Donaldon wrote a textbook, but it's a good one!  Here's a little more ... footnotes, perhaps?

Many layouts are built with a framework (called "benchwork") covered by a thicker (say 2") layer of styrofoam building board. You design your track layout FIRST, then build the benchwork with solid wood directly below where the track will be. Then, on top of the thick styrofoam, you lay track with one of the several roadbeds: EZtrack with built-in roadbed, or Atlas (etc.) track with pre-formed homasote, ground corr or foam trapazoidal-profile roadbed. The principle is that you want a solid support under the train and rails, so they don't sway or twist. But you want to save on weight and materials and (as you will read below) have access for electrical wiring from below the layout. On the other hand, you want your layout to look as realistically like a real railroad in a real countryside or town, as you can make it. Study the real world itself, like an artist, and then see how other model railroaders have solved various problems of duplicating reality in miniature. Finally, be creative
on your own, try new things, and expand on the ideas that turn out to look good.
By the way, where you are building a switchyard, you'll find the full-scale real-world railroads have NO roadbed. The whole yard is a roadbed, in effect.

It helps, of course, to understand why these various things are done on the prototype roads. Roadbed is gravel that will hold the ties in place so they don't shift, and also drain off rainwater so the ties don't rot (creosote helps, but drainage is still important). In a railyard, it's virtually all gravel all over. Ties are square timbers, not the flat pieces you see on most model track. You put that down on top of a "roadbed" and fill in around it with a little sand, so it LOOKS like the top of a big square cross-tie buried in the little mound that is the roadbed.

You, of course, attach the tie with liquid nails or maybe metal ones (there are schools of though on this, concerned with whether you want to pull it up and reposition it next year or not). That's part of creating the illusion but being practical. One more reason for the solid foundation under the track is to cut down noise and rattle. Homasote is simply very dense pressed paper; it will absorb sound energy, but transmit it down to whatever is below it. It does have some disadvantages; like most things in this hobby, there are those who swear by it and those who think it's the worst crap in the world. That's what makes life interesting -- they are both right, according to their own standards. Styrofoam is light and foamy, so it swallows up the sound energy. The goal is to keep that train rumble from resonating in the frame of the benchwork. That's where you get a noisy train room. Well, yes, a lot of the noise goes into the air: sound-absorbing walls and ceiling help, too. And a carpet or rubber mat on the floor is a very good idea!

Why use that more expensive (but not that much more) 2" styrofoam? For one thing, you can dig ditches, arroyos, creeks, and what-have-you easily and naturally. You can add hills by gluing down a chunk and then sculpturing it. And you can do this afterwards, if you are still finding your way. Styrofoam take most glues (some will eat it up, to test on a scrap first) and water-based paints and scenic pastes. Be careful, though, with spray paints like Krylon. Most of these will also eat styrofoam. Test on a scrap.

Flowing hills are part of making scenery natural. Except for railyards, airport runways and football fields, most ground has undulations of some sort. You can create this on a thick styrofoam base with a rasp or even a wire brush, then sand and scenic (if you are new to the hobby, "to scenic" is a verb used only in this hobby that means "to put scenery on the layout so it looks realistic like the real world").

Another advantage of having thick styrofoam without a solid layer of [ply]wood under the whole thing is that you can put wires through to light buildings and power train rails, just by poking a skewer or even a piece of coat-hanger wire, through the stuff. Just go at an angle under the track so you miss the reinforcing piece directly below.

Yes, I said power train rails. DON'T rely on rails and rail-joiners to conduct the juice from one feed point, unless it's a very small layout (a single loop, say). Use heavy copper wire (building wire, 16 gauge or heavier if it's a big pike) under the layout. Every ten feet or so (there are many opinions about the proper distance, and you will form your own soon enough), run a smaller wire up to each side of the track from that main buss wire to the correct rail or the track itself. Use the insulation color as a code to guide you (as any electrician would do!) so you don't cause a short circuit and blow out your power supply. Always solder the wires and insulate with electrician's tape. There's a trick to soldering the wire to the rails: using the lightest touch and the minimum amount of solder, gently tack it to the "back" side where you don't see it from the front of the layout, and don't make a bump that will derail a wheel. You may have to file down some solder when you're done (no, don't wrap THIS joint with tape!).

It's all part of making your layout LOOK realistic, but work well with the systems (i.e., electricity on rails instead of real steam or diesel -powered locos) we have to use at 1/87 of the real world to create the illusion of reality in miniature.

Happy rails to you!

.......................................railsider

Johnson Bar Jeff .......................

I found Preiser's "Beidermeister" figure sets look very good as period people for the Lafayette, John Bull and DeWitt Clinton trains. Try Walathers or eBay ... or your local model train shop.

