Stop! Don"t Build Another Railroad Until You Read These 5 Easy Steps to Building Train Layouts
If you are planning on building a model railroad, you need to consider a lot of things and make plans for it before building your own railway landscape.
There are a lot of features that you can add to your model and make it more interesting and realistic.
As far as construction is concerned, the following 5 easy steps to building your layout prove to be very helpful.
1) Research: Before you begin working on your railroad model, you need to do some research into how it is done.
You can simply search for information in books, magazines and or on the internet for example.
You can even ask your friends and others who have experience of dealing with the construction of such models.
By doing proper inquiry you can get a clearer idea of your needs and requirements in addition to getting to see all available options.
You also learn more about modeling trains in addition to getting an insight into how real trains work.
2) Space, scale and level: Analyze the area that you have for making your railroad model.
Usually the outline is on a standard sized plywood sheet.
Various sizes are however available on demand.
You must decide the scale that you want on your railroad.
You can have the smallest starting from N followed by HO and OO.
But if you like larger scales you can go for G.
The most commonly used scale is HO.
An advantage of using the N scale is that you get a lot of free space.
You also must choose what level you want to see on your railroad model.
If you choose the eye level, then you need to build accordingly.
You also have a choice of selecting belly level or even the looking down level which is a hit these days.
3) Scenery and Planning: You can choose between a lot of options when it comes to the appearance and scenery for your railroad model.
You can build tunnels, have mountains, road cuts, station stops and even switch yards in your railroad plan.
However it can be a little difficult to include all of these on a small plan outline.
About the planning you must make a track plan before you go to purchase any building blocks.
By preparing a plan for your tracks, you can know how much you need to buy and hence avoid wasting money on unnecessary purchases.
Then you choose a stable and sturdy supporting panel for your base material.
One of the last things to do is to draw the track plan on the foam that is placed on the top layer.
By doing so, you can get a proper understanding of your layout.
But you must mark everything with precision to avoid any errors in building at a later stage.
4) Laying the tracks: Before laying the tracks you must consider adding some cushion to the roadbed.
Using a material that is glutinous on all sides, such as cork or some other sponge you can reduce the noise and clanking to a significant degree.
The tracks must be laid out precisely without any flaws or defects or your train may crash on its maiden journey.
5) Adding osculation wires: Buss wires need to be placed under the whole of the railroads because they aid in adding taps to the track.
Buss wires are available in gauges # 16 or 18.
What they do is help in maintaining flow of current from the main source.
There are a lot of features that you can add to your model and make it more interesting and realistic.
As far as construction is concerned, the following 5 easy steps to building your layout prove to be very helpful.
1) Research: Before you begin working on your railroad model, you need to do some research into how it is done.
You can simply search for information in books, magazines and or on the internet for example.
You can even ask your friends and others who have experience of dealing with the construction of such models.
By doing proper inquiry you can get a clearer idea of your needs and requirements in addition to getting to see all available options.
You also learn more about modeling trains in addition to getting an insight into how real trains work.
2) Space, scale and level: Analyze the area that you have for making your railroad model.
Usually the outline is on a standard sized plywood sheet.
Various sizes are however available on demand.
You must decide the scale that you want on your railroad.
You can have the smallest starting from N followed by HO and OO.
But if you like larger scales you can go for G.
The most commonly used scale is HO.
An advantage of using the N scale is that you get a lot of free space.
You also must choose what level you want to see on your railroad model.
If you choose the eye level, then you need to build accordingly.
You also have a choice of selecting belly level or even the looking down level which is a hit these days.
3) Scenery and Planning: You can choose between a lot of options when it comes to the appearance and scenery for your railroad model.
You can build tunnels, have mountains, road cuts, station stops and even switch yards in your railroad plan.
However it can be a little difficult to include all of these on a small plan outline.
About the planning you must make a track plan before you go to purchase any building blocks.
By preparing a plan for your tracks, you can know how much you need to buy and hence avoid wasting money on unnecessary purchases.
Then you choose a stable and sturdy supporting panel for your base material.
One of the last things to do is to draw the track plan on the foam that is placed on the top layer.
By doing so, you can get a proper understanding of your layout.
But you must mark everything with precision to avoid any errors in building at a later stage.
4) Laying the tracks: Before laying the tracks you must consider adding some cushion to the roadbed.
Using a material that is glutinous on all sides, such as cork or some other sponge you can reduce the noise and clanking to a significant degree.
The tracks must be laid out precisely without any flaws or defects or your train may crash on its maiden journey.
5) Adding osculation wires: Buss wires need to be placed under the whole of the railroads because they aid in adding taps to the track.
Buss wires are available in gauges # 16 or 18.
What they do is help in maintaining flow of current from the main source.
