What would you have done differently from the beginning?

What would I have done differently from the beginning?

Ditched everything and forgotten everything I know about toy trains............

Pick one track system and stick with it. I have both O and 027 tubular track, Atlas, some GarGrave switches, some Ross switches and some kline  super K track (remember that one) all on the same layout. When I started my layout, I meant for it to be a temporary experiment. That was in 1996 and I still have the same layout today, because, I basically got the track plan right, despite using these different brands. It is a lot of fun and I have never wanted to tear it down and start over. Before I started, I read books from the HO world like "Track Planning for Realistic Operation"  and "How to operate your Model Railroad". I incorporated some of the things I read and somehow got very close to being right, obviously, picking one track system and sticking with it would have been a little better from an aesthetic standpoint. Oh well.

Since getting started in this hobby, my appreciation for a more prototypical look has grown immensely. Had I realized this in the beginning I would probably have gone to 2 rail.

John

Three words:  No Liftout Section.

Rusty

        bought a bigger house...

briansilvermustang posted:

 

        bought a bigger house...

 

My friend Nick and I have been looking to borrow or rent a basement stretcher for quite a while now. Does anyone know where we can find one?

CJ Meyers posted:

What would I have done differently from the beginning?

Ditched everything and forgotten everything I know about toy trains............

Care to elaborate?

Wider aisles.

I started off with 0-27 when I returned to the hobby in 1989 as that’s what I had as a kid.  And each time I had to make a decision between expanding the existing layout using 0-27 or starting anew with wider radius curves, I took the lazy man’s choice and stuck with 0-27.

So; were I actually allowed a “painless” do over; I’d start with a minimum of 0-72.

Curt

No doubt the hobby has evolved. From a period where collectors were trying to relive their childhood days and buy everything post war to a time where high tech remote operation came on to the market. The shift that we saw was that numerous collectors became operators and the needs for better running trains became reality.  For instance, back in the day,  I just had to own the entire 6464 boxcar collection. When I built the layout; as they didn't run real well, I couldn't use any of this stuff  so an entire new 6464 collection is now used. It was a waste but as new stuff came onto the market that's the way it went. If I were to start all over again, the need would be for around 6 good running train sets of rolling stock and sufficient engines to populate the 28' x 14' layout.  The obsession is over, I still purchase the occasional piece but 3/4 of my collection now just sits on the shelf.

Finish the wiring under the layout.  Only wired in half of the track wire drops to the buzz main wires.   Having problems getting down and BACK UP.  But the trains run OK.

Bought Less Stuff!  (Engines, Cars, Buildings, Diecast, and the list goes on.....)

Would have gone with 083 outer and 072 inner mainlines instead of the 072 outer and 054 inner the layout has. Also would have allowed 072 minimum curves instead of 054. Would have given me a larger selection of locomotives to choose from. Then maybe I could fit a scale articulated locomotive on my layout. Not that it won't fit on the 072 mainline. The issue is that a scale articulated locomotive would have to pass through a 054 switch and curve to get to the main line. 

Steal a nuclear-powered DeLorean, go back in time to December 1973, and tell my Dad to buy used American Flyer!?  Sic mundus creatus est.

PH1975 posted:

CJ Meyers posted:

What would I have done differently from the beginning?

Ditched everything and forgotten everything I know about toy trains............

Care to elaborate?

I've mentioned in some of my previous posts that my 'collection' is mostly pieces inherited from my grandfather, mostly tinplate. He liked to fix up the junkers, but was never good at it, and his skills waned as he aged. A lot of his stuff needs work, re-refinishing etc. Just a point of frustration at times. Too many trains not running.

Read/learn more about wiring, the layout works good but if you look under the layout , you would not understand why/how it runs.

Brent

I could say I would like to have started with what I now have but learning what that is required an evolution based on operating experience. 

I knew I wanted O scale (so I could see it and work with it) 3rail (to keep the cost down compared with 2rail O scale). I came up with what I thought was a good track-plan and built it; a loop of track around the walls and an industrial/switching area. Looking East:

Looking West.

