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Hi, all new member here getting back into the hobby.  I used to model railroad with my grandfather from childhood through my teenage years. My interest was rekindled this week when i got my ten year old o-scale train out of storage and placed it under my christmas tree. Well the locomotive did not work and the sound card had definatly  gone bad. So after a trip to the only hobby store left in my area i had a a new locomotive, dummy, some new frieght cars and a loop of O-72. Im now trying to plan a small layout 5x9 max so i would appreciate any advice or guidance, Thanks

Last edited by RCard86
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Congratulations!  First, what type of track did you purchase?  There are some excellent track planning books, but some of the books deal largely with specific brands of track, although some track plans are more generally applicable.  Do you need guidance as to a train table or benchwork?  There are also specific layout building forums on the OGR Forum, although I just had difficult finding them again...

 

Last edited by Dennis GS-4 N & W No. 611

Glad you are back into the hobby!  I got into it in Nov 2014 and now 5 locomotives later, I still am enthusiastic.  The fellas in this forum are extremely helpful with info.  Anyway, I learned a lot since I purchased my first Lionel - the Polar Express Set.  Here are just a few things I have learned from being a Lionel junkie:

Lionel produces 2 worlds of trains - the sets for children and the high end locomotives for bigger children; on the high end side, Lionel only makes 1 production run of a finite number of units for a particular loco, but, may have another run some years later; once those are distributed and sold - that's all folks; Lionel will announce a new model and then you can order one before production begins - they call it Built to Order; the latest Legacy models are highly electronisized and you will be amazed at the handheld remote control capabilities of the 990 Command Set; being highly electronisized, you must be careful of the power supplies you use; 3 of my 5 locos right out of the box had to be sent back to Lionel for repair due to bad smoke units but I have had great luck with Lionel's warranty service; you must pay attention to the diameter of the curve track you use depending on requirements of your loco.

Have fun; read this forum!

I commend your decision to adopt a 5x9 size for home layout. That's a much better platform that the common 4x8 standard size of sheet plywood as a base for your emerging layout. The extra square feet will enable you to install wider radius curves ... up to O48 Lionel Fastrack curves and switches on an "outer" loop and O36 curves and switches on an "inner loop;" perhaps with O31 curves and switches for sidings.

Many newbies strive to fill all the available tabletop area with trackage, but then there's no space for buildings and action accessories. There's a "less is more" maxim at work here. Kids love to operate action freight cars and accessories -- log dump cars, coal dump cars, culvert loader and unloader, barrel loader, etc.

If 5x9 is the size limit because of the size of the room, consider adding a second level above the "ground level" for an elevated trolley route. Refer to the attached photo of my emerging two-level layout, which is a work in progress.

Carry on ....

Mike Mottler
LCCA 12394

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  • Hudson w-Percy: My great-grandson Hudson (age 3) tests LionChief control of Percy on my L-shaped layout.

Welcome back to a great hobby and a forum with a lot of help for questions. In order to use 0-72 you would have to go larger then the 5 foot width. 0-72 needs more like 7 feet wide. Sitting down and laying out and planning what you want to end up with is the best way to go at it. If you plan to down the road buy larger engines then you would need the larger radius. Not knowing how much space you have to work with if you could possible go 7 X 10 it would give you the room for that 0-72 on the outside..........Paul

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