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I used to be a bit of a dabbler in railway modelling when I was young, and only ever in HO scale.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I visited a model shop with my 11 year old son, and without prompting, he was utterly enthralled with the model trains (primarily N scale set-ups, but some HO as well). He seemed to like everything about them, including both the trains themselves and the scenes.
Now, he has added "model train" to his Christmas wishlist.
For a space-poor house, can anyone on here recommend a first train set (either N or HO scale) that would suit a mature boy, and that could provide him opportunity to start developing a landscape around it?
Any advice welcome.
Bit of plywood a bit bigger than a standard Hornby starter set, on a 2x2 frame then on casters that will fit under his bed when not in use? That's what I started with...
N-guage can fit on a shelf....
HO, as above, under bed works well.
No advice, but much happy memories of building layouts until eventually looking after a 26' model of Armathwaite station (and purloined station with board, ahem) bought from local club when it closed.
It now resides up at South Tynedale railway museum.
One of the previous owners of my house had a track in the loft, there are still bits of track, scenery built in and the odd figure, it’s on an oval raised platform that I use as shelving. Is that an option?
Go small or go home. Z gauge. In a suitcase. You’ve room for a suitcase in your house, surely?
Look up 'Great Model Railway Challenge' recently on Channel 5 so presumably on catch-up - loads of great train diorama building ideas.
We had a layout under the bed that slid out for use
A baseboard that fits under a bed or can be raised up against a wall is a good start. If you want a boxed set rather than building up from individual bits look for a basic oval with a couple of points for added interest and you can address more track at each birthday or Christmas. What else you go for depends on whether jr likes steam or modern, freight or passenger etc. Re scenery,ready made buildings are very expensive but Metcalfe kits are very good value and fun to build- a great thing to do on a winter event.
Evening
I Heard Rod Stewart on Radio 2 today about his model railway as shown by bruneep up there.
Done it all himself apart from the electrics.
Good show Sir Rod!
I live in a flat and have a couple of small layouts. Here's a few comments-
- If you have to take it apart or put it away, it'll hardly get used. Having it out and ready to go will mean that he actually plays with it.
- If he's not had a model railway before, he won't know if he likes watching trains whizz around or if he likes shunting wagons around slowly. Watching trains whizz by can either be exciting or grow dull quickly as there's no interaction. Shunting can either be enthralling, precise work or a frustration. A loop with some sidings off it will allow for both.
- You can fit four times as much N gauge in the same space as OO (the UK doesn't really to HO - the track is the same but our models are bigger in comparison to the track gauge). But it's more fiddly.
If you're space short, you can build a loop and sidings in N gauge that'll only take up 2.5ft x 1.75ft like this-
http://www.freetrackplans.com/412-Town.php
or something a bit more extravagant like this -
http://www.freetrackplans.com/626-Double-Loop-with-Branch.php
A cheap way to do it is to build it on half a wallpaper pasting table, with the legs from the other half moved over. They're only a tenner and once you add a baton underneath to strengthen it you can build the track straight onto it, or if you want a bigger loop attach a thick sheet of ply to the top.
Electrical frustrations will mean it doesn't get used as much - mine are wired up so that every bit of track has a wire to it, all connected to the controller (via switches, or the trains in the sidings would move when you don't want them to).
Small locomotives and wagons are a thing of history, but they mean you can get more stock in less space - big modern diesels and wagons will take up a lot of space!
For a bit of inspiration, here's some of my current and past layouts-
A 3ftx2ft N gauge shunting layout-
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A 3.5ftx2ft OO gauge shunting layout (which has far, far less track and space than the one above)
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And my big one, Newtonmore, which is an N gauge layout about 6.5ft long and 2ft wide.
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The main drawback of N gauge is that it's more money than OO gauge. Secondhand locos could be junk if you don't know what you're doing but second hand rakes of wagons and coaches are good.
Secondhand layouts come up for either bargains or insane money on ebay. Here's a cheap one that looks good-
Arnold and Minitrix do about the best value sets, but it's continental stock if that bothers you/him-
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183966964734 (this one would need another set of points and some track to make an additional siding to avoid boredom)
About the cheapest UK set is this, which isn't cheap!
Send me a message if you need some advice.
@munrobiker lovely!
Pained me to flog off and otherwise dispose of my dad's model railway layout after my mum had to move out of the family house. I say layout but didn't really do it justice -- half the upstairs of a bungalow/house, multiple loops, couldn't tell you the actual dimensions but it was pretty big.
We had an amazing OO set-up when we were kids (about 8' x 6' footprint) - three tracks, a village in the centre (with a little road bridge over to it) and a big tunnel under the hills made from paper mache. When we got a bit too old for it it was gifted to our cousin who turned out to be a bit of a loser and, as far as we are aware, he sold it all to buy cheap cider in his teens. I would have loved to have it now to share with my two kids.
JohnDoh, you seem to be taking the wrong outcome from this. You enjoyed it. He sold it on as a kid. That happens. Why be sad just build one for your kids. It’s what your dad did.
As a kid I had a 6 x 3 OO/HO layout with 8 locos a few buildings and a pile of rolling stock.
Aged about 15 I sold it to buy a bike... like a dick.
^dunno why this is happening. Linked to 2 different pics and it keeps posting the same one.
@munrobiker the detail on that scotrail 47 is fantastic. Is that really in N?
All my stock is 00 and my lad (6) is really into it. He’s got a simple double loop under the bed which he’ll happily play with for hours.
He’s also recently got some Lionel G scale battery stuff (polar express). This is superb, really chunky and robust yet well detailed. He can easily set the track out on the kitchen floor and watch it go round and round.
Don’t laugh, but we also have a shed load of brio. This is great for learning how to build a good track plan. The accompanying game for iOS/droid/windows is captivating & I may have been known to misplace time on flights building & operating new layouts.
@hot_fiat - yep, N gauge has come on a lot in the last few years.
Wrenton on the N gauge Forum is a pretty great example of what N gauge can be like if you're way, way, way, way more talented than I am.
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=38682.2190
OP - it's important to remember, though, that detail isn't everything, enjoying it is!