Model Railroaders: Are you one?

Hey Ladies & Gents,


This topic was created in response to Lady Fitzgerald's "Who likes Locomotives?" topic.

I'm much like her, I love trains, but I'd rather have scaled versions than the real ones.

Since I'm currently in school, I can't work on my setup. I plan on creating a Big Boy friendly 22" railway system & realistic large scale train bed. I also plan on making it easy to break down in certain areas.

Please post tips, tricks, and suppliers you've used in the past/present so others can find more out. Also, please post pictures of your setup, and a descriptive detail on why you did it, and what your future plans are. :)


Suppliers:
ModelTrainStuff | Model Trains | Train Sets | Railroad Accessories (Parts, Locomotives, Diesel & More)
Digitrax, Inc. (DCC & more (Infra-Red Setup))

I have such large plans, it would take me forever to finish it. But to simplify it, I want an entire garage, dedicated to my model trains. All Big Boy friendly turns, and switches. Real water flowing, lights, and sounds. I'm basing my display after my city I live in, Wenatchee, WA. It's home to the Great Northern Railway when it was operational, and is current occupied by BNSF (Burlington Northern Sante Fe). My goal is to purchase every Steam Locomotive, and diesel there is. To have them all DCC Infra-Red Encoded, and have a House for each Brand. I want to be old, and still be able to enjoy what I love, computers & trains.

- Dread

I grew up with Lionel O gauge then I built a custom layout in HO gauge and then started to collect N gauge. When we moved my Mom gave the HO sets and layout to the Postman. My oldest brother got the HO set and has never done anything with it and the N gauge is anyone's guess where it went. If I were to start up again I would be hard pressed to choose between N gauge or a slot car set up.

As a kid growing up in Redondo Beach it was at the height of the slot car crazy with multiple tracks to go to and I remember on nearest to me which had a great course called Monza. The smell of solder, rubber and smoked electronics was intoxicating....I was all of 8-9 years old. I remember the wood tool boxes which everyone sported with all their cars controllers and go fast stuff....miss those days......really miss those days !

Ah. I'm going to assume I'm the youngest who has posted in here. I'm 24, approaching 25. I was given a HO model train set when I was about 13. I've loved them since I was even younger, as with tractors, semis, and other heavy equipment. I still plan on having a 'Guy' space when I finish up here at college. Even if it has to be a rented storage shed to store my toys in, I'd love it.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whose done it. My mentors in it built a oval style race track, but for model trains. It's the size of a standard in ground swimming pool. Has enough space for multiple people to run, its all RF, and you can run up to 50 trains at the same time.

I do remember the Asp cars vaguely. I remember guys soldering up the most amazing tube frame chassis's and mounting the motors in every fashion possible. The best motors were hand wound by artisans or you got Japanese wound race motors. I remember the alcohol drenched burn outs to get the tires hot and super sticky and of course the smell of the place was pure electronics frying !