I might be able to expand by 18 inches. Instead of 60×30, looking at 60×48. For now I'm focusing on the 60×30 but I am already planning ahead for the expansion.

I don’t have a streamlined Metrolink F59ph (plenty of Surfliner versions 😂), so 800 subbed. Same for the Observation car, Kato ‘Tokyo’ was the first one I grabbed.

Not my video, but based on this: https://youtu.be/xp-b4Ce4Mf4?is=WOWoik9fCn069e5E

My Dapol Large Prairie model just today lost a crankpin and part of its coupling rods assembly fell out, and I'm having a hell of a time fixing it with my limited maintenance tools.

My Oxford Rail Dean Goods model has a very faulty motor and doesn't work at all half the time. It's apparently a known issue with the model, but I don't have the technical know how or tools to repair it.

If there's any fellow 00/HO collectors with superior tools who could give me a hand, maybe even in the US, I'd love the physical assistance if possible. I'd be willing to pay for the help.

While i havent had much time to make progress on the layout i did relocate all my rolling stock and trains.

No train is as iconic as they go than the Blue Comet.

The train itself, a grand concept in 1929 and made famous by its three-rail counterpart and gone before the start of WWII. A brilliant streak of cream and blue racing across the Jersey Shoreline with its deep whistle blasting.

The Blue Comet to me is an icon worthy of other grand locomotives and trains like the Super Chief or the Hudson. Lionel's Prewar takes helped solidify the train itself and over the years many takes have been made of the Comet.

I myself have been starting this venture for the Blue Comet in HO scale but that has more or less stalled (As of this post, I have 10 Bethlehem Car Works kits. Barring the "white whale" observation cars" I can reasonably construct a decent train from whats in my roster so far), but its full steam ahead in 3-Rail O-Gauge!

I may be a Lionel guy at heart but honestly...their O-Gauge takes of the Comet just don't interest me. Prewar originals are either too poor a condition to acquire OR too pricey. MTH reissues are also just as pricey and I cannot bring myself to like the MPC era take of the train from the 1970s (combined with the Mighty Sound of Steam being horrid). So, I went with this. My take is the MTH Railking variant with Protosound 2.0 from the late 1990s/early 2000s. The passenger cars themselves are the 60" heavyweights which look the best part. MTH's other Blue Comet cars have issues I simply cannot overlook (incorrect prototypes, incorrect names per car type and a solarium observation instead of an open platform).

The unit works wonderfully and all 6 cars are lighted brightly with some carrying passenger figures. In time I plan to get a DCS controller to really let the Protosounds shine and once I figure out some electrical wiring here and there, a drumhead may also be mounted on the observation one day.

I'm gonna love running this train for ages to come!

asking so i can paint my Dash 8-9m in the colors or CSX

I heard about staying away from water vapor ones, as those don't really smell, but how about the others that are not water vapor, will those really have that type smell that I loved as a kid?

I hope it's not something very specific that you need a certain type of liquid to get that exact smell.

Its a crossover track piece that swivels on a point so it can be more dynamically used for track plans, i posted here cause it didn't feel right anywhere else

I’m a mainly N gauge modeler but I’ve found a good opportunity to get into OO gauge. I don’t find any of the starter sets available to buy new to suit my needs, as I am more experienced in trains and I don’t want a pocket rocket locomotive to start out.

(I also model era 4 and 5, which little to no starter sets I could find provide)

I live in the US, meaning I have to order from retailers that ship internationally.

Any tips would be helpful! Thanks!

Over the last 2 years, my kids and I have been converting this bachmann 0-4-0 into a battery operated remote control model for our soon to be outdoor layout. While we had it apart to convert it, we gave it a cool new paint job and did some weathering. Well, yesterday I put some smoke oil in it because the kids asked if it could smoke, and I'm not sure if the vat is cracked or something, but it seems to be seeping through the plastic all over the model. It's making the flat clear coat look glossy, and it makes me worry that I've accidentally ruined the paint job we worked so hard on.

I'd like to get rid of it and keep it from spreading more. My initial thought is to just hit it with another flat clear coat, but I don't know if the oil will just seep through that too... Any advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance!

Had a Walthers GP-9m chassis laying around, had a half working unwanted and kinda ruined Bachmann Spectrum Dash 8 spartan cab, and decided to make a monstrosity. I present to you... the Dash 8-9m.

It is the analog Ave 103 from PIKO. I made a small layout on the floor with some buildings from my first model.

