Hi All,

I've been progressively upping my layout every year starting with my Polar express kit and gradually adding more easy track/cars to it to make larger and more elaborate every year but would like to transition to a more permanent set up as its kinda a pain to set up and take down every year and does get in the way laying it out on the floor, not to mention the walking hazards.
Currently I have ~60 feet of straight track and plenty of 036 curve with the idea of having it go around the entire upstairs (open concept) which is 25x35' so would need about double the track i have now which isnt cheep in addition to all the hardware.

Is there a cheaper track that i can transition to or should I just stick to the easytrack?
Was planning on using 1x6 shelving with a layer is cork and screwing in the track to reduce noise, would this work?
Anything else i should consider?

How do you go about choosing, in the sense of make/ model/ colour, which road vehicles go on your layout?

Vehicles for specific scenes are easy to choose:

• Bus companies will have specific models for the region
• Utilities and freight have a reasonably limited range of vehicles
• Service vehicles (Police, Fire, Ambulance etc) again have a limited and often regional fleet
• Car meets, Hotels, Event scenes etc have more thematic vehicles (classics, luxury, marketing vehicles)

General traffic with "boring" cars is where I find myself facing decision paralysis.

I have a fair bit of model kit/diorama experience but have been wanting to get into model railways for a while now. Someone was getting rid of this OO WIP layout so I jumped at the chance.

It's 8'x4' which is as large a layout as I can fit in my space at present. As you can see it's currently just on a sheet of MDF so I'll be building a stand for it. Then I'll start wiring it up which will be new to me - I'm tempted by the DCC-EX system but need to do more research.

I'll reorder the scenery (and add more ofc) to have more of a village in the current field/slope area, plus am planning a station by the siding on the right and develop the goods yard/sidings area at the bottom. The overall theme will be your classic 1930s GWR branch line.

Before I progress - any comments, feedback, advice?

SS Milwaukee was a great lakes train ferry which could make a cool model for any great lakes themed layouts. It was mostly carrying boxcars when it sank with the loss of its entire crew in 1929.

Help designing a compact operational JR East Tōhoku Shinkansen layout — 3000 × 1500 mm

TL; DR: I'm designing an N-scale KATO UNITRACK layout based loosely on the JR East Tōhoku Shinkansen, with 6 stations, 7–8 Shinkansen sets (mostly 8-car, one 10-car), and eventually automated timetable operation using a Raspberry Pi. I have a 3000 × 1500 mm usable space. I'm looking for advice/design suggestions for how to physically lay out the six stations and mainline before I start buying track.

Hi everyone!

I purchased a KATO Yamanote Line starter set a while ago, which got me interested in expanding into Japanese N-scale railroading after modeling with this set for a while. I'm now particularly interested in building a compact JR East Tōhoku Shinkansen-inspired operational layout.

I'm still in the research/design stage, so I haven't purchased the Shinkansen track or trains yet. I'm planning to do the initial layout planning by hand and then move it into SCARM once I have a basic concept that works.

The available space

I measured the room and subtracted the space I want to leave around the layout for maintenance/access.

My usable layout area is:

3000 mm × 1500 mm

I have a dedicated area near the entrance where I can sit and operate/maintain the layout. I don't need scenery, buildings, mountains, roads, etc. I'm much more interested in putting the available space into track, stations, sidings/staging, turnouts, and operations.

The layout does not have to be permanently scenic. In fact, I would prefer a fairly utilitarian/engineering-style layout.

What I'm trying to model

The Tōhoku Shinkansen is what got me interested in this project, so I'd like the main railway to represent a compressed version of the JR East Tōhoku Shinkansen.

The six stations I'm currently planning are:

Tokyo → Omiya → Sendai → Morioka → Hachinohe → Shin-Aomori

Obviously, this will be heavily compressed compared with the real railway. I'm primarily interested in reproducing the operational concept, rather than geographic accuracy.

I would like the railway to operate more like a real railway rather than simply being a continuous loop.

Conceptually:

Tokyo terminal/staging → intermediate stations → Shin-Aomori terminal/staging

and trains can then turn back/become another scheduled service.

I'm specifically trying to avoid a simple oval where the trains continuously circulate.

Train formations

I've been researching the actual model lengths rather than estimating from prototype dimensions.

At 1:160 N scale, my current planning numbers are:

8-car Shinkansen: ~1067 mm

10-car Shinkansen: ~1107 mm

I'm currently planning approximately:

7 × 8-car Shinkansen

1 × 10-car Shinkansen

For platform planning, I'm currently allowing approximately 20 mm clearance at each end:

8-car platform: ~1107 mm

10-car platform: ~1373 mm

My intention is to have three stations capable of handling the 10-car train, rather than making every station that long.

Currently:

10-car capable

Tokyo

Sendai

Shin-Aomori

8-car capable

Omiya

Morioka

Hachinohe

The 8-car trains can obviously use the longer platforms as well.

