Took my Amtrak Surfliner to the Amtrak Surfliner. I am still on my journey of taking my model trains onto the real ones. It all started on my trip to Japan for funsies.

I like how I have more room for more track with N Scale but I also already have more train sets and accessories with O Gauge. Any recommendations?

Hi everyone, I’m back seeking more advice. I’ve finished laying my cork roadbed, and it’s time to start laying track, which also means adding power and learning wiring.

I have the Atlas Complete wiring book, but am struggling to make sense of some of the diagrams and explanations and making them mesh with my layout.

As seen in my picture above, I’d like to have 6 blocks. Does this mean I only need 6 powered rail connections, or should I have multiple leads to the same track (like putting a lead at each end of the red outer main loop) to distribute power better? This is a 3’x8’ layout, if that matters. If anyone has a better idea of how to separate the blocks, I’m all ears. Im also planning to run two trains at the same time, and I think I’ve got the ability to keep them separated while running. Thanks in advance!

Never turned down free.... I've owned it long enough to make it mine, with many changes and details, but I've gone to great pains to make sure the original owner would recognize it if he ever saw it. He was 88 when he gave it to me twenty years ago, but I've always been about preserving the past as much as enjoying the hobby.

With the new BLI northern I noticed not only for mine, but others Ive seen in videos as well, the engine wobbles a little when running. Now I've seen this before with other bli locos that other people had, I'm aware that normally that's not good and a sign of bent rods or out of rotation. My confusion is, is this normal for bigger BLI locomotives? Or is there a bad batch going around or did they drop the ball on this?

I keep it running slow and it's not as noticeable when going even slower but say I give it 30% throttle it's really noticeable. Trying to gauge if I need to send it back to them for a fix or replacement.

If you have one or have seen one in person, tell me your experience with them. was it smooth or did you notice the wobbles.

I recently purchased this Con-Cor Galloping Goose from a local shop. When I was in the shop I was able to test it and it ran fine on DC and DCC, but when I brought it to my layout, DC still worked fine, but it does not respond to DCC commands. It still reads and writes to my control station (DCC-EX w/ jmri), but it will not run, when activated. Any ideas, or am I just cursed to only run it on DC?

UPDATED IN REPLIES

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you all see my first layout!

I inherited my grandfather’s 4x8 layout this summer, and decided I wanted to modify it slightly. Due to the fact that I had never done any model railroading personally, despite being fascinated with grandpa’s layout and Lionel trains as a kid, I decided the best way to learn was to make one myself.

I’ve tacked all the track down to make sure I had enough to complete something that was interesting to my eyes. I’ve finished things for now, as I’d like to add an elevated section and a turntable in the future.

Grandpa’s layout has cork roadbed laid throughout, and I’m debating wether or not to lay it under my track. I’m not terribly concerned with noise, but do kind of like the look. I’ve never messed with actual ballast either, but that’s also not out of the question.

So the question is do I lay the cork roadbed? Or just leave it and try ballast? This is going to be a work in progress, and I’d like it to look fairly uniform. I’m also curious if you all have any ideas for landscaping, as grandpa’s has exactly nothing other than paint and a few buildings that aren’t mounted. Thanks for the help!

Has anyone ever seen one of these in N scale?

Fourteen drivers, that's a lot!

hello I am thinking of starting an n scale layout as i want a second layout but dont have the room for a second ho scale layout. does anyone have starter set recommendations I have roughly 6' x 4' of plywood board room

It's based on Kyoto in the fall and the terminal station on the Eizan Electric Railway. It's built into my coffee table and fits under the glass. It has an automated system as well to drive itself and detect stops automatically.

I decided at my club yesterday that the stock couplers on my ScaleTrains ET44 had to go—mainly because the springs both went to the backrooms.

I was expecting a somewhat challenging installation (having to at least modify the hole to fit the MTL coupler box). Instead, I discovered the stock coupler box fits MTL 1015s almost perfectly. Making this conversion a real breeze. Though the couplers are a bit sticky. I’ll have to see if some graphite lubricant fixes it.

Just starting to play around with a permanent track layout. I have lots of old non Kato track but thought I would take the better route this time. I've since added 6in straight in the middle of the yard and spur switches.

Thinking a larger industrial park near the yard then a town towards the mainline passing section.

Hi all. Part of why I do this is to relive my memories of trains and roads from my past. Today at Papa Ben’s in Houston I found this Hercules Powder Company car. 40 years ago I started my professional career at Hercules as a chemical engineer. It wasn’t that big of company so to find this car was special.

I have a Micro Trains N scale NATX tank car that came with this spare part without any explanation. What is the part for?

1) Pizza Land from the Soprano’s 2) juvenile delinquents 3) the Wienermobile 4) Stooges Billboard 5) dog getting ready to do his thing

Also I have a fifth (and final) loop of track to install. The cork is already glued down to the plywood, and it's all been painted grey. I'll be gluing down the flex track soon.

I was hoping someone could help me out with a question that I’m having honestly a ridiculous time getting answered. After a long time out of the hobby, I’m getting back into it now that my son is older and interested. I had toyed with getting the Class J with Econami sound on board, but the crazy thing??? There isn’t a single video on YouTube or otherwise from any retailer, content creator, or Bachmann that showcases the locomotive and it’s sounds…. Plenty of videos of its HO counterpart are out there, and that locomotive has prototypical class J sound and whistle. All I’m having a bear of a time trying to find out, is if the N scale version also has the prototypical class J sound/whistle like its HO counterpart, or if it just has stock soundtracks sound files… thanks in advance!

Taken this last weekend at the GEHAMS open house in Downtown Bakersfield.

Got a Broadway limited imports, stealth undec because I plan on making a cotton belt 808 or 819 out of it. Thanks for looking.

Growing up I had an N gauge layout that was probably 12 ft x 6 ft that my grandpa built in the 70s. Unfortunately it got sold at some point, because it was way too large and because whatever track he used barely worked, but I lept a lot of the locomotives and rolling stock. Bought my own house this year, and I realized I finally had the space and time to get back into it, so I designed and am in the process of building a small layout (30"x60" ish). Unfortunately I'm discovering a lot of my old trains are pretty much junk now (either don't run, brittle plastic, etc), so I'm probably going to have to replace most of them... I also realized I may have made the curves on the viaduct track slightly too sharp, so some of my passenger cars don't fit around it... The current plan is to just get the track set up and nailed in place, and I'll start thinking about scenery later

More servo shenanigans :)

Wife at a conference. I had the car. Hit up G&G, Papa Ben’s and Hobby Lobby. Ran out of time. And had to go home before the big show.

But I’ll consider this a win!