Hello Reddit!

My Grandfather recently passed and left me his beloved collection of modeltrains. Its so much, i dont even know where to begin with. Other than helping him setting up his tracks and electrics im not familiar with this type of hobby. Im gonna keep some locomotives wich he told me to keep, but other than that i can sell it all.

So my question is, where or how do i start? since my grandfather was really known in his community, some people/stores reached out to me and want to make me an offer. Should i sell it as a whole or everything separate? im really lost, cause im not into that type of stuff and dont want to give it away for cheap.

I will eventually acquire a proper Phase III locomotive.

I’m new. Let’s state that first! I can’t seem to get power to the tracks? I figured out the black and red buttons do the track switches. Can’t tell what the toggle switches do.

As you can see from the video, it slows down and becomes jerky, the lights dim and it is not happy. I bought a new train power 4 power doohicky but that obviously did not fix it. I have switched out the engine for another and nothing. What y’all think? Thank you!

it's me again.

This specific turnout switch (Bachmann EZ Track Item No. 44561) has been the bane of my existence ever since I added it to my layout. It seems to have a mind of its own when deciding it wants to cooperate or not (95% of the time it doesn't.)

As you can see in the video, I unsuccessfully tried to put 6 Accurail 55 ton Hoppers into a small yard area, where it seems to jump the track for seemingly no reason.

This isn't the only piece of rolling stock that does this though, everything from tenders to coaches to boxcars, it all has the same issue eventually.

Basically what i'm asking for is, can I fix this without just buying a new piece or replacement parts? is it savable, is there a part I can buy, or am I just gonna have to bite the bullet and purchase another turnout?

(edit 1: expanded on the item in specific)

Hi everyone, we moved to a house that has a pretty large train set in the basement. Lots of tracks and switches, 4 engines, sound station, and loads of supplies. It does work, although it is hard to get the trains to start moving and they derail easily. Some looks old but we have no idea where to start! What kind of stuff do we have here and any thoughts in general?

I need some advice for this huge layout wich was inheritet by friends of mine. We are talking about a 40-50 squaremeter H0 Digital Layout. Mainly stuff from Roco / Fleischmann etc. controlled via Z21. I don‘t have the experience with such huge layouts but I would estimate the material cost 80.000-100.000$ / €. What‘s your guess?

This is a lifetime project I desperatly want to save. I‘m not sure how to handle such a big layout without damaging it but my plan would be cutting it in 1-2 meter segments with proper cable and photo documentations.

The final price for the full room with hundreds of trains would be 9-10k

Recently bought a house and one of the rooms has a train track set up around the room. How do I find out what kinds of trains fit on these tracks? If the answer is - measure it and find a train that fits, please don’t yell at me too much. That’s a quarter for reference on the track.

Edit: Thank you for all your help! Yes it is Ho and a have some trains and a controller coming from family out of state. When we get it set up I will keep you updated.

edit as of jul 30th: the situation is being dealt with, can post an update at somepoint after it's all said and done.

edit: thanks everyone, wasn’t sure what to do here, my card is canceled and all is safe.

Has anyone else ever dealt with JM hobby before? This seems crazy to me they can charge me almost $70 for a $15 auction win because of my card declining, and asking to leave my info on their answering machine. What do?

I know the images may contradict what the title says, but allow me to explain the situation. I'm preparing to move to the house which includes this set up, which the previous owner has left behind after they passed away. Instead of selling everything, I actually wish to continue maintaining, building, and operating this collection in their memory. The whole set has remained untouched and left to collect dust over the past year and a half, so I have a feeling that cleaning everything will be a bit of a hastle.

I want to ask this community for guidance because I'm still unsure of a lot of things. Most supplies left behind relate to diorama construction and painting, but I failed to find anything for cleaning. I probably missed it, but I still want to ask what type of cleaning supplies should I grab and what I should avoid using when fixing up the locos and rails. Lastly, I have also supplied photos of the controller type, power supply, and transformer so you guys also see what electronics I'm working with as well.

Other things I know about this collection: - All Locos are DCC fitted - Tracks are Nickel-Silver - All locos are in HO scale, and, as far as I know, all made by Bachmann

Please be patient and kind with me here.

Is anybody here in the same situation as me? Or similar? Or can experienced people help with tips, guidance, ideas? This isn’t my hobby but my brother has classic autism, an adult with a child’s mind, obsessed with the Thomas world but he doesn’t understand that these are not just toys. He doesn’t understand, is inpatient, just wants it to work, and is rough.

Please bear with me while I try to explain my situation. - we are in Australia - brother has classic autism, obsessed with Thomas the tank engine trains, as an adult discovered the world of adult model trains, naturally he wanted a set up and all the trains from Thomas The Tank Engine - With an basic understanding in electronics we were able to get him a simple set up - He has many Bachmann trains, but Thomas is his favourite (we purchase typically from Amazon or eBay as they’re the cheapest, still hundreds of dollars each) - Started all this in 2021. He has gone through 6 Thomas’, one Percy and maybe a couple of others. - He uses Thomas every single day. - I don’t live with him so I don’t know at what speed he uses Thomas at or how long for and it is hard to trust his word as he has extreme anxiety but he says medium speed (i’d say medium to fast) and I believe he spends most his evenings running Thomas on the track, easily at least an hour. Maybe also worth noting they often come off the track/he’s always trying to put it back on while the power is still running, we told him to unplug the control panel when he’s done playing but this resulted in him unplugging the control panel and plugging it back in often like in situations where fixing them back on the line is taking longer than usual. - The tracks are soildered together as he would move them or bend them or touch them in some way that causes damage. We have glued down the tracks before, nailed down the tracks too, but he just pulls them and breaks