Model Trains Layouts » Model Trains

Build Your Own Model Train Display Case

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:49 +0000

Anyone who has spent the significant amount of time it takes to be a railroad hobbyist knows the importance of using model train display cases to keep their investment safe. There are far too many factors that can hinder the functioning of a model train not to take precautions against them. If you find the right one, not only will your investment and hobby be safe, but you’ll still be able to view and enjoy it as much as when it’s running.

You have two options when it comes to model train display cases, you can hire someone to build one for you, or you can take on the project and build it yourself. Of course hiring someone would be far easier, but much more expensive. If you’re like most of us, you’ll want to save some money and decide to build it yourself. I hope that these tips will give you some assistance in the process.

Instead of starting from scratch, you can buy some pre-fabricated cabinets – i.e. medicine cabinet-in which to store your model trains. Be sure to purchase the cabinets with glass front doors in order for your train pieces to be viewed. From here, you will design the set-up of the display case around the dimensions of your train pieces. This is inexpensive, fast, and easy to accomplish. These cabinets make the perfect model train display cases.

If starting from scratch, purchase enough wood to construct a similar structure as the cabinets above. The open-ended box you create will serve as the frame of your display case. It should be shallow and have dimensions to fit your model train pieces. When installing the shelving, you want to be sure that they are adjustable to different heights. By simply drilling different holes and inserting dowels you allow yourself the ability to adjust the shelving around to accommodate the different sizes of your pieces.

The shelving you decide upon should be either wood or glass. If you choose to go with the glass shelving, your model pieces should be displayed on the track pieces themselves, separated by stoppers on both ends. If you choose to go with wooden shelving, the pieces can simply be placed on mini dowels you have drilled into place to hold your model pieces in place.

When constructing the backing for your model train display case, many folks tend to go for a mirrored effect. Mirrored backing is much harder to work with than a simple wooden backing. However, if you wish your case to encompass a bit of class, then you may want to steer towards a mirrored backing. The doors once again need to be glass or some form of clear acrylic sheets in order for your model to be displayed and viewed. Be sure the hinges are strong and mounted correctly.

While hiring someone to construct your model train display case may be the easier way to go, you’ll be very pleased with your finished product considering you built it by hand and you saved yourself a load of money. Take your time and do it right, and you’ll be enjoying your model train set for years to come.

For more information on model trains and model train layouts visit Model Trains Today.

Originally posted 2009-11-02 21:46:53. Republished by Old Post Promoter

What’s so special about Bachmann model trains?

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:30 +0000

Bachmann model trains are widely known as some of the best in the model train community. Bachmann model trains have been in operation for many years and have therefore developed a great following amongst long time model train enthusiasts. It is for these reasons that Bachmann model trains remain popular and keep producing greater model trains in many different scales and for different sizes of track.

Originally posted 2009-11-08 12:34:46. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Track Layout Ideas for your Model Train

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:25 +0000

For the model train enthusiast, purchasing the rolling stock is only the start of what will become an extensive, and possibly life changing project – maybe very costly, certainly very time consuming, but thoroughly enjoyable.

The major part establishing a model railroad project is the design and implementation of the layout ? the diorama with scenery, structures and appropriate scale track for operating the trains.

The size of the layout you can design, build and operate depends on the amount of room in which you have to set it up. Some layouts can be quite small – shelf-top designs that can be accommodated in a very small space. Others can fill part of a room, or even a whole room or basement.

For a small, simple layout, a table will usually be adequate but most model railroaders aim to establish larger, permanent layouts. These will usually require construction of suitable benches, often fixed to the walls of the room to provide a high degree of stability.

An important aspect of any model train setup is the arrangement of the track itself. There are at least four basic layout patterns for setting out the track, and countless variations of both track configuration and subsequent station placement.

