Welcome to Model Railroading - Part 1

Welcome to Model Railroading - 

Model railroading is a fascinating hobby and has been dubbed by many as the “World’s Greatest Hobby”.   It is very versatile and incorporates many learning opportunities and is so fun for all ages. It includes creativity with sculpturing, painting, airbrushing, decorating and landscaping, and encourages scientific exploration of electronics, physics, mechanics, engineering and architecture, all combined with humor, friendship, family activities, social interaction, and the great sense of accomplishment.

Things to consider before starting:

• Space – plan out how big your layout can be, within the room you have available. Keep in mind that you need to get to all points that has track. So you may want to consider a U shape or a hole in the middle that you can get to any track should you need to.
• Scale- this goes with the Space point. If you have outdoor space, you may want to model in G or O, in a small to large room HO, or for a really small space N. There are other scales too.
• Budget- plan to spend on the materials for the table, base, roadbed and track first. Then some model train pieces, buildings and landscaping. This will also prevent you from getting overwhelmed with too much to do.
• Tips- if you are interested in using long flat bed cars, passenger cars or other long cars you need to make allowance for large radius curves or they will derail. Come and visit us for great beginner guidebooks and guidance in planning.

Model trains come in various scales (gauges):

Ø  Z 1:220 (with all the letters identifying gauges Z became the smallest so they used the last letter in the alphabet)

Ø  N  (rails are Nine mm apart- hence the N) 1:160 **

Ø  HO  (Half O or ‘aitch oh’) 1:87  **

Ø  OO  - 1:76 runs on HO track and is the British version of HO

Ø  S   scale 1:64

Ø  O   (was referred as zero (or 0h) gauge) 1:48**

Ø  G (Garden) 1:20.3 to 1:32

Ø  There are many more gauges, although they are important to die-hard railroaders, we will not be listing them here.  You can ask Rob, or Robby about those.

Gauge refers to the width of the track, measured between the railheads.  Different from scale, which is proportion to life-size.

At present, Chinook & Hobby West carries three Scales of Model Trains for Sale:  

**O scale, HO Scale, and N scale.   Any other scales that come in collections, we put on our ebay site.  Our eBay handle is gossamer13


Next week: Learn about different track, buildings, painting and more!

Chinook & Hobby West
"Where the Fun Begins!"
ph: 403-243-1997
email: hobbywest@shaw.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChinookAndHobbyWest
Twitter: @HobbyAndToy
Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/hobbymum