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HO Trains

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tony barnhill

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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When my daughter (who's 36 now) was around 6 or 7, she wanted a train set (or maybe I convinced her she did) so we bought a small HO setup...& we expanded it until we've got about 6 engines, 7 cabooses, 18 or so cars, a bridge set, & operating loader/unloader, plus other things.

But, in all my Army moves my track bed has disappeared - probably went away with the board......& by the time we had moved a couple of times, she was out of trains.

My grandson who is 2-1/2 years old, is seriously into trains...riding them, playing with his little wooden push trains (he's got a table loaded with enough track & bridges that he can push 3 trains around).

So, today I pulled all Shannon's old train stuff out of a cabinet (some of that stuff is 30 years old!) & am going to build a setup for when daughter, son-in-law and grandson come to visit over Thanksgiving.....he's too young to play with them by himself but the last time he was here, I let him push an engine & caboose around on my workbench & his smile was the largest I've ever seen on him.

Now, I've gotta build a 4x8 table (have no idea what I'm gonna do with it when he's gone home), buy some track bed & start putting it together......hehehehe....gonna buy myself an engineer cap 'cause Will has one (he was an engineer for Halloween)!

I may need hints....its been almost 30 years since I played with trains.
 
AH! Third childhood!

Similar event with our son, Paul. I just had to get him a train set, which he promptly overlooked. Still in boxes, but I've thought about getting it out and setting it up around the Christmas tree. May yet do it this year!
 
Have you considered, pulleys and ropes to lift it up to the ceiling?

My sire did that with the HO set he bought, supposedly for me, when I was 8 or so, at Christmas. On my one weekend a month visits to him, I got to play with it for about a year. Then it became "Don't touch that" and the set became his..

He had room out in a storage room behind the garage where the HO set was set up. He would lower it to play with it, then roll the cords up when done...
 
<span style="text-decoration: line-through">I had been thinking about building a mezzanine over my MG sedans to store cars....thinking I'll build it for a permanent train setup....gotta do some engineering over the holidays.</span> Well, that won't work....but as I turned around from the south wall, through the door into Jerri's pantry that also leads onto the covered breezeway to the house, I saw the stairs leading to the 2nd floor of the garage...I always forget its up there unless I need to go up to get a part for one of my cars.....hehehe, when I built the garage, I also plumed & wired for a future, small, studio apartment.....it could become a great model train room with a little work - heck, even a playroom for Will!

While he's here, we'll just temporarily set it up in the middle of the garage.
 
Ah I have fond memories of my American Flyer S gauge, still have in a box somewhere. Choo Choo, it actually had smoke that came out of the stack.

Trains are something I guess if you love you always will. On some of my walks, I can hear a short haul train that come thru here on occasion. I have been known to wait 10-15 just to watch and feel it go by.
 
Hi Tony,

Good for you!!! I have four granddaughters (no grandsons) and we often play with trains. It will be a great time and I envy your first time with your granddaughter!

We run at many shows and it is just the greatest thing to see grandparents with their grandchildren enjoying the trains.

Not sure how you will handle things, my granddaughters were permitted to play with them even by themselves. I only gave some hints on how to put it back on the track with out too much damage. I even bought their own trains that stayed at grandpa's house. Of course ours are G scale and we do run out doors.
 
tony barnhill said:
While he's here, we'll just temporarily set it up in the middle of the garage.
Click to expand...

"...temporarily..."

That's kinda like the "might-as-wells", isn't it? :wink:
 
tomshobby said:
Hi Tony,

Good for you!!! I have four granddaughters (no grandsons) and we often play with trains. It will be a great time and I envy your first time with your granddaughter!

We run at many shows and it is just the greatest thing to see grandparents with their grandchildren enjoying the trains.

Not sure how you will handle things, my granddaughters were permitted to play with them even by themselves. I only gave some hints on how to put it back on the track with out too much damage. I even bought their own trains that stayed at grandpa's house. Of course ours are G scale and we do run out doors.
Click to expand...
Well, my grandson is just 2-1/2 years old now so he'll have to wait until I can play with him for a few years.
 
