Quilt Patchwork Patterns

Model Train Table

So where are you going to put your model train anyway?  That looks pretty good but did you say it gets wet a bit in here when it poors.  Yeah that’s the drawback, isn’t it?  It’s good to carefully plan where we place our setup.  Here’s some ideas:

Floor based plans:  

Some people just place their trains right on the ground.  This saves the time and effort of getting or constructing a display area, but it is not very good for smaller locomotives.  It is one thing to have a g scale locomotive on the carpet or in your back yard, but it is another to stare down at the smaller build of an HO train set.  The bird’s eye view of the smaller scales foregrounds the weaknesses of theses locomotives.  Not to mention that your locomotives are much more likely to be smushed and damaged in careless moments.  A higher display level tends to foreground the strengths of HO and N gauge trains.  Even O locomotives look better on a train table.

Pre-existing display areas, the blessed lazy man’s choice  

In some houses there are natural display areas or elevated spaces that lend themselves to toy train track plans.  This natural shelf solves the problem of elevation perhaps and if you are extremely lucky can find the perfect location for our hobby trains.  Very few of us are this lucky however.  You might try to fool yourself into believing that you have found the perfect location but think of the problem aspects of this arrangement.  These areas tend to be too small for a toy locomotive layout and they tend not to be shaped in the right way.  So, such spots dictate a host of limitations to your toy training.  This is never a good way to grow your model locomotive empire.

Using a pre-existing surface:  

Sometimes you get lucky and serendipitously come across a table at home.  This helps in that you can move it to the spot you would like, but most surfaces that are not specifically built for toy training have other problems.  Not only are many such surfaces flimsy, but you still have to adjust your train display to fit with the pre-existing dimensions of your area rather than the opposite way around.

A table that says “I’m cheap but I know the worth of hard work crafting”:  

For the make-it-from-scratch crowd, nothing is better than imagining and building a display area themselves.  It is incredibly satisfying to design a table that exactly fulfills the exact requirements of our track design.  This is a wonderful option because it gives your toy locomotive a unique platform and because you can arrange it as you see fit.  This isn’t for everyone.  If you aren’t that into designing furniture then you’ll want to avoid trying this.  Just as large of a problem is the fact that such surfaces tend to be permanently one size and as your model training empire expands you have to go through the trouble of building yet another table to increase your surface spot.  Such a project can be a very inconvenient drag on our time.  I won’t put down homemade tables except to say that if your engineering talents don’t extend beyond hobby locomotives, trying to build a area can really be a black hole of time and effort that you may not have much to show for on the other side.

Hobby surfaces, the option if for those who are willing to shell out the clams:

If you’re willing to spare the expense, the best kind of hobby locomotive areas are probably the domino style surfaces.  They are called “domino” areas because that can be connected on any side to form any shape, no matter how idiosyncratic the shape.  These areas do away with many of the spatial limitations that you might have had with other area choices.  This rights the balance of power between you and your table making it so that you dictate the shape of the surface rather than the surface dictating the shape of your track plan.  Also, because they are lightweight they can more easily be moved out of the way and since they can easily be changed and added to as you see fit, they can grow with your toy locomotiveing ambitions.  Also great if you want to make a train for school project and would like to transport it without undoing too much of the track.  In short, this is perfection in hobby areas.

With your table option out of the way you are now free to really embark on your model train adventure.  Good blessed and happy modeling!   

Here is more information on Model Train Track. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains. 

Model Railroad City

Wow, what a design!  I like how the track breaks from the grove and goes into that tunnel.  Cool miniature run down barn you got in the corner.  It feels like you could still add something though?  Right here in this big zone that is a miniature bit bland, you could put a model railroad metropolis.  Here are some reasons why it would really improve your track design:

A toy railroad city is interesting in itself: 

First of all, a tiny toy railroad city is just great to have for its own merits.  When you look at a train circuit design and you see a miniature city in it, your gaze is naturally pulled to look up and down its streets.  We love to look on the little people going about their days in their tiny make believe world.  For some young watchers the toy railroad city will command as much attention as the trains themselves. 

A toy railroad city provides impressive contrast for the locomotives: 

Another wonderful thing about having buildings and other objects a watcher is used to seeing in the real world is that it gives you a sense of scale in relation to your locomotives.  It’s also wonderful to have the locomotive disappear between buildings and pause at a fully developed locomotive station. The made up world of the toy locomotive just seems that much more full and rich.

A toy railroad metropolis provides period specific detail:  

Another wonderful thing about a toy railroad city is that it really let’s you develop the period specific detail for your toy locomotive.  So if you have a train that is specific to the late 19^th century you can have your city be a Southwestern boomtown, having telegraph lines, cowboys, 49’ers and bars.  It really let’s you create a wonderful tiny fictional setting for your train.  But this can also be a form of stealth learning for your young ones.  This is yet another wonderful way of developing the realism of your toy locomotive world.

Got a budding Rembrandt in the family? You’ve found the part of the toy train hobby that will they can really get with: 

If you have some members of the household that aren’t that into model trains but that enjoy drawing and painting, this is the ideal opportunity to recruit them.  All those miniature artistic touches that bring a model locomotive world together and that drive your mathematical mind crazy, your tiny Rembrandt will find a joy.  Just watch in wonder as their precise little brush strokes bring out details you couldn’t even envision but that now seem so obvious train design you will definitely want to leave an area for a model railroad town.  Just think of all the possibilities!

Here is more information on Model Railroad Track Plans. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.