Railsider

Doneldon is right about mold in organic material. That's why is said "well-dried". If you  live in a humid climate, then it could be a problem.

Adam...........

Join a train club! Good advice on many levels.  You'll find out about local auctions, swap meets, and meet guys who enjoy trading or have stuff to sell. And often, you'll find guys willing to GIVE you stuff, just to help a fellow hobbyist get into the fun of the WGH.
If you don't know anybody, ask at the neighborhood haabby store. They'll put you in touch at once.

There are two reasons for limiting slopes to 2% or at the most 3%. One is that it's prototypical. Much more than that just looks unrealistic. But, on the other hand, we make compromises all the time in model railroading, and sos you can sometimes exceed the real-world slope.

The other reason is related to the actual real-world reasons: can your train make it up that hill without stalling? Pure and simple physics -- nothing to do with what it looks like! If it can (after all, your freight cars, even if properly weighted, are not as heavy [in scale] as real ones), you are ready to roll. How do you find out if it can or not? TEST and VERIFY, that's how.

Take an eight-foot board, 2x4 or even 2x2, and add about 5" more at one end with a 1x2 splice on each side. You will now have 101" of wood. Lay exactly 100" of track (whatever your scale, etc.) with a safety bumper at each end. Remember, this is a test track, not for looks; just make sure it's sturdy. Now cut a series of 1" high blocks wide enough to raise one end of this test-track by 1", 2" and 3" (4" too, if you think you'll need it) and a single block that is 1/2" thick. Connect a power pack to the track. Load up a train and put it in place on the track. By stacking boxcars on flats and gondolas, you can simulate the weight and keep it short. Now lift one end carefully so you don't derail anything, and put a black under the end. Fire up the juice, and see if your loco can pull that weight up that slope. If it does, back up, add a lift block, and repeat. When you reach the point of "no-go," substitute the 1/2" block for the last one in your stack. If that works, then you have found your limit. If not, then take it out and count what's there.

By using a 100" track and 1" blocks, the calculation is no problem: 2" up in 100" = a 2% grade, and so forth. Experiment with shorter trains if you need a steeper grade because of space problems (and don't forget, a grade can go around a curve). Once you know what a given engine can do, keep a notebook of how many cars it can pull up how much grade, and you are ready to design your layout to operate on as many levels as you like, knowing how each will perform.

Obviously, it's a good idea to build a "safety factor" into your numbers, and to keep the engine(s) well-maintained so they always deliver as efficiently as when you tested them.

Wilcomen auf USA, Werner Grotz!

If you are used to the HO scale of Marklin, HO would be a good choice. It is familiar, and there is, as several point out to you, a wide variety of equipment and scenery available here.

Another correspondent has pointed out that "scale" and "gauge" have different meanings. Scale = the ratio of models::real world. HO scale = 1:87. just as in Marklin. N is smaller, 1:160, if space is limited. O is much larger, 1:48.

Gauge is the actual distance between the inside of the two rails on a train. The world standard is 4 feet, 8.5 inches (=1.4351 m). In any scale, standard track is that distance, reduced by the fraction of the scale.

There are narrow-gauge trains in many places, including the Western US. For example, "HOn3 " is HO, n=narrow-gauge, 3 feet. The actual track gauge is 3 feet, or 36 inches (just under 1 m). The buildings and human figures are the same as for anything else in that scale (in HO, an adult person is about 2 cm tall) but the HOn3 track gauge is only 3 feet, that is,  less that 4'8.5". In HO scale, that means the HOn3 track is actually 1 cm gauge.

Happy Rails to you!!!

Of course I know that DeW Clinton, the celebrated *person*,  was a political figure in the 19th century. That's why he was later depicted on a Federal tax stamp ... just like G. Washington is depicted on today's dollar bills, to lend dignity to a current instrument of the government.    Geeeez, you guys!   Lighten up.

I built a small muddy  pond (cattle tank, in fact) by gouging a hole in the foam, cutting a piece of heavy-gauge plastic (a package, if I recall), painting the underside mud-brown, and setting it, shiny side up, in the hole. Paint and plaster around the edge completed the image.

You can make EZ track ballast (and similar sections from other manufacturers) look more realistic, and match cork-or-homasote roadbeds under Atlas, etc. track, by coating with a slightly thinned glue and sprinkling regular "sand" ballast on it, then tamping a little as it dries.

Another interesting variation on the ballast veneer idea is to use old coffee grounds, well dried and sifted to remove clumps. It won't grind gears, metal or plastic, as mineral sand will, if it gets into them. It is, however, darker than most ballasts in the real world.

railsider

Does anyone admit being old enough to remember when DeWitt Clinton (the politician, not the train!) was on the little blue tax stamps plastered over the top of a pack of cigarettes? That was back in the 1940s, if I remember correctly.

