another model train newbie

U

usmcbeck

New Member
Feb 22, 2007
3
0
1
46
Ohio
Hello everyone I want to start out by saying I have been visiting The Guage for some time know and just decided to register today. Everyone on here seems to be so knowledgable and honest, sometimes almost too honest :oops: . I recieved my first train set for Christmas this year. A Lifelike Bachman EZ Track Sante Fe, and you could say I jumped right into modeling. Right away I wanted to have a layout. I have a few problems though. I only have enough room for about a 4 by 8 ft. layout. I want it to be portable so I can take it to the Conrad and Dowdell Train shows in Medina Oh. sorry a little plug for my inlaws buisness. Any help would be great. I don't even know where to begin with building a base that is lightweight and portable. And then there are track plans HELP ME PLEASE!!! I want a constant runner with a tunnel maybe a little town and a switch or two and a little yard. All Ideas are welcome. Thanks you all I look forward to chatting with everyone here
 
welcome too the gauge!its always good to see new members.but the first thing you need to do is start reading.read as much about operations,building and etc.go to www.nmra.org and check out there begginer stuff.as for trackplans you can go to www.thortrains.net and they have hundreds of HO scale trackplans for a 4 by 8.as for any more questions,you can search them up in the toolbar here and it will prety much answer everything you need to know.good luck--josh
 
usmcbeck said:
I recieved my first train set for Christmas this year. A Lifelike Bachman EZ Track Sante Fe, and you could say I jumped right into modeling.
Click to expand...

It's probably the same set my wife gave me this year for Christmas. She's regretting it now. Welcome to The Gauge.
 
I think the 4 x 8 would be a problem because transporting a 4 x 8 is just plain awkward. I would recomend 4 2 x 4 sections or modules to put together to make a 4 x 8. If they are light weight, they can be stacked together by two's. If there is more space available at the shows, you could add more sections to make the layout larger.
 
That is a good Idea to have 4 pieces that can all go into 1 piece. There is plenty of room at the show to go bigger if I ever have the money to do that. Thanks everyone for your posts so far. Those are some great sites for model training thanks bigsteal.
 
if you want light weight benchwork then make the 4 2 by 4 sections out of an outside frame of 1 by 4's and open grid of 1 by 2's.then have the foam on top and such.you can still have legs like normal but you just bolt all the sections together with heavy lag bolts and make cross braces,this way the whole table is light and strong.
 
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