so confused

Put extensions on the legs of your bed to clear the G scale! ha ha...

Don't forget Z scale if you have cramped quarters, you can run some nice long trains and the space means the train is not chasing it's tail so to speak.

Greg

I prefer 0-gauge myself. Here's a small layout this guy did a beautiful job on IMO. It doesn't take up much space and looks like alot of fun. It could be adapted to a roll-away platform that could fit under the bed......

The key to any successful project is to establish a budget and go from there. In my attic (and still under construction) is a 14x39' layout. Why? Because I have the space and money. My personal challenge is TIME.

• Establish a budget
• Determine available space
• Plan
• Acquire
• Construct
• Operate.

You need money, period. No money, no project. I would start by telling any young person to get out, and get a job. MANY of us started out washing dishes and/or bagging groceries. There is absolutely no shame in working for minimum wage. Another option would be to flip items on Buy/sell Forum here, or on eBay.

Space. I agree with Greg. Were I faced with tight budget and space constraints, Z scale is probably a good way to go. Look at coffee table layouts. Regardless of your "preferred" scale these can be very nice. There are some pretty neat NOCH and Marklin layouts on eBay right now.

Plan. Start simple. Either a loop or a basic point to point. In any case, get something running. Make it fancy later.

A coffee table should be easy. Look on Craig's list. You may even find a coffee table for free, or close to it. Retail packing materials are free, and a good source of scenery material. Just use your imagination.

Build it. Need help? Ask for it. It is difficult for us old guys to admit that we need help sometimes. The earlier you figure that out, the better.

Finally, run the darn thing and have fun.

"college has me so bogged down with schoolwork and my laptop with youtube and twitter has me distracted as well as my hobby of NERF blasters and here lately i have been trying to tackle lucid dreaming and i am so busy looking at other layouts that i have no time to plan my own and i wanna do so bad what i see on youtube like run sessions and stuff and there is no clubs i can go to here in greenville nc"

College is your job right now.  If youtube and twitter have you distracted, remove the app from your phone/computer.  Perhaps one hobby is enough at this point in your life?  Discipline and choices.  Life requires the first and the ability to set priorities will reduce your anxiety and sense of being out of control.

The previous posts give good advice. Gilly, especially, breaks it down well.

First and foremost, DON’T BUY ANYTHING for the hobby that is scale-oriented other than books and modeling materials, until you know what you’re going to do. Too many people wasted money on stuff they never ran and then found out the secondary market for model trains is very unforgiving. You’ll never get rich selling second-hand model trains stuff (except the antique ones, in some cases).

I am lucky in that I always wanted to model a specific RR. Bachman came out with the prototype I wanted in G scale so I spent years buying cars in anticipation of a dream layout I eventually realized I’d never build. When the same company came out with the same loco in On30, I was off and running soon after seeing one for the first time.

I both envy and feel sorry for those who don’t know what they want to model. Envy in that they can buy anything they want (you can’t do that on a land-locked narrow gauge railroad) and feel sorry for those who buy so much random stuff it looks sort of silly on their layout later on.

You MUST first decide on a scale and then figure out your concept. This might take you a very long time.

I have had most scales O/S/G/HO/N/Z. I started with 0 and now back in O / HO / 1 1/2 (like the size of the trains and operating accessories).

The things that help me decided were:

Size - O gauge is easier for me to hold with out breaking details.

Space - I would pick HO if I didn't have a lot.  O gauge if I had a lot. N - If only a little space (But personally is to small for me).

Selection - HO

Accessories - O gauge 

Durability - O gauge

Outdoor - G gauge or 1 1/2 7.5 inch gauge

Cost - Start with used (especially if O gauge) until you can afford what you want.  HO is probably cheapest then N then O / G

I prefer O gauge over H.O. because the curve sizes are very close in size for both; example is O gauge track can start at 27 inch curve(027) and go  up to 120 inch curves, H.O. starts at 30 inch curves and goes up 48 inch curves(maybe larger?). FYI; I have set up an 027 circle of track and an H.O. set of curved tracks, the 027 track fit inside the H.O. track as the curves were factory curves.

