Sheesh, no wonder hobby shops go out of business. 

Quote from: dheaton on December 10, 2013, 11:27:33 AM
This may have already been asked here but I did not see it so here goes.

Are there any good examples of a small track layout for a 4x8?  I am looking for a way that I can enjoy this hobby but my home really has no space to put up a  large track layout.  My garage is too cold in the winter and would have to leave my car outside to do it.  I am just looking for some good ideas on track layouts that do not take allot of space but still fun.

You might check this out.

http://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=879_604_782_784&products_id=2545

Others can probably recommend web sites with track plans. I'm old fashioned; I like books. Your local hobby shop probably will have a selection of track plan books published by Atlas or Kalmbach.

Quote from: jward on December 10, 2013, 09:32:35 AM
22 18 22 18 22 18 22 is the way I always did it.

Doesn't alternating that way put slight kinks in the rail? 

Quote from: Pacific Northern on December 08, 2013, 07:47:26 PM
If you alternate 18" and 22" radius sections you will end up with a 20" radius curve. Use 4 pieces of 22" and then 3 piece of 18", you end up with a transition track. Add a 4" straight section and the ends will line up parallel to each other.

Better than an 18" curve but not as good as a 22" curve, but a compromise worth considering.

I must be having a mature moment because I'm not quite sure I'm following your suggested arrangement of the track sections.

Is it: 22-18-22-18-22-18-22?

Or: 22-22-18-18-18-22-22?

Or even: 22-22-22-22-18-18-18?

Thanks!

(I don't run 50-ft cars, and I've created transitions for small layouts using 18-R and 15-R curves by arranging the track as 18-15-15-15-15-18. Of course I agree that curbur shouldn't go that small a radius for 50-ft cars.)

Quote from: jbrock27 on November 14, 2013, 10:40:16 AM
Ahh yes, those were the days....

I think I would rather have a COKE, even it was an ill fated NEW COKE.

New Coke? No thanks, I'll  have a Dr. Pepper. 

Quote from: Rod in PA on November 10, 2013, 10:27:33 AM

                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADa0EU7p-3Y

Very, very nice. I really enjoyed watching. Thanks!

JBJ

Quote from: ebtnut on November 13, 2013, 11:43:40 AM
Not to get too picky, but the term "in service" may need a caveat.  No. 90 is still in service on the Strasburg, who got the engine from the GW while it was still in operating condition.  The Illinois RR Museum has a Frisco Russian that has also been restored to service. 

In a scrapbook I still have a clipping from the local Lancaster newspaper from when GW #90 arrived at Strasburg. 

Unfortunately, being a kid at the time, I didn't note the date of the clipping. 

I just know it was in the Sixties because I was a kid in the Sixties. 

Quote from: Doneldon on November 05, 2013, 05:45:51 PM

Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on November 05, 2013, 12:28:09 PM
Where do people get the idea that some of this stuff is worth so much?

J-J:

They read one Christmas season that some guy who was in financial distress and nearly suicidal because he couldn't give his kids a Christmas found his old Lionel set in a corner of his basement and sold it for enough that he could afford the best Christmas ever. Ergo, every old train ever sold is worth a million bucks. Toss in plain old wishful thinking and a residual belief from childhood that there are treasures out there just for the finding and it's pretty easy to see where the thinking is coming from. 
                                                                                                                                                                     -- D

I suppose we should toss in there "lack of knowledge of toy or model trains," and that "residual belief" about undiscovered treasures is probably propped up by Antiques Road Show and perhaps American Pickers.

Ooops, sorry, I guess I went OT again. My bad. ... 

Quote from: jbrock27 on November 04, 2013, 01:26:40 PM
It has a little of the same fascination to it, as watching a wreck.

Where do people get the idea that some of this stuff is worth so much?

I can understand it with something that does seem to be unusual and fairly rare, such as the Rivarossi Lincoln car, but some of this other stuff? 