Don't ever forget those wizards of Philadelphia! The Bachmann Repair Service will fix or replace any Bachmann-made loco when you mail it to them with $15 (I think that's still the price for steamers).

They are great, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. If only other companies would do the same ... ah, but of course, as Johann Sebastian (The Bach Man) will gently remind us, none of them are quite as good as Bachmann, now, are they?

Railsider

Thanks, Don!   

The Wikipedia reference gave me "Methvan" and "March 2, 1865" but you are right, the Cornell Alumni News, in a 1904 report, spells the middle name Methven. The several railway journals  seem to favor "March 3".  I was afraid I had made a proofreading ereror, and was about to drown myself in professional shame  ;)bd

I am grateful for the Tarrytown January 2, 1941 data. But I'm frustrated by the truncated snip that omits his birthplace. I'm probably missing something, but I don't know quite how to get into the texts of those things. If there is an expensive sign-up, I probably cannot afford it, but I'd like to know. If I can nail down that birthplace, I'll have this one wrapped (except for the spelling and birthdate confusion, and I can live with that by adding a parenthetical "or").

Thanks again...........................

Bill

The British "HO" stuff is actually OO, which is equipment in 1/76 scale, but it runs interchangeably on US HO track. The difference is that US HO stock is 1/87, about 13% smaller than OO stuff (except for the wheel-gauge, that is). Because it's a tad larger, you can get more detail, and a slightly larger motor. (Has anybody sat down and figured out which one is really the authentic scale, and which is either too big or too small for the track gauge, which is the same on both sides of the Pond?)

The second difference is the couplers. If you have the British-made Bachmann Hogwarts Express, you know what I mean. Like US NMRA couplers, there are efficient but not authentic-looking. That's why so many US modelers prefer Kadee or other knuckle couplers: they look like the real thing. In North America, that is. British trains, as most of us know, and European ones, too, couple differently to/from American ones, in the real 1:1 world. The main point is that the Euro-style couplers are clunky-looking, but reliable as all get-out.

The big difference, of course, is that British models look like British trains. They have a whole different style and panashe about them. As with so many other things in life, if you like it, you like it, and if you don't, you don't. Bob's yer uncle, as they would say in that part of the jolly old world: that's how it is, mate.

I run a Hogwarts, and love it. But my prize is a Hornby Stevenson's "Rocket" that runs like a charm, and is a real historical document. (On another thread here on the B-Board, several people comment that the other historical line, Bachmann's DeWitt, John Bill and so forth, tend to be somewhat flimsy and prone to becoming static models. Mine haven't -- yet -- but they are hard to couple with those drawbars and pins. No such problem with the "Rocket" and its sturdy metal Euro-couplers.)

Hooray, says I, for the differences, because there's somebody who likes each variation. If only it were easier to get one in the home of the other, and vice-versa.

I am looking for some biographical background on Frederick Methvan Whyte, the man who invented the Whyte Classification (or Notation) System for steam locomotives. I am researching a book on eponymous scietific units and scales, and the Whyte System is one of about 300 I want to incluude. For each, I try to list the date and place of the person's birth and death.

Here's what I already know: Whyte was born March 2, 1865 ... and died sometime in 1941. What I don't know, and hope someone can tell me, is the place of his birth, as well as the place and exact date of his passing in 1941. Whyte graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 1889, and worked for quite a number of roads during his career. He was not an "engine-driver" engineer, but designed locomotives and systems. He proposed the system we all know well in 1890, and it became a national standard after ALCO adopted it in 1903. He traveled to Australia in 1921 as a consulting expert in railroad design. It's possible he may have died there. He is also described as "Dutch American," though it's not clear if he was born in the US or in the Netherlands.

Please share any reliable and accurate information you may have, and receive my undying thanks (plus a note in the book when it's published). It would help greatly if you can add your source for the data, so I can verify it.

Many thanks, fellow railroad buffs and modelers!

Bill .....
                           (alias "railsider")

Not to get too fussy, but I've found REAL wood looks even better, and isn't too hard to do.

Find dry twigs about the size of scale firewood (HO: about 1/4" dia) and cut it to length (about 3/8") then split it with a hobby knife. Hold it with needle-nose pliers). You'll lose a few, so make a bunch. Then over a layout-construction-board base in the tender, lay down some white glue and put in a layer of wood, random scattered or neatly stacked, as you prefer. Let the glue dry (clear) over night and there you are. A shot of dull coating will stabilize the works.