Four of the more common basic patterns are:

* point to point – this is merely a straight line of track with a station at each end, with trains going from the station at one end to the other station;

* continuous loop ? in its simplest form this is either a circle or an oval and the trains move around it continuously, but it could be modified into a ?dogbone? shape by pulling two opposite sides of the circle or oval together, giving a double track appearance in the middle with a smaller circular shape at either end;

* out and back ? where the train leaves the single station, travels around a pear-shaped layout and returns to the original station;

* station yard only ? where a single station is surrounded by a number of short, interconnected tracks, providing great opportunities for shunting.

From these four basic patterns, there are countless variations. Some possibilities are:

* combining two or more of the four basic patterns, for example adding an ?out and back? at one or both ends of a ?point to point? layout;

* adding double track to any of the first three basic layouts to allow two or more trains to operate at the same time;

* adding branch lines, allowing an increase in the number of stations;

* arranging a continuous loop as a figure-of-eight, even elevating one track over the other rather than having the crossing at the same level;

* using multiple levels, allowing the use of more track, and thus more activity, in small areas;

* adding station yards, with adequate standing tracks, to any of the configurations.

The number of possible variations you incorporate into your track layout will only be limited by the space you have available, your time [and your patience] and, of course, the size of your wallet.

John Vanse is a model train enthusiast who has a number of websites related to ?the greatest hobby on earth?.

You can find more information about these at The Model Train Guide

Originally posted 2009-11-05 10:09:10. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Controllers For Model Trains

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:24 +0000

Over the past 100 years several methods of controlling electric model trains have developed.

The first and simplest method was the use a simple variable transformer as introduced by Lionel in 1906 to lower the Alternating Current [AC] voltage from the wall to a lower, safer value and allow the user to control the speed of a model electric train by changing the amount of AC power applied to the track. In the 1920’s, Lionel included remote control reversing switches to allow the user to control the direction of the model train.

When Direct Current [DC] powered trains with permanent magnet motors were introduced, a different standard was developed for most two rail train tracks where the direction of trains were controlled by the polarity of the DC track power applied to the track.

In the late 1940’s Lionel added a new concept of applying DC on top of the AC track voltage to turn on and off an on-board whistle by remote control. This concept of high frequency transmission was introduced in the Lionel Electronic Train Control. This system supplied ten different signals that would control ten different remote control effects. The different high frequency signals were superimposed on the standard AC power when selected buttons were pressed at the control center. Each remote engine or rail car was equipped with a receiver unit that was tuned to the individual frequencies. When the correct high frequency signal was transmitted, the corresponding receiver would toggle or turn-on some remote effect.

These high frequency signals increase the ability to remotely control various effects but they had other problems. Transmission losses were usually high and it was critically important to keep the track, the track joints and the wheels of the receiving car or locomotive extremely clean. However extra feeder wires to different parts of the track were used to prevent signal losses and placing capacitors across the track joints and adding inductors at the power supply and on each accessory being used assisted in reducing signal loss and in ensuring that all components of the model train layout operated properly. All this additional equipment however added to the cost, the complexity, and the maintenance for the model train operator.

Model train manufacturers have, over the years, introduced different methods of applying high frequency signals to the model train track to increase the remote control capabilities including independent train control which means that the operator can control the speed, direction and features of a number of different engines all on the same powered track section. With most DC and AC systems however, the biggest problem is that there are only a limited number of remote control signals possible and their application is slow by modern digital standards.

The application of digital technology uses remote control signals to carry digital signals to decoders in the engine for digital command control of locomotives and other accessories.

Digital Command Control (DCC) is a method of controlling individual engines, rail cars and accessories by transmitting digital remote control signals down the track to on-board digital receivers and decoders in the locomotives, wagons and other rolling stock and accessories.

DCC has been around since the 1970’s but had not received wide acceptance because of the limited technology at the time and the difficulty and expense of installing receivers in each engine. With developments in digital technology these problems have diminished and over the last ten to fifteen years major model train manufacturers have produced several different versions of DCC. So many that unfortunately customers have been confused about which system is best.

Fortunately, in recent times, the National Model Railroad Association [NMRA] has established a preferred method of transmitting and receiving digital transmissions on model train layouts, based on the Lenz system developed in Germany and this is recognized as the accepted standard for DCC.

