Scale train sets

In reply to kazoospec :

Hers,a whole site dedicated to N-scale door layouts. Lots of inspiration here: Gordon's Great Track Plans

In reply to Appleseed :

Ugh.. You suck!

Well, then you'll hate this: Look at the amazing amount of action you can smash in 3sq ft or less. Micro Layout Inspiration

You can do an amazing amount in a simple circle.

Annnd now we're the proud owners of one of these:

The used train stuff market will no doubt be my financial undoing.  

You guys will enjoy this. 
 

Or even bigger/better, this one. 
 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Garden trains make me feel poor.  I can't even imagine what a setup like that costs to build and how much time it takes to maintain it. 

In reply to kazoospec :

I wish I had the time and money. My grandmother lived next to a retired lawyer that had built an incredible railroad in his backyard with huge intricate trestles over his fishpond, towns, tunnels etc. 

Every Christmas the New York Botanical Garden sets up trains in their conservatory with NYC landmarks made of plant parts that's incredible.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h7kGEGwaoHo

In reply to kazoospec :

No doubt, the maintenance seems like you'd need to hire a full-time MOW crew. 

There was a garden train setup for sale around here a few months ago. I think the guy was asking about $9000 for it.

Here's our current situation:  We picked up a Kato siding (Set V1).  The switches are power routing, so you can park a train either on the main line or siding and run the other "lane".  You can then park, throw the switches, and run the other train.  Basically, it's a very easy way to run two trains on the same layout with a single controller and no DCC.  We dug around in our old spares box and found a running Superchief engine, some freight and a caboose.  We ended up playing around for over an hour.  Always great to pry the kids away from a screen.  Pics:

Those switches sound ingenious.  I remember having to do that with old style track needed insulators, extra wires, etc.

It would appear that with Kato, you do get what you pay for.

I like your scenery work.

Yep, Kato is top shelf. After years of screwing with Atlas track and their crap switches my next layout will probably use Kato track. Their engines also run flawlessly and the power pack controllers have a nice action.

ddavidv said:

I like your scenery work.

 

Hahahaha, yeah.  I'm a reformed "scale modeler", so it kind of makes me crazy.  We're progressing towards a more permanent layout, but first we have to clean out a corner of the storage room, then finalize our track plan, then build benchwork, etc., etc., etc.  The "mountain" is something my older son and I made in an afternoon what seems like 100 years ago when his grandpa gave him a basic HO set.  The funny thing is, since it's HO, the tunnel openings are about 100 scale feet tall. 

As for the quality of the Kato stuff, the only thing I'm not 100% sold on is their couplers.  They seem kind of finicky and prone to random disconnects.  EVERYTHING else: engines, track, switching/electrical, sound and scale appearance are phenomenal.  It seems expensive (and it is), but really not much more than comparable Bachmann stuff for a huge jump in quality.  It also seems geared towards people without years of building railroads or a masters in electrical engineering. 

I've been inside most of today because snow.

Thanks to you guys, I've been browsing the Kato website because I'm stuck indoors.

I've also been measuring a spare closet that I might give up.

Damn your eyes.

In reply to ShawnG :

Same happened to me.  See page 1 of this thread!

Great, this place is too full of enablers. Now I find myself looking at stuff like this: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113739732431

Agreed.

Thanks to you guys, I'm going to be ordering one of these when they're available: 

https://www.katousa.com/N/Broadway/index.html

Along with this: https://www.katousa.com/N/GG1/137-2006.jpg

I also discovered that I can buy 3D printed 1930s automobiles to go with it.

I love Packards so it looks like I can have a 1930's themed train and layout along with the matching Packard dealership.

This place is hard on the wallet.

In reply to ShawnG :

 Brunswick red, I assume?

In reply to Appleseed :

Yup.

I opened up my train boxes a couple days ago. I have one box of HO stuff that I mostly got when I was around 6 and have another box with some N scale stuff in it from an aborted project back in the early 2000's.

Between this thread and NickD's railroad thread......I find myself thinking about building a layout with DCC and working signals.

In reply to T.J. :

Our little "layout" has a working 3 color signal and now also sports a working crossing gate with blinking lights, arms that move up and down and 4 available bell tones to match every type used at US rail crossings.  All this while the "layout" is still in the "set it up on the carpet in the extra bedroom" stage.  Kato is both your enemy and and your friend. . .

Just to continue hijacking this thread...

On Saturday, I headed out to pay a visit to the only two local hobby shops that still carried any sort of train stuff. Both about an hour drive from me.

The first one is only model railroad stuff and has been in business for about 40 years even though I can't understand how. The place looks like a bomb went off inside. Everything completely disorganised, rolling stock boxes shelved with just the end poking out so you can't see anything. I also got the distinct feeling that you need to be a rabid hobbyist with a whole basement completely given over to railroading to be taken seriously. Also, the average age in there seemed to be "dead". I bought most of the stuff on my track list from them out of my moral obligation to buy locally.

The second one also looked like a bomb went off but has only been in business a couple years. Some stuff on shelves or hooks but I ended up rooting through big cardboard boxes of track bits (new ones, just not put away) to not find what I needed. Left without buying anything.

Local hobby shops have been closing like mad since I was a kid. If this is what they're like now, no wonder they're circling the drain.

I came home and ordered the rest of the stuff online. My Kato GG1 is coming, they're mostly sold out but I managed to get one in Brunswick Green which I think I like the look of better anyway.

Oh, and Walthers can eat a satchel of richards. They won't ship to my US address because my cc billing address is in Canada AND they want to add a 25% fee to the order, over and above the shipping, to ship it to Canada. They can suck eggs, I'll buy from anyone but them.

So far, my foray back into the hobby has been challenging.

Would it be cheaper to ship to one of us in the states and have us send it to you?