For space concerns I would look at N scale trains and track as H.O. scale don't have that much of an advantage over O scale in track sizes(my opinion).

Lee Fritz

Paige 

Your first problem will solve your second. Invest in your occupational future and you will have the space, money,  freedom for this hobby the rest of you life. Unless of course you get mixed up with a woman who doesn't support your hobbies.

college has me so bogged down with schoolwork and my laptop with youtube and twitter has me distracted as well as my hobby of NERF blasters and here lately i have been trying to tackle lucid dreaming and i am so busy looking at other layouts that i have no time to plan my own and i wanna do so bad what i see on youtube like run sessions and stuff and there is no clubs i can go to here in greenville nc

I think you need to re-examine your priorities.  College to move forward to employment and a stable career, etc.  Put the rest of that stuff in a trunk and lock it until you finish college and get that job / career in your hand.  Even then, you need to save every penny for things like a house, car, pay the bills, and despite it being something that few think about, put away money for retirement.  Secure your life 1st!

Ok, fold in a family and more life security and bills..........and time spent being a responsible adult - all costs time and money, two of the critical components to model RR'ing hobbyists.

Greenville, NC -- Pitt Co. -- you're adjacent to the Carolina Piedmont Div of the Mid East Region of the NMRA -- http://www.cpd13.org/  -- Contact some of the guys on the Board there - Steve, John and Gene are good guys!!! - and ask them about stuff and clubs you can visit and get on there mailing list for their newsletter - join the NMRA at the lowest cost tier, too.

You're way to young to worry about a lot of the rest - it'll all be there later.  I was in my late 40's before I had the time, career security, and funds available to return my attention to O scale model RR'ing after I went off to my 1st college degree.  3 degrees later and when I was ready, I was able to unpack the stuff my youth and move forward to what I wanted to do on my terms.

Ok, you can also then use the smaller scales for fun, thinking, planning, etc for later.  Keep informed, read the mags & books, and when you have your life in your control, expand as you wish, but do it within your control.

I have been an armchair modeller for more years than I would admit to, but have had fun with a lot of small projects. If you dug deep enough in my house, you'd find samples of everything from tinplate Standard Gauge to American Flyer S gauge down to N scale, although O scale has been my main interest.

You seem to have a solid idea of your freelance layout. If you build a small project related to your future plans, it will give you some satisfaction without the big financial outlay. Even the great Gorre & Daphetid started out smaller than 4 x 8'. A small module or two that you can build into your future layout might work: 

Here's some ideas for all scales:

http://www.carendt.com/

https://sites.google.com/site/...thernrr/home/modules

Between the ages of 14 years old to 33 years old I never had any real sort of trains come to think of it never had much at all. In those days in Australia, advanced education was reserved for the bright or the wealthy the In betweens had to go out and work and so there was no money left for anything else then I joined the military and moved around a bit it was only when I finally settled down and got married that I had time to think about a hobby again which brought me to 1975 (I was born in 1943) I was always interested in trains and at the time we were living in a one bedroom dump the bedroom for us the lounge/ kitchen for the baby and a small HO layout. In Australia in those days O scale just wasn't around, still very little here in Perth anyway, so I chose Marklin for ease of wiring and reliability in a confined area, when we finally moved into our own house I found out about American O scale and had that ever since. lots of things left out here need 30 pages! If you can find the first issue of OST mag you will find a brief history of my life with trains not much different to what I have written here so don't bother!

I can't offer any advice, nowadays people have to many choices  and it tends to confuse them (what you said in your first message!)  go to the supermarket and try and buy toothpaste you will see what I mean. Maybe a Marklin HO layout till you get things together like I did or a small MTH or Lionel set up with that plastic ballasted track till you can get something better. Sorry mate this is all I can offer you.