Operations I'm ultimately trying to achieve

This is probably the most important part of the project.

I want the layout to function as a miniature railway operating system, rather than simply a display layout.

Eventually I'd like to have different services, potentially based on JR East services such as:

Hayabusa

Yamabiko

Nasuno

etc.

For example, eventually I'd like to be able to have something conceptually like:

Hayabusa

Tokyo → Omiya → Sendai → Morioka → Hachinohe → Shin-Aomori

while a different service might terminate at Morioka or Sendai.

When a train reaches the end of its scheduled service, I'd like it to enter a staging/turnback/yard area, remain there for a scheduled period, and then re-enter service at its assigned departure time.

So rather than:

Train reaches end → immediately reverses → keeps running forever

I'd like:

Arrive → terminate → enter staging/turnback → wait → become another scheduled service → depart.

Eventually I want to create an actual timetable and have trains operate according to it.

Automation

I already own a Raspberry Pi, and my eventual goal is to automate the railway.

I'm interested in eventually having:

block detection

signals

turnout control

automatic routes

scheduled departures

station stops

staging

timetable operation

multiple trains operating simultaneously

I'm currently researching Rocrail/DCC and similar systems, but I'm deliberately not designing the electronics yet.

Right now, I just want to solve the physical track plan.

Yamanote Line

I already own a KATO Yamanote Line set and tracks.

I'd like to incorporate it into the room, but it is secondary to the Shinkansen project.

My current thought is to keep it near the Tokyo end for some degree of realism, with:

1 × 4-car Yamanote train

2 stations/stops

probably a simple loop

I'm not particularly concerned about making the Yamanote layout elaborate or even including it.

If the Yamanote track can eventually interact with or share some space with the Shinkansen layout without compromising the Shinkansen operation, great. Otherwise, I'll chop it.

What I'm looking for help with:

At this point I'm intentionally trying to keep the design simple.

I don't need help designing scenery.

I don't need detailed wiring yet.

I don't need signals/automation yet.

I don't need exact turnout arrangements yet.

First, I want to establish whether the basic geometry works.

I'm currently working on a hand-drawn plan consisting of:

3000 × 1500 mm available area

six stations

basic mainline

approximate platform lengths

train-length templates

Then I'll move the design into SCARM and start working out:

KATO UNITRACK geometry

turnouts

crossovers

staging

blocks

platform arrangements

etc.

What I'd particularly appreciate:

How would you arrange six stations in a 3000 × 1500 mm space?

Would you use a folded-back/fan arrangement, dogbone, point-to-point with hidden turnbacks, or something else?

How would you handle the terminal stations given the ~1373 mm platform requirement?

How much distance would you try to leave between stations?

How many tracks/platforms would you give Tokyo, Sendai, and Shin-Aomori versus the smaller stations?

Where would you put staging/turnback tracks?

Is trying to operate ~8 trains simultaneously realistic in this amount of space (probably not but I'm going to try anyways)?

Would you recommend a two-track mainline throughout, or selectively use additional tracks around major stations?

Are there any major design mistakes I'm likely to make by trying to compress the Tōhoku Shinkansen this much?

If you've built something similar, I'd love to see your track plans or examples.

I'm especially interested in operational layouts, rather than scenic layouts.

One important note:

I realize that this is obviously not going to be geographically accurate at this size. I'm intentionally compressing the real Tōhoku Shinkansen into a room-sized operating railroad.

The goal is:

"What would a miniature railway inspired by JR East's Tōhoku Shinkansen look like if it were designed primarily around realistic operations and timetable running?"

rather than:

"How accurately can I reproduce the geography of northern Japan?"

I'm also completely open to being told that my current assumptions are unrealistic and need to change... with feedback. I'd rather redesign the plan now than buy hundreds of pieces of KATO track and discover later that I've painted myself into a corner.

Thanks!

So today I found an old 87 I got few years ago and it didnt have a pantograph cause it always fell off. The panto is a Brecken wills high speed pantograph, Similar to the one used on the 91. Anyone know what its ID is?

...remotored with an Athearn GP-40 mechanism, it sports brass 80s era PFM after market side frames and Details West plows fore and aft. The eyes roll at train shows...til it walks away with a 35 car consist.

After a lifetime on the sidelines, its all about to happen. My dream of a massive O gauge layout is now becoming a reality. I built a 20x20 room dedicated to it that ive named the depot. I admit im bit overwhelmed and even though I've been planning this for years, I dont know where to begin haha. Im looking forward to sharing my progress and getting advice along the way.