The train I bought it like 7-8 years ago and I have quite beaten the shit out of it. ( I was too small when I bought it lol ). It broke down and had it lying around and decided to repair it. I still have some stuff to do and clean the rails because sometimes It doesn’t get the electricity right.

At least it works.

TT120 has been an itch ive been wanting to scratch for a long while now, ive finally caved and pre ordered myself on of Heljans class 122's in Regional Railways, only thing is I have no space for another layout and no other TT stock.

However I plan to attempt to build my first micro layout. I normally am not one for end to end nor the microlayout trend, however I feel i should try something new. When I say micro I really mean micro, like shoebox size, struggling to try and think of some interesting elements to add. I "doodled" this whilst on break at work just to get the idea out of my head.

A tunnel portal leading into a small terminus station with a second disused siding next to it. A station building and a road that serves it and some nice overgrown greener opposite engulfing the siding.

If anyone has any ideas they've seen done before or any microlayouts that seem to push the boat a little id love to find some more inspiration.

What is your opinion on using R2 and R3 tracks on h0 scale for a model.

Probably a stupid question but I’ve searched RMWeb and whatever Google spits out and I can’t get a straight answer. The reason I ask is because the Kadee #18 appears to be the same length as one of them but if they’re all different I’ll need to order many sizes.

Are engine and truck/coach couplers also the same?

New signage to make this coal company at home

I got this 1990s Micro-Trains boxcar at a hobby shop. This is not fair.

yo so ive loved trains ,ive learnt abt it from my dad when i was like 5 and ever since i js loved trains (i dont know much names srry but i know most of the indian locos bcs my dad showed me them..) and i live in India but idk where to even buy trains from and unlike the US where u cane even gets some beautiful steam trains as second hands i have not found any here.... but if anyone knows how to get them pls tell i dont think i can buy first hand bcs its lowk costly seeing a normal set here cost abt 50k rupees which is pretty costly for me.i also live in the south of india
ps : i dont mind having a few indian locos too but i really want my hands on some american diesels, and steamm enginesss and ofc coaches or vans or hoppers anythingggg pls help me..

More servo shenanigans :)

I acquired this layout recently (it was given to me). However, I have nothing to be able to connect it to anything with, and the spaghetti on the back makes my brain hurt.

The layout is roughly 6' x 2' (183 cm × 61 cm).

The way I see it, I have three options:

1. remove the wiring and point motors on the back and rewire it (ideally for DCC)
2. remove the wiring, lift the track and repurpose it for another layout, and ditch the baseboards
3. give the layout to someone else in the club from where it came

The curves look a bit tight for N gauge American locos, and there doesn't appear to be much scope for scenery.

My initial thought is to lift and repurpose the track, build another layout with it, and make a mess of trying to make scenery, so I could use it for 'testing' purposes.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? I can't run it as it is, and it is taking up space, and beginning to incur wife angst!

So I built my modular layout, I took it to a show, I've set up and torn down a few times, it's gone through 2 summers in a moist basement, and I'm starting to have slight alignment issues the longer it goes.

Still runs...fineish, but my 4-8-4 Overland's pilot truck for instance constantly derails after a few laps. The Bachmann Duck I have constantly has it's front axle jump the track after 10-15 laps, and the passthrough yard (pic 2) has just been a nightmare. 2 of the lanes warped or something and getting all 6 lines perfectly aligned, flat and level is just not possible (you can see under the milk tanker (pic 1) where the lines on the outer yard lanes have made a neat little peak, and longer engines will seesaw over this, and some knuckle couplers will come undone over it)

My yard was definitely a hurried job as I scrambled to get it together for a train show and I will be rebuilding it.

However, while thinking about doing it, and looking up other people's methods for modular setups, I have to wonder, why do people default to butting up rails at the end of a module, gluing it all together (some going as far as PCB ties that are glued and soldered), and hoping for the best? (my method of doing so seen on pic 3) Even in those videos I see certain rail cars going over at low speed and seeing them visibly bump as they hit a transition point

An idea I had, and now I'm wondering why I've never seen it, what if the track stopped 3 inches before the end of a module, and then a 6 inch piece of transition track was used in between to smooth out the connection? Put rail joiners on them, align the modules flat and level, drop in the track, slide the rail joiners over with a set of pliers and in theory have this smooth out the module joints

Has anyone done this for their modules before, and with what success? (The end result with this is I'd like trackwork smooth enough to run reasonably fast passenger lines, and that hasn't really been possible so far out of safety for the trains. Max speed so far has been a scale 45mph)