covered.

Benefits:

• Looks more realistic than oval

Disadvantages:

• Can cost a lot more as more scenery is required

3. Straight model railway Layout

This railway layout is used to set a scene and is just a straight length of track that ends at both sides of the baseboard.

Benefits:

• Very realistic
• Does not use much space

Disadvantages:

• Requires skills to change train direction
• More difficult to manage

You need to choose a model railway layout that fits your needs. If this is your first layout - keep it small, you can alway add extra track later!

Image thanks goes to: www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk

Discover some of the longest model railways in the world.

1. Wunderland – Hamburg – Germany

This model railway took 500,000 working hours and is stretched over 4km² with plans to increase this to 6km² in 2014. The model rail track runs for 9km at a cost of 7.3 million Euros.

http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com

2. Loxx Model railway

Named Loxx after the German word Loks meaning locomotives. This model railway took over 200,000 labour hours to create and has 4.15km of track.

Check out the Loxx railway in action with this video:

Loxx Model Railway in action

http://www.loxx-berlin.com/en/home.html

3. Gainsborough Model Railway

This is described as one of the largest model railways in ‘O’ gauge and it depicts the East Coast Main Line from London King Cross (UK) to Leeds Central. The rail track runs for 0.8km (1/2 mile) and requires at least 10 operators for it to run successfully.

http://www.gainsmodelrailway.ik.com/

4. Toggenburg Model Railway

This is Europe’s largest type ‘O’ model railway and is situated in the town of Lichtensteig in Switzerland.
Toggenburg model railway boasts 1.2km of track on an area of 500m squared.

http://www.modeltraintoggenburg.ch/

5. Northlandz Model Railway

Northlandz is the world’s largest miniature railway and took 25 years of dedication which is clear from looking at the photos. It has 8 miles of track and what is even more impressive is that it has over 4,000 buildings and 1/2 million trees!

http://www.northlandz.com/

6. Sierra Pacific lines by Pasadena Model Railroad Club

The Sierra Pacific lines has 30,000ft of hand laid steel track and is the largest ‘HO’ model railway in the world. This model railway was started in 1940 and from end to end it takes a train one hour to complete the route.

http://www.pmrrc.org

Here’s a simple guide for anyone wishing to get involved with Model Railways.

Before you jump into purchasing the track, trains and accessories it’s worth doing a little bit of research first.

Free Resources

The following websites should be bookmarked:
http://espee.railfan.net/clubs.html (Find your local model railroad club)
http://home.centurytel.net/pitch/home/link_page/howto.htm (Great layout information)
http://www.naisp.net/mfischer/m_train2.htm (Some great N scale layout ideas)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_scale (Get some background info on N scale)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OO_gauge (Get some background info on OO scale)

Other Resources

Whilst the Internet does contain a lot of free resources – it will save you a lot of time if you purchase, or check out from the library, the following books:

The Professional Approach to Model Railways

and subscribe to the following magazine:

Subscribe with Amazon here

Decide on a Layout

Use the books, websites and magazines to find a layout you like.

A good tip is to use graph paper to first sketch out the layout. It is far less expensive to make errors on graph paper rather than when you’re using plywood and track! I often make hundred off errors whilst in the layout stage which have required only an eraser to fix rather than spending hours removing track.

What board material should I use?

Once your layout is perfect on your graph paper you now need to decide what board to use. The main options are plywood, MDF and softboard such as Sundelia.

MDF and Plywood
Benefits: Very Strong
Drawbacks: Both need powered tools to cut them

Sundelia
Benefits: Can cut with a sharp knife.
Drawbacks: No strength which makes fitting Point Motors difficult

I would personally go for using MDF but if using power tools would be a problem then please go for the soft board option.

Remember the Frame

Remember that all boards will require a softwood timber frame (2×1 inch).

How do I add hills?

To add realism to your base board you will want to have rolling hills - in order to add these contours you will need to add layers of green pulpboard (the stuff used under laminate flooring). A craft knife can be used to carve round curves between the layers.

Trains and Track

A cheap way to purchase trains and track is to purchase a “starter” kit:

N scale starter kits- http://www.bachmanntrains.com (A good selection)

OO Scale starter kits - http://www.hornby.com/sets-123/category.html (Range from £40+)

What controller should you use?

Digital controllers are now very cheap and are far easier to use than analogue systems, as only two wires are used to feed the track. Remember not to loop the track back on itself or you will cause a short circuit. Digital controllers also allow a number of trains to run on the same track.

• The Dcc 135 from Hornby is a nice first choice.
• You could also have a look at the selection available from Bachmann trains: http://www.bachmanntrains.com

My last piece of advice to budding model railway enthusiasts would be to keep your first layout simple and - above all - have fun!

Those of you who are interested in collecting model railways will understand the importance of getting all the right information about your Model Railway Trains before purchase.

Model Railway trains can vary from the steam railway trains of the 19th Century to the electric modern trains seen on the tracks today.

model-railway-trains

The First Model Railway trains made available where called “Carpet Trains” but were crude representations when compared with model trains today. Today even the cheapest model railway trains are highly accurate models of the trains they signify.

If you create a highly accurate model layout, the amount of money that one spends on Model Railways Trains and track can get very costly.

Without up to date pricing and market knowledge, it can become a daunting task when it comes to buying new railway trains and track. One guide that I think every serious collector must have, is the 2008 Model Railroader Magazine. As it is excellent in giving you a guide on what’s also out there, and also what other enthusiasts are saying their Model Railway Trains are worth.

If you are looking to purchase model railroad trains, this is a good resource. The content concentrates on performance reviews of model railway trains and accessories. If you want to know about the latest model trains and how well they work (or don’t), this is the magazine for you

I think this is an absolute must have for someone who really is serious about purchasing their Model Railway Trains and/or Model Railway Collection.