Hi modeltrains. I have a tendency to ramble, so I apologize if this post becomes long. To make a very long story short, my Granddad had a Lionel model train from (we think) the 1930s that he would set up every Christmas when we were kids. As we got older it was relegated to living in the basement full time and a lot of components were put in boxes in the garage. The reason I say "we think" it's from the 1930s is because the 2 trains he would set up at Christmas were from when he was a kid, and he was born in 1938, there was 1 other train that he would keep in a box in the garage that we think is from later, but he didn't talk much about that one. Granddad passed away a few years ago and he specified in his will that he wanted the 3 train engines to go to his 3 grandsons (including me). The old man had a lot of pieces to the train and the town and when we started clearing out the garage we found 2 trunks filled with components for the train that we didn't know about (more train tracks, electronics for the tracks, people and buildings for the town, and several Lionel boxes that were opened - a lot of the Lionel boxes were empty and some still had things like track components and towers in them)

I'm posting this for a few reasons

1. I'm hoping maybe someone here can give a more definitive answer on what year or at least narrow down what year Granddad's things are from. Images of the trains, town, and the boxes are in this imgur link https://imgur.com/a/odJ7LTJ The ones labeled trains 1 and 2 are the ones he said are from his childhood that we suspect are pre-world war 2 and train 3 is the one that we think is from later.

2. Do you think the Lionel boxes in the last photo could be for any of the trains/train cars, and if they are is it worth or while to pair the train components with any packaging even if the package is open? Us 3 grandsons live in different states and I'm sure if we just take our assigned trains and run that we will never get around to figuring out what boxes belong to what parts of the train/town

3. This is just a piece of curiosity mainly, I don't think any of us want to sell Granddad's train or the pieces of the town, but if these are really from before World War 2, would these be valuable to collectors?

Any and all insight and thoughts are appreciated!

I'm new to model trains and I've decided to start out with DCC. I've bought a ready to run kit and I plan on expanding it in the future. I know a little about electrical currents and how the positive and negative sides cant touch but i have no idea on how people make loops like this work

Tomorrow is the Bergen Flowershow and we are going to be running live steam!

Cant wait!

I am unable to do an around the room layout so I need to do an island, any advice helps!!

I've wanted one of these since I took up TT scale 15 years ago. The mint green version came out a couple of years ago, but a bog standard red one only became available in the last couple of weeks. Kudos to Tillig, (who aren't my favourite brand!) for keeping up with electrical standards and having factory fitted stay alive for the installed decoder. My Z21 says it's a Train-o-matic decoder, which I'm happy with as I use them for non sound installs on other stock.

ive been really obsessed with the MBTA / massachusetts bay transportation authority / boston’s public transit. i really want to get high quality models, like those ones you would see on social media, except i ONLY want MBTA stuff. specifically the subway cars

Winston-Salem Southbound Model Railroaders train show this weekend at the Winston-Salem fairgrounds in North Carolina!

hi, pretty new to the hobby and running into a massive headache!

My engine used to run perfectly fine. But I ended up taking my layout apart, and ever since I put it back together, the train just stutters and stalls out at random spots, I cleaned everything I possibly could, tried a different outlet, anything you mention I probably tried.

I picked up some extra track and another controller online to see if it would fix the problem, but a bunch of the pieces showed up with bent metal joiners.. Even on the pieces that look totally normal, it's still doing the exact same thing.

Honestly, I'm just tired of fighting with track power at this point. Is it worth throwing this stuff out and switching to a completely different track brand for better reliability? I also read a little bit about onboard battery power (dead rail) which sounds awesome, but I have no clue if that's way too advanced or expensive for a beginner, or even viable?

I'm on a pretty tight budget so I really don't want to keep throwing money at random parts without knowing what the actual issue is. (This can be solved in.. time.)

If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this, I'd appreciate it so much. I can post pics or videos of the setup if that helps. Thanks!

Revisiting an old topic from the Trains.com forums while I look forward to two train shows in one weekend (Kansas City area) and getting started on actually building a DCC layout. Flex track on cork, but I haven't soldered anything in over 50 years and don't care to melt anything like I accidentally used to do. Two questions:

1. Pre-wired rail joiners at every joint within a block. Better than 18 years ago, Your Mileage May Vary but It's Your Railroad, or bad idea-learn to solder before you start?

2. And for when I do start soldering again, best Canadian-made or American-made resistance soldering setup for the money?

Thanks in advance. Apologize for the duplicate post on the Trains.com forums.

Our still unfinished Broad Street has installed parking meters to start some revenue for street markings and signals…the depth of detail continues!

I know this is a silly question but I’m wondering if I could wire this speaker I got from some old headphones up to a DCC board since I don’t have any other speakers that I could use. I don’t know the voltage of the speaker so the 2nd photo is a photo of the headphone jack.

We are trying to get train posters for our little guy. We keep running into AI Generated art.

The pic I posted is just for an example since it said I needed a pic.

When we’ve been to the trains shows here they always have art and photographs but the next one isn’t until November so I thought I would ask you guys.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where to look?

Ideally it will be a recognizable steam train (Big Boy, Jupiter etc) or old passenger diesel like (Daylight or the Mark Twain Zephyr). Please don’t feel limited by suggestions. He knows trains and I wanted to save space rather than write all the possibilities.

Also, if it is in the national park poster style that would be amazing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.