Author: John Vanse John Vanse has several websites for model train enthusiasts. They can all be accessed through the key site at: The Model Train Guide For more specific information about DCC visit: DCC for Model Trains

Originally posted 2009-11-03 16:22:36. Republished by Old Post Promoter

The American Flyer Model Train

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:13 +0000

Although The American Flyer model trains were at their peak of popularity between the 1940s and the 1960s, they actually had a long history before that, and their popularity seems to be on the increase again today. William Hafner, working as a toymaker in Chicago, developed a clockwork motor for use in toy cars in the very early part of the 19th Century and by 1905 was making toy trains using that clockwork motor.

With a friend, William Coleman, and using a small hardware manufacturing business known as the Edmonds-Metzel Hardware Company, Hafner began producing toy clockwork trains during 1906-7. These Edmond-Metzel trains were sold so successfully through some major retailers that the brand name The American Flyer was adopted for marketing purposes and by 1910, the name of the hardware company had been changed to American Flyer Manufacturing Company.

The American Flyer trains proved very popular, in part because they were lower priced than other makes popular at that time, and also because their detailing made them more realistic than other low budget model trains.

Hafner left the partnership in 1913 to start up his own company and Coleman’s American Flyer trains did extremely well during the First World War as they had no competition in the US from the German companies. By 1918, the first of the American Flyer electric trains were in production and business boomed during the 1920s but declined sharply during the Great Depression.

In 1938, William Coleman Jr, son of the company’s founder, who had taken over the business following his father’s death in 1918, sold the American Flyer to the A C Gilbert Company. Gilbert had been manufacturing and selling an extensive range of toys but not toy trains. He moved the company from Chicago to New Haven, Connecticut and immediately began to re-design the trains. He re-developed the American Flyer as S-scale in 1939 , a scale which was a modification of the very popular O gauge model trains then on the market. The S scale, which scales trains to the 1:64 ratio and made them smaller than the O scale trains, had a number of major advantages in terms of the track and track layouts.

In 1946 Gilbert made another major change to the American Flyer. Until that stage model electric trains had run on three rails, with the centre rail carrying the current. Gilbert developed a two rail system for running the American Flyer. This two-rail track, which had seven-eighths inches between the rails, made the track layout, and hence train operation, more realistic as the track now looked like ‘real train track’.

With the advent of television – to distract both younger people and older people from their regular hobbies – together with the rise of the discount chain stores which undercut prices and demanded lower wholesale prices, A C Gilbert Company ran into trouble and in 1962 was sold to Wrather Group. The new owners produced lines of toys, including model trains, which were of very poor quality and sales dropped sharply until in 1966 production of the American Flyer ceased. By 1967 the Company was bankrupt.

At this time, Lionel Corporation, which was itself in financial trouble although it had been the leading model train manufacturer for many decades, bought the rights to the American Flyer. However, by 1969 Lionel Corporation itself was bankrupt and sold the rights to the manufacture of its model trains, including the American Flyer, to General Mills.

General Mills began selling some of the original Gilbert designed American Flyer trains by 1979 but in 1984 sold its Lionel Company section to a toy manufacturer, Kenner who on-sold the company to Richard Kughn in 1985.

Kughn was very successful for over 10 years with the Lionel and American Flyer trains but sold in 1996 to Wellspring Partners who set up the company Lionel LLC, which operates today selling a range of model trains, including the S-scale American Flyer. Initially Lionel LLC concentrated on promoting the O and O27 scale model trains of its original lines but since 2002 has been releasing more and more American Flyer models.

The American Flyer then, is now more that 100 years old, and has gone though a number of ownerships and fluctuations in popularity. Dedicated S-scale enthusiasts now believe that this renowned model train is once again making a resurgence.

John Vanse, a model train enthusiast, has a number of websites concerned with model trains. All these sites can be accessed through the hub site: The Model Train Guide For more specific information about American Flyers see: American Flyer Model Trains

Originally posted 2009-11-04 16:50:40. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Want to Build Your Own Model Train Set?