Mickey Richaud said:
tony barnhill said:
While he's here, we'll just temporarily set it up in the middle of the garage.
Click to expand...

"...temporarily..."

That's kinda like the "might-as-wells", isn't it? :wink:
Click to expand...
I don't know of anything I do that doesn't have "might-as-well's"....friend down the street who has a permanent setup of N scale that fills his 2-car garage is sending his college-aged son who haas always helped with their setup to help me.....hopefuly.
 
weewillie said:
tony barnhill said:
...heck, even a playroom for Will!
Click to expand...

Are you sure that's not a playroom for Tony and Will? :driving:
Click to expand...
WELL :lol:........Possibly.... :yesnod: :yesnod:
 
meh.

I have American Flyer S-Gauge up th' wazoo. We could fill a platform over 8'x16' with four seperate tracks, switch gear to make it all accessible from outside to inside, rolling stock and engines to match... nobody seems to want trains anymore.

Whadda shame.
 
Sounds great Tony. I have an HO layout in the basement. My 7 year old dot loves it.
You're better off having to get all new track anyway. the new nickle plated stuff Is tons better than the old copper track, and switches have come a long way too. I would suggest finding a book on beginner layouts to get some hints. I got one published by Atlas (the track makers) It had all kinds of layout ideas, from basic ovals to the "super pretzel" that I used. It covers basic through electric cab control wiring, and gives lots of hints on making your trains run with the least derailments (max fun!).
I would also strongly reccomend the foam roadbed over the old cork stuff. it's lightyears better.
I don't have any cab controlled engines, so my layout uses two controllers that I could theroetically use to run 2 trains at the same time, but I'd have to be in a total focus to keep all the tracks switched to the right controller to do it. If I had the money I'd do the cab control. that way the system automatically knows where each engine is and does it all itsself. you can run several engines at once, no sweat.
Whatever you do, have fun. that's what it's all about.
 
We're using layout #104 from my roughly 30-year old Atlas layout book.

Good to know about the roadbed...I'm heading to the local train guy's shop tomorrow...gotta get a roadwheel on Shannon's 1st engine replaced while I'm picking up other things.

Hope to have it hooked up & trains moving around by tomorrow night....that gives me Wednesday to finalize the roadbed & install a few roads, cars, trees, etc. before Will arrives Thursday.
 
Awesome....
Get a can of 3M heavy-duty spray adhesive to tack that roadbed down.
I'd just ask the hobby shop guy. He'll point ya in the right direction.
I found the same spray glue that the hobby store had at the hardware store a LOT cheaper.
I believe the roadbed is made by "Woodland Scenics"
That job goes pretty quickly. then ya just use brad nails to hold the track in place. Atlas makes the right ones for that job too.
 
Had a box of Atlas brad nails left over from years ago.
 
Oh yea, and while you're at the Hobby shop, pick up a Walthers HO Catalog. It's a big thick book, and it's got everything imaginable made for train layouts in it. you'll spend hours leafing through it finding all kinds of goodies. People, houses, cars (yes LBCs) trees, fences, billboards, special track, trains and freight, animals, tunnels, bridges, turntables.. you name it!
And the nice thing is that they have one of those big catalogs for each scale. so everything in that catalog is for HO, and will work with your layout.
 
Will do - especially if I can buy HO LBC's!
 
Hey Doc, I have to disagree with you on no one being into trains any more. It is alive and quite well, at least here in Chicago. I worked in a hobby shop that specialized in trains and what they are doing with trains these days would make your head spin! Digital, computer controlled action, sounds and effects that you would swear you were looking at the real thing. Have you seen any of the brass engines and cars? Detail like you can't believe. And none of this stuff is cheap either. Go to Barnes & Noble, look in the magazine section, big selection of Rail mags, real and scale. Trains are alive and well.... :smile:
 
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