 Roo.

Roo posted:

If you can find the first issue of OST mag you will find a brief history of my life with trains not much different to what I have written here so don't bother!.

That can be downloaded from the OST website for free.

You might consider using any scale's track/roadbed system just to start, where track pieces snap together and can be disconnected and rearranged.   Perhaps N scale using Kato Unitrack.  You can then set up temporary layouts on a table or a piece of foam to slide under your bed.   This way you can get some trains running and see what you really like.   I have used track/roadbed sections in Z, N, HO, and O.  I recommend the Kato Unitrack line for N and HO.   For Z, there is a track set from a Japanese company Rokuhan.  For O gauge, I use Lionel Fastrack.   O gauge will be more expensive overall, and N may the least expensive for track and trains.

HO is the way to go if you want to do a lot with little money. I have both O and HO with each one having nearly seventy feet of track to cruise on. I will say if you go with HO I would suggest strictly buying DCC equiped engines and stay away from the old DC engines. You can buy new Bachmann DCC equiped engines at thefavoritespot.com for $40.00 - $60.00 each.

I started in HO, then went to O 3 rail, then O 2 rail, bought a G starter set, then went back to HO. HO has the most choice's for everything, Value sound Bachmann dcc engines can be picked up for $80 to $200 new. I have been picking up Bachmann dcc ready engines rather cheap ($39.99) brand new when hobby shops dump them on clearance sales. I buy HO freight cars for $9.99 brand new in the box, don't care what the name on the side is. Scale trains dumped their evans box cars to clear out their warehouse for $9.99 each, I was able to buy 21 of them after selling most of my O scale items. 

Just sign up for their email alerts at big hobby shops, that is when you get the best deals. My train budget has gotten smaller because I don't need everything I see anymore. Try to pick a certain time frame for your railroad, "freelance" will have you buying everything you see. I only limit my HO steam engines to have sound and smoke, that means Broadway Limited or MTH. I have diesel's from the late 40's to today, mixing the diesel power is fun. I run my son's MTH Lackawanna NS SD70ACe with my altas Lackawanna train master, he runs his MTH Reading SD70ACe with his athearn Reading GP7.

Just because you don't have a big budget does not mean you can't enjoy this hobby, you just need to spend wisely.

You are young. Go HO or smaller. Most of us, not necessarily all of us, are into O gauge or S gauge; first because we are nostalgic (what we had we were kids) and second we have bad eyesight or trembling hands. I've read some of your other posts and it appears to me that you don't have the financial resources for O gauge. Go with what you can afford.

Hi I am no life coach by any means but after pounding your brain all day at school, toy trains can be a great stress reliever and may actually help you focus. Stay off of youtube, it'll rot your brain. As far as train sizes go, here are my thoughts:

Standard gauge: Large and expensive. This is probably the least practical gauge. You need lots of space to do a lot, they are finiky about track plans, they can't run outdoors, and they dent your wallet.

G gauge: Can be lots of fun and usually have good reliability. There is enough variety that you can enter at pretty much any price point. The downfall is that they need space to look good. If you have some outdoor space these can be fun. I used to have a nice G gauge layout in the backyard when I lived in a warmer climate. Not too practical here in Boston.

1 Gauge: Usually need as much space as G gauge. This is somewhat of a niche market and items on the secondary market are few and pricey.

0 Gauge: Can be deceptively pricey, although due to popularity there is much available on the secondary market. If you just want to run trains you can do it on the good old 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. More complex operations require much, much, much more room.

S gauge: Really good looking proportions but dwindling suppliers push the secondary market prices up. Starting to become a niche market.

HO gauge: Track plans usually take up almost as much space as 0 gauge but scenery and structures are smaller. The best advantage is that there is uber amounts of stuff available on the secondary market, sometimes very cheap. You even find stuff in yard sales sometimes.

