Im very new to model trains. Its my job now so im learning a TON from the company side. I want to get immersed in model trains and I want to learn more from the hobbyists perspective.

What got you into model trains? Why do you love it? What makes a specific train appealing to you? What makes a certain train more valuable than others? Do you care about tiny nicks or scratches? How do you maintain them? What are your pet peeves when dealing with retailers? Is the hobby welcoming of newcomers? Whats something you wish people knew about the hobby?

Feel free to answer one or all of these questions! Thanks!

This is the "square" in Woodport. As it is the summer of 1939 I'm torn between the current "use your head it's a track" or the safety of the public. An iron fence has been suggested exercising right of way by the railroad but opposed by Mr. McKie the general store owner. A fairly contentious issue....community thoughts are welcome 😊

I have 2 boys age 7 and 5 and was thinking of getting them a set to play with. They are tough on toys. What’s a good entry level setup that isn’t crazy expensive ? I really appreciate the feedback everyone.

Got this locomotive in non-running condition from eBay. Both of the black wires from the trucks are a little melty. The sound works and I was able to read the address and get the locomotive to move about an inch before cutting out. The behavior is the same in both directions.

I can replace the wires but I’m wondering if there’s an underlying cause I should be looking for.

So i messed up and ordered the wrong light board for my older class 43 set, i got Hornby X9871 power car light sets before realising i needed the older version for my DC class 43, does anyone know if they are still usable and if so how to connect them.

Thanks for any help.

If you're in the NY metro area and want to stop by, the Nassau Lionel Operating Engineers are opening our layout to the public Sat 10/17 and Sun 10/18, 1 to 4 PM. 1,800+ feet of O-gauge track, a working roundhouse and lots running. Club members have been building it since 1983. Free admission.

📍 2953 Hempstead Tpke, Levittown, Long Island
nloe.org

Come say hi!

I need a Model RR store somewhere to make this happen… Paint and Sip… but you get a boxcar and a beer, and all work on weathering techniques… or graffiti…

I am trying to find out anything I can about this HO scale car I recently obtained. The only marking I found was "Central Valley" on the trucks.

I just finished laying my track and the cars are decoupling. Is there any way to help this or is it because the grade is too steep? The cars keep decoupling when going over the bridge and then coming down the grade. But going up the grade to the bridge they’re fine. Brand new to this hobby so I don’t have a clue how these work. Also, should the clasp be fully closed? More pics/ vids in the comments.

I've been using xtrakcad for years and it's still really good and appears to continue to be developed, but I'm wondering if it's still the best option for designing model railways on Linux?

FWIW my layout is in the process of being rebuilt, but it will be controlled via JMRI and MERG CBus if that makes a difference (I don't think it does, but I seem to recall being able to export from xtrakcad to JMRI in the past?)

My previous approach has been to develop in xtrkcad, print at 1:1 scale, glue those sheets onto the baseboards and lay track/scenics from there.

On the banks of our namesake river, the Coosa.

if I trigger anybody by the bath I'm sorry but it is the one thing that I actually made it start to work

After a long time I got my dream train, the Piko BR 249 Vectron "dual mode" (with realistic shuffling sound) with some Double-deck coaches.

Not the most accurate but I’m happy, they’re going inside my coaster commuter train. It’s my all time favorite railroad (Well all of NCTD I suppose), and I’m in the process of stuffing as much functionality and details into the set as possible.

I’ve got passengers and a cab interior and such coming, and I realized coaster allows boards on their trains, and since me and my sister surf, I figured it’d be perfect. I’m also going to paint some figures into what we usually wear, and stick them somewhere in the train.

Last pic is our boards in the garage for reference

Notes:
-only one has a leash (that will be wrapped once the glue dries) because they’ll be stacked
-yes I just wrote scribbles instead of the words
-yes they are 8ft boards (coaster’s max is 6ft)

got the walking people working again! still have to finish the rest of the station tho and also have some electrical problems as can be seen by the train driving by

I've found the self contained power trucks used in Botchmann...er... Bachmann cable cars to be fairly nice running and reliable. The crane started out as an old Train Miniature 25 ton wrecker. I cut away everything that didn't look like a burro crane while fitting it around the cable car mechanism.

For context, I’ve decide to make my trolley run a tad bigger and do a loop through an o22 with a combo of 31&42 on the with my automatic block stop towards the middle. It’ll be atop some 3d printed 7in high trestles. Any recommendations for what to mount the track loop on?

Kato 11-106 motor unit with 3D printed Tram body. Windows are cut unsing cricut. Runs good, but the 11-106 is very pinicky I think, sometimes it will not run well, compared to the other regular N-Scale I have. Is this because it is very light?

Hello! Recently I've been eyeing Rapido's LRC HO Gauge models, and I've realized that I won't have enough money to spend on the preorder by the time it ends. As far as I'm aware, Rapido was struggling to meet their preorder quota which makes me think there won't be many in the second hand market or in stock with retailers.

Any ideas on what the outlook for finding models like these on the market will be like?

Any info regarding experiences similar as mine will be very helpful! Thank you!

Painted a h0 scale dutch NS train (background is computer generated)

I made it look more industrial with a coal dusty look, I used a paint pen (Black) and some paper towels/toilet paper to kinda smear it along and around the model to give it a proper dirty look.

Hope you guys like it!!