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:51:10 +0000

There is something very satisfying when you look at your finished model train setup complete with working lights, lifelike trees, building, and even little people. So, if you are thinking of getting into and building your own landscape for miniature trains, read on to find out what you need to know before you begin down this very rewarding road.

The Table

You’ll need a table, but not just any table. You need one that can support the weight of the landscape on top. This might mean that you will need to customize it. That would be ideal. For a simple setup, though, with no mountains or the like, you could get by with a standard heavy duty solid wood table. Once you get into mountains and rolling hills, you might need to strengthen it by adding support pieces under the places that carry the most weight.

Model Train Accessories

A setup is never complete without accessories. You can make it yourself or you can go out and buy pre-made pieces. The advantage to making them yourself is that you can make it look anyway you want. You could create pieces that look like the buildings near where you live. You could even re-create the area where you live that has a railroad! That would be amazing to have in your house! I’m sure people will be amazed at that! As for accessories, you will want to invest or build buildings, trees, snow, water, mines, people, lights, railroad crossings, and all such things that you might see in the landscape. Yes, it gets very detailed and yes, it can be a never ending process of continual improvement and/or change. That’s probably why there is so much appeal to it. Like there is for the simulation games like Sim City and the like.

Different Scales

If you’ve been shopping around either in physical or online stores, you probably noticed that there are different size scales you can get for both the trains and accessories. HO is the most popular size. Different scales have different trains available and different accessories. So you would have more to choose from in the HO size. But of course, if you were to make your own accessories, the size you choose would only depend on the available trains.

Needed Space

The larger the space, the more you can add on to your railroad scape. The minimum space you would need for a model train setup would depend on the size train you pick. The smallest you could go is if you had just a circle for the train to go round and round in. Your table would simply measure the size of that circle. If you opt for more space, take into consideration how easy it would be to move. In case you have to move houses, you would most likely want to take your setup with you. Keep that in mind. If you have a big setup, remember to build it so that you have connecting pieces that you could easily maneuver out the door.

The model train hobby can get very expensive. But there is help out there. Go check out the review on Model Train Help which gives you creative techniques that will save you money in building and maintaining.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 11:18:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter

10 Interesting Facts About Toy Model Trains

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:49:26 +0000

There are many different interesting facts about toy model trains. The more you get into the hobby of model railroading, the more you will find out. Those just getting started will be interested by some of the things experienced railroaders have come to know over the years. Below you will find a list of ten interesting facts about model trains.

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Originally posted 2009-11-07 10:17:51. Republished by Old Post Promoter

How to Take Care of Your Model Trains

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:49:20 +0000

All the components necessary to build up a successful model train layout are expensive – locomotives, rolling stock, tracks, power controllers, buildings, landscaping, to list just some – these are all expensive. It is no wonder that the hobby of setting up and maintaining a model train collection is considered one of the more costly hobbies that you can become involved in. However, that does not stop many thousands, may be hundreds of thousands of people, spending a considerable amount of money on their model train collections.

Because of the significant amount of money you will have invested in establishing your model train collection, it is essential that you should take all the necessary measures to ensure that it is properly cared for. You would not want to have your investment to end up in the trash.

You will find that taking good care of your model train collection will save you a significant amount of money for repair and maintenance in the years to come.

The following simple guidelines should remind you of the basic essentials of the good habits you need to develop that will help take care of your very valuable model train collection and maintain it in prime working condition:

Originally posted 2009-11-01 23:11:52. Republished by Old Post Promoter

What is Model Train?

Model Trains Layouts — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:48:51 +0000

Model train, or railway modeling as it is known in the United Kingdom, is the fascination and preoccupation for the reduced-scale railway system.

The site www.modeltrain.co.uk takes every British model train enthusias on a closer look at a model train, model train layouts, the popular trains scale series whivh are the N and G Scale model trains.

Originally posted 2009-10-31 10:14:07. Republished by Old Post Promoter