Kind of classic, a run-around track, sidings facing both ways with one car spotted per siding and the usual switchback siding. It turned out to be boring and frustrating. All I was doing was moving cars around to get access to spot a car. Real railroads don't use switchback sidings because a giant time waste. So I tweaked it:

The West End with multiple car spots per siding.

The East End where one industry now has (4) car spots. Switchback siding gone (good riddance!) We iz learning.

A return loop was added (in the next room):

Along the way I eliminated two unneeded track switches which streamlined the track-work a bit. Again we iz learning. From this:

To this:

Then I created something of an Inglenook switching puzzle which turned out fabulous. One siding off the main ending in three spurs with several car spots and room for drilling cars:

It can take 40 (real-time) minutes to switch the area and there are different strategies depending on what needs picked-up and what needs set-out. Lotta' operating fun right there. We iz learning more.

By now I perceived there was just too much track for my aesthetic sensibilities  so I went to work. I eliminated the passing-siding/run-around. Looking East today:

Looking West today:

By now the return loop in the next room is an Interchange with the outside world. There are now five basic consists which cycle onto and off of the Pike so pick-ups and set-outs vary with each Turn:

So today I have a simplified, more prototypically correct track-plan with switching operations that are always fun, never boring. There is no way I could have planned it this way in the beginning because I lacked the experience learned by going through the intermediate steps. The decking under the track looks like a jigsaw-puzzle of plywood pieces because every tweak changed it a little bit.

Absolutely: I wouldn't have:

• Sold off as many of my inexpensive conventional WbB engines. They are great for running at public displays.
• Bought FasTrack for my attic layout. It was sold off $0.50/$1.00. I should have listened and gone GarGraves/Ross first.
• Bought RailKing command control engines. I liked them but they were sold off to be replaced with scale versions.
• Passed on the 3rd Rail N&W Y6a. I have a JLC Y6b. It's great, but...
• Bought as many non N&W / Fallen Flags cars.
• Only bought one Natty Boh car when they were first offered. Should have bought at least a dozen. 

And I should have

• Bought more Weaver and Kline while I had the chance.

briansilvermustang posted:

 

        bought a bigger house...

 

Ha! We DID buy a bigger house and finally have room for trains and sewing.  But we should have bought an even BIGGER house because we have both acquired a taste for even moar trainz&sewing !

But it's all good because some is so much more fun than none. 

Great idea for a topic, John. I will mediate on this subject and contribute soon. Arnold

briansilvermustang posted:

 

        bought a bigger house...

 

I would have bought a house with a bigger basement. In fact, the whole house would be nothing more than a giant basement! LOL, Arnold

I would back up one letter in the alphabet and not be participating in this discussion.

What, me worry?

Dennis LaGrua posted:

………...,  I just had to own the entire 6464 boxcar collection. When I built the layout; as they didn't run real well, I couldn't use any of this stuff  ……….

I gotta disagree with ya here, Dennis. What were they doing that they didn't run well?

The original 6464's run great, if you put a tiny bit of oil (I like synthetic, lasts a LOT longer) on the axels.

For a month or so I recently ran 16 of these cars, and a postwar caboose behind one of my postwar FM Trainmasters. I posted pics somewhere on this forum.

No wobbling (like MPC) and no couplers opening despite the load (like MPC and LTI).

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I would have bought a house with a bigger basement. In fact, the whole house would be nothing more than a giant basement! LOL, Arnold

We are on the same wavelength, Arnold.

I've frequently told Mrs. Lionelski that all I need is a basement, a garage and a bathroom.

Alfred E Neuman posted:

I would back up one letter in the alphabet and not be participating in this discussion.

 

Alfred,

I'm thick at times and I guess that I'm missing what you were trying to say above.

Please 'splain to me

Lionelski posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I would have bought a house with a bigger basement. In fact, the whole house would be nothing more than a giant basement! LOL, Arnold

all I need is a basement, a garage and a bathroom.

Wait, no kitchen?!

I probably would have built an around the wall layout, rather than the big backwards-L layout that I have.

I would also have made the outer loop O72 all the way around from the beginning, which I had to reconfigure later. Even larger radii would have been better. O72 is still visually too small for my Challenger.

