Planning a Model Railroad
Are you thinking about building a model railroad? Is so you you’ll have to decide which scale you wish to model in. Model railroad scales are HO, S, Z, O, G and N scale, with HO being the most popular scale for model railroad layouts. HO Scale means that scale size objects such as model railroad scenery or rolling stock will be 1/87 the size of full scale.
The smaller model railroad scales are Z scale which is 1:220 and N scale which is 1:160. These scales are ideal when limited space is available for a model railroad layout If you have a lot of space you might select O scale with is 1:48 and easier to work with. Garden railroads use G scale which is 1:24.
Planning a model railroad is paramount before you start building. Your track plan should be laid out on a scale drawing before you start. Begin by laying out your roadbed using actual track to get the correct arc for the curves. After you have completed the roadbed you can begin the job of putting down the track ballast
Now you can have some real fun and begin your model railroad scenery. Now it’s time to use your imagination and creativity. You can construct the scenery when the spirit moves you. Some modelers never entirely finish their model railroads as they are constantly adding to or changing their scenery and buildings. Some modelers base their layout and scenery on actual cities and towns while others make it up as they go. Whatever your preference there are many good resources online such as how-to model railroad websites, model railroad software and model railroad books.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 10:21 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.