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More railways.. (model railway)

StoneRoad said:
Try to find a local model railway society, in particular one of their "open house" events for prospective members and go along for a chat.
Alternatively, ditto at a model railway show ...

There are books and "a few" periodicals on the subject.
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Whilst this is solid advice, this feels like having to go fully down the rabbit hole on day one.

As a nerd, working in a nerd industry where a lot of people for some reason go even further and make nerdery their entire culture and personalities, I'm quite nerd-averse, at least to leaning even further into it. And whilst I'm sure :hmm: that model railway clubs are more diverse and inclusive that I might anticipate, I wonder if that's going to work for me.

What I'm saying, obviously, is that I aspire to unilaterally take back model railways for the cool people despite this. Or something.

So, like, what self-help routes might I be able to pursue? Other than professional therapy for gestures all this.
 
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T & P said:
Much more of the latter- it’s a completely different feeling to those from playing race cars. I’m not particularly skilled at building the incredible quality of detailed seen in amateurs’ sets, and whenever I see Mumbles274 ’s efforts in this thread I think ‘I could never do that’, but I would like to have a go at such craftsmanship even if my efforts end up looking decisively crap.

I’d also like the having more than just the basic oval track layout so I can have two different train sets running, and with points I can operate to divert move moving trains onto a different track.
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The perhaps useful, perhaps obvious, thing that I'm concluding from my own thinking is that the dominant/limiting factor is curve radius. You probably want a loop, maybe an inner/outer loop pair or similar. And the minimum radius of that loop that you can get away with is defined by the gauge/scale you pick, the available parts from your preferred manufacturer/supplier, the type of trains you run, and the speed you run them at. You can probably figure that out quite quickly with a bit of research.

And that sets the basic footprint for whatever you want to do, whether that's a tabletop or something rambling around the periphery of the room.

Then you can figure out whether you can make it more interesting by adding bits - a yard etc - inside that loop, or outside by bolting on external sections.
 
mauvais said:
Whilst this is solid advice, this feels like having to go fully down the rabbit hole on day one.

As a nerd, working in a nerd industry where a lot people for some reason go even further and make nerdery their entire culture and personalities, I'm quite nerd-averse, at least to leaning even further into it. And whilst I'm sure :hmm: that model railway clubs are more diverse and inclusive that I might anticipate, I wonder if that's going to work for me.

What I'm saying, obviously, is that I aspire to unilaterally take back model railways for the cool people despite this. Or something.

So, like, what self-help routes might I be able to pursue? Other than professional therapy for gestures all this.
Click to expand...

I have worked at the Model Railway Club in Kings X and I can assure you that your stereotype is 100% accurate. Nice people but absolute neckbeards.
 
The other thing is go to a model railway exhibition. You'll see a range of layouts and how they are operated from trains running round to shunting. Also lots of stalls and chances to buy stuff!!
 
mauvais said:
Whilst this is solid advice, this feels like having to go fully down the rabbit hole on day one.

As a nerd, working in a nerd industry where a lot of people for some reason go even further and make nerdery their entire culture and personalities, I'm quite nerd-averse, at least to leaning even further into it. And whilst I'm sure :hmm: that model railway clubs are more diverse and inclusive that I might anticipate, I wonder if that's going to work for me.

What I'm saying, obviously, is that I aspire to unilaterally take back model railways for the cool people despite this. Or something.

So, like, what self-help routes might I be able to pursue? Other than professional therapy for gestures all this.
Click to expand...

Many RMCs offer "taster" sessions / exhibitions for people in exactly your position !
[without knowing where you are, I know that Warley RMC - In Birmingham - does this "taster" session as do several others but I can't recall any details atm]
 
StoneRoad said:
Many RMCs offer "taster" sessions / exhibitions for people in exactly your position !
[without knowing where you are, I know that Warley RMC - In Birmingham - does this "taster" session as do several others but I can't recall any details atm]
Click to expand...
Fair, cheers. I'm in Manchester.
 
mauvais said:
The perhaps useful, perhaps obvious, thing that I'm concluding from my own thinking is that the dominant/limiting factor is curve radius. You probably want a loop, maybe an inner/outer loop pair or similar. And the minimum radius of that loop that you can get away with is defined by the gauge/scale you pick, the available parts from your preferred manufacturer/supplier, the type of trains you run, and the speed you run them at. You can probably figure that out quite quickly with a bit of research.

And that sets the basic footprint for whatever you want to do, whether that's a tabletop or something rambling around the periphery of the room.

Then you can figure out whether you can make it more interesting by adding bits - a yard etc - inside that loop, or outside by bolting on external sections.
Click to expand...
Correct on curve radius.

Building a realistic curve to true scale will produce a much more gradual curve than you expect. Same with train lengths (and hence platform lengths) - they will scale to a greater length than you think and typically stations and yards will need more length than you think.

Many or most model railways compromise on both things to an extent.

With a 2m x 1m baseboard as per T & P's query, absolutely no hope of building a continuous loop at OO or anything larger, that doesn't just look like a toy train, like a toddler would consider accetable.

Maybe N guage. You could hide the sharpest curves in tunnels etc.

The other approach to a small baseboard is to realistically model a small station or yard, with things only running end to end but possibly with various sidings to allow shunting type stuff. Serious modellers would tend to choose this but it won't satisfy people who want to watch things rushing around.

It's definitely worth going to some exhibitions and watching some stuff on YouTube. For sure you will encounter some nerdery but you'll also see some true artistry. There are plenty of models out there that are focused on conjouring primarily an atmosphere of place and/or time. The nerdery can be a sort of a means to an end, because if you're properly into railways, then the suspension of disbelief relies on the details being correct, if that makes sense.
 
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