Quote from: Doneldon on November 01, 2013, 08:55:51 AM

Quote from: lvrr325 on November 01, 2013, 07:11:31 AM
A few weeks back I watched a plastic HO bobber caboose get bid up to $202.00.  Sometimes they have more value than you realize.

lvrr-

This only goes to prove that some people have a whole lot more money than
intelligence, judgment or common sense. There are no plastic bobber cabooses
worth more than $10, with shipping. Honest to goodness, this kind of thing
makes me crazy.
                                                                                            -- D

I agree. Sometimes I will put something that has an utterly ridiculously high "opening bid" on my "Watch" list just to see if anyone goes for it.

Quote from: Jerrys HO on October 02, 2013, 06:32:11 PM

Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on October 02, 2013, 01:33:49 PM

Quote from: raveoned on October 01, 2013, 02:25:35 PM
I remember our store having the G.I. Joe set, but no one wanted the A-Team one.

  I'm sorry to hear that. I was a big fan of the A-team. 

I pity the fool who doesn't like the A-Team.

Jerry

  I wondered whether anyone would come up with a line like that. 

Quote from: raveoned on October 01, 2013, 02:25:35 PM
I remember our store having the G.I. Joe set, but no one wanted the A-Team one.

  I'm sorry to hear that. I was a big fan of the A-team. 

Quote from: raveoned on September 30, 2013, 11:00:24 AM
Our family had a hobby shop from the early 70's into the mid-80's, and the Tyco sets were incredibly popular.  I think the one thing they had going for them at the time was the marketing and the packaging.  The sets always looked cool: Comin' Round The Mountain, Silver Streak, Golden Eagle, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Clementine, Durango, tons of them! 

I was reminded of this post by something I noticed on eBay this morning. If I had been a kid back in the 1980s, I would have really wanted the A-Team train set. 

Quote from: Desertdweller on September 30, 2013, 01:24:26 AM
I never could afford any of AHM's brass steam locos, so I can't comment on them.  In their plastic trains, the best stuff they sold was made by Rivarossi.  I think the best HO Rivarossi products were their streamlined passenger cars.  Full scale length, complete interiors, beautiful paint jobs.  They were ahead of their time.

Rivarossi made a nice range of Diesel and steam locos, too, but they suffered from deep wheel flanges and underpowered motors.  The Diesels tended to drive through only one truck, and had plastic frames.  On the other hand, their die work was very good.  The N scale Rivarossi stuff mirrored the HO.

I agree with you on the Rivarossi passenger equipment sold by AHM, and I would include the "heavyweight" cars, too. Also--and I know they are oversize for scale--I still think the Rivarossi "old-time" Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0s are the nicest engines of their type around. Beautiful locomotives! The matching "old-time" passenger cars with duck-tail roofs and interiors are very nice, too.

Quote from: Desertdweller on September 30, 2013, 11:35:19 AM
I remember back in the 60's, Mantua sold easy to assemble steam loco kits, and the same locos ready to run.

I didn't have any, but would have liked them.  They used substantial open-frame Pittman motors, and electrical pick-up from both loco frame and tender.  Gear trains were simple worm and gear, so gear lash adjustment was critical to smooth operation.

The first locomotive kit I built was a Mantua/Tyco 0-4-0T, the side-tank engine with the entire superstructure one solid piece of metal. It was easy for a kid to build (with a little help), with all that weight on the drivers they will pull anything, they're easy to maintain, and I doubt you could kill 'em with a sledgehammer. 

JBJ

Quote from: Doneldon on September 25, 2013, 11:44:23 AM
Mostly, though, I find myself discouraged about what's available on TV.

This is why I've spent the summer mostly watching 30-50-year-old programs on the "nostalgia" channels.

They say, "Everything old is new again," and for me that certainly applies to shows that aired so long ago I don't remember them (or, at least, particular episodes)--or programs that aired before I was born.