The Scale Model Railroader

I came across this item the other day at a marketing meeting (of all places) but I thought it was pretty cool idea. This avoids the stabbing pain shooting up your foot when you step on on the of engines in the dark after tucking in the kiddies at night, and they get to proudly display their collection (like the adults are so proud of doing)…

While built for the toy trains (like the Brio trains), it seems like it could be very easily be adapted to N and HO scale trains as well with some track, etc..

I put a link to the website where Todd is selling his Train Racks under the Misc. Links category or you can click here ==> http://www.trainrackstore.com

Image via Wikipedia

I came across this site today and thought it was really cool!  Nothing to do with what I’ve been working on (getting my house in order to get the layout back up) but none the less, I’ve never come across anything like this before.

There are so many books and blogs and web sites that I’ve found related to “doing” the hobby (and now even some folks on the social marketing sites like Twitter that I’ve met) but I’ve never seen anything on the photography aspect of it. Pretty neat little tips.

http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/

Happy Saturday to everyone.

Technorati: Hobby, model trains, photography, scale model railroading

Image via Wikipedia

I started doing research on this new thing I seem to be hearing about in Scale Model Railroading. It is called DCC which stands for Digital Command Control and it’s a new way of managing multiple engines on one track.  When I started this hobby years ago, we used to “block” the track sections, use multiple transformers and had to do some complicated switching/balancing as trains moved from one block section to another.  You used to manage the trains, and set up the blocking by cutting the electrical connection of the rails between the blocks.  For long sections of track, we had to physically cut the rails, otherwise you used specialty couplers that did not conduct electricity between track sections. As engines moved between blocks, you had to manage that movement carefully.

DCC looks like it solves many of these problems by sending signals to the actual locomotives vs. isolating things simply by electricity.  The control signals require a receiver installed on the engine (a DCC
compatible engine).  The bad news is that, as far as I can tell,  older locos (like I have) won’t accept a DCC receiver, so I have to likely run some sort of hybrind track system, not use DCC, or go all DCC and buy all new locomotives. I’m still investigating what I can do here, since my current “budget” is pretty limited right now but some of the promise of DCC is still intriguing.

Bottom line, DCC it appears, changes the whole game. Even the type of electricity running through the rails (from DC, direct current, to AC alternating current) is different as well as the equipment you need, the locomotives you can run, and alot of the problems that you could ignore with the standard Direct Control/Direct Current transformers. My mind tends towards simple solutions and manual control vs. automated but I’m not trying to go totally luddite here.

The best website I’ve seen thus far on this subject was referred to me by @ChrisinDallas on Twitter.  It is a site written and maintained by Allan Gartner. I’ve included it in my links and again here http://wiringfordcc.com/

More on this topic as I move forward but check out Allan’s site if you want to know the nitty gritty details, and leave me your comments if you would about your experience with DCC.

Technorati: DCC, Digital Command Control, Locomotive, model, Rail transport modelling, Railroad, Recreation, scale model railroad, scale model railroading

As I contemplated getting back into this hobby I have to struggle with this question a bit. My “train stuff” has been neatly boxed up and sitting in the attic for so long now. It has survived storage in the parents attic, college, a new marriage, several house moves from town to town, two small children and about a million other things to do (careers, other hobbies, house repairs, etc.).  Somehow however I never could discard those trains and so the boxes just keep moving with us with each step along life’s journey. This last move has brought back the nostalgia as the boxes were found (among the tons of other stuff we’ve accumulated over the years) and I had to open them and remember what was inside.

For me to get back into this hobby I still need to solve the time problem, but at least I’ve now got some space in the basement, and a new burning desire to get this going again brought on by the nostalgia and love for the hobby when I was younger. But the initial question remains, of all the things I could do with the little spare time there seems to be these days, why Model Railroading?

I’m curious as to anyone who reads this and is a model railroader what drives you to spend the time and resources with this hobby vs. others?

Technorati: choosing a hobby, Hobby, model, Railroad, scale model railroading, Train