I wouldn't do a thing differently because knowing me I'd just repeat it again.  I've modeled in HO, N and O.  I've enjoyed aspects of all of it and hated aspects of all of it.

I stick to my theory that I would repeat myself because I started in this hobby at age 7 in 1976 and loved the PRR as my dad had a copy of Edwin Alexander's book on the PRR.  I destroyed it as a kid and eventually replaced it with a good copy as an adult for him.  My first HO trains were PRR, Conrail, Amtrak, and CNJ based.  As I became a teen NJDOT and NJ Transit became a favorite too.

In 1987 I moved into N scale in college.  I didn't have much money but a starter set and a few add on cars made me convinced I would model Chessie.  I got out of college and started buying PRR, Conrail, Amtrak, and CNJ.  There wasn't a lot of NJ Transit, but I still have an F40PH in that scale.

In 2001 I got a 3/16" Marx 666 set in the box from a friend.  It was fun, but in 2003 I bought my first scale - ish locomotive.  It was off course in Amtrak.  I very heavily got involved in Scale O after that and started purchasing what roads?  Yes you guessed it .... PRR, Conrail, Amtrak, CNJ, and NJ Transit.  I've added ATSF in the mix after 3rd Rail released the FT.

What is that statement along lines of history tends to repeat itself? 

Gary Graves posted:

Lionelski posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I would have bought a house with a bigger basement. In fact, the whole house would be nothing more than a giant basement! LOL, Arnold

all I need is a basement, a garage and a bathroom.

Wait, no kitchen?!

The kitchen can be Mrs. Lionelski's, she can cook and I can eat in the basement or garage.

Dang, if she sees this response, I'll probably have to move into the garage anyway (LOL)

Eased into the hobby, no impulse buys, determined a scale, period and road to model, allocated adequate time to enjoy the hobby.

We bought a new house not bigger but she is all on one floor with her own sewing room and I got 2000 Sq Ft of basement and I am only using half of it for a layout the rest is my train(man) cave with lots of shelves and pictures (where I can fit them in).

Lionelski posted:

Alfred E Neuman posted:

I would back up one letter in the alphabet and not be participating in this discussion.

Alfred,

I'm thick at times and I guess that I'm missing what you were trying to say above.

Please 'splain to me

No disrespect intended, but that would be no fun.  This reply does bear two clues.

What, me worry?

Started with S scale and stayed with it.

Gone from "O27"to "O" track when I was a kid instead of in my 30's.

NEVER EVER got drawn into HO when I hit my teens (and thank God I never got rid of my Lionels). 

Put all my wiring and buttons on top of the table instead of under as I had for all my previous layouts. 

Lionelski posted:

Alfred E Neuman posted:

I would back up one letter in the alphabet and not be participating in this discussion.

 

Alfred,

I'm thick at times and I guess that I'm missing what you were trying to say above.

Please 'splain to me

Back up one letter, means he would have done "N" instead of "O" and not be participating on an "O" gauge forum.

Lionelski posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

 

        bought a bigger house...

 

My friend Nick and I have been looking to borrow or rent a basement stretcher for quite a while now. Does anyone know where we can find one?

I have the same problem, in a perfect world Gibbs from NCIS would be a real person and he could tell me about basement magic, the kind he uses to get the boats he builds in his basement out of the house! *lol*

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

 

        bought a bigger house...

 

I would have bought a house with a bigger basement. In fact, the whole house would be nothing more than a giant basement! LOL, Arnold

I know several people who when they built a new house, literally started with the basement and/or train room in the house (personally I would design a train room not in the basement), they told their spouse that is what I want, you can have what you want in the rest of the house.......it made it kind of hard for them to argue, since they were being given carte blanche *lol*.  

I look at the half basement in my house and wisely nod and say "the person who designed this house just didn't like trains"

 As I mentioned in another discussion on this subject - I would have skipped learning how to walk and talk which would have meant I would have had my first train when I was 2 instead of waiting until I was 4.  I  can only imagine what my train collection would look like today if I'd had a 2 year head start (think compound interest with 2 years tacked on at the beginning). 

I wouldn't have let myself become the owner of so many locomotives, notwithstanding that several were gifts from my wife. I allowed myself to go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overboard.

FrankM