N gauge: Also looks good proportionally. You can pack a lot of layout action on a sheet of plywood that can slide under your bed. Bring your girlfriend over and let her play too. If that doesn't get an "ah so cute" out of her, nothing will. Downside is that a smaller secondary market makes used items sometimes more pricey than HO.

Z gauge: Very small and you can create some intricate layouts on a coffee table. This is also somewhat of a niche market so prices and availability of items on the secondary market is not as favorable.

Just my $0.02 worth of thoughts.

Frank

Go to a train show where local clubs set up portable / modular layouts and talk to people.  Ask about their choices of equipment, and ask about their club.  Find some people that you get along with, and ask if you can join.  Get involved, and listen and learn.  You'll get firsthand exposure to various types of equipment, and you can acquire a few pieces as your budget allows.  You can progress into building a module.  If you join a modular group that follows nationally-recognized standards, any module that you build will still be usable if you move and want to join a new club.

Forget about a layout of your own. It will become too much of a distraction from your school work. Instead, join a local train club with an operating layout. Then buy some trains that will run on the club's layout, and run them on weekends.

One advantage of Z scale is you can run prototype length trains and if you put it in a larger space than a coffee table, you can actually run like a real railroad.

Each scale offers advantages and disadvantages... so you have to kind of determine what you want from running trains.

As I grew up, watching a train chasing it's tail running the same circuit every 15 seconds was no longer fun. So I moved outdoors to get some running length, and also built Z scale indoors for prototype operation with broad curves.

These are the things that interested me. Each person will want something different.

Greg

I so know the feeling of being drawn to soooo many different prototypes and scales.  I barely can afford one scale when it comes down to it.  But yet I try to keep things going in 2 scales with the g scale having several themes I switch between.  Thats one of my downfalls being on the autism spectrum, my interests within the train hobby flip and flop like a light switch.  I have a very small(55" by 33") train layout that has been several scales, from Marklin 3 rail HO to N scale.  I am slowly rebirthing it in HOn3 after picking up an old PFM/United brass Southern Pacific 4-6-0 for $100 at the show on saturday.  I used to have a full loop of track, however all but one piece had been squashed beyond use.  So new track is needed, along with turnouts ect.   But by keeping the acutual layout very small.  Costs can be kept low.  Just need a few freight cars and a combine the SPng used as a caboose.  Buildings can be found as kits or second hand at shows, and not many are needed as it was a desolate area this line ran thru.  Most cars, buildings ect are wood kits and provide hours of enjoyment assembling, and to me thats the most enjoyable part of this hobby.  Building things, fine tuning the old locomotive and being able to say "I built that!".   The kits are cheaper than the RTR buildings we see today as many current modelers do not want to build kits.  The next step is up to you, you are going to have to pick something and just go for it  Even if its just a small layout like I am doing in HOn3.  It can be an excellent kick starter for something bigger once other life events settle down.    Mike

paigetrain posted:

i can't make up my mind on anything

 

I have the same problem:

So I use all gauges and scales, in the house and in the garden.

Regards

Fred

see if you can join a local division of the NMRA, go to some meetings, ask around where you can do some operating sessions.

Nothing beats on hands expiereance.

You have to set priorities, your immediate goal and focus is your college education and attaining the degree, you also have to balance your time spent on twitter, facebook , you tube and socializing. Wanting to build a model railroad and model railing, in general, is a great hobby and you will have time in the future to explore this hobby. Once you complete your degree and enter the job market money and time will come for you to design and build the model train layout. Although my text may seem to be harsh this is not the intent, first priority is your college education and degree.  

You think you have an issue with scale/gauge?  I have boxes of HO and OO from Germany and the UK plus more boxes and boxes of O gauge from the U.S. and U.K plus three 3/4 inch to the foot 3 1/2 inch gauge live steamers in the garage.  The 3/4 inch to the foot stuff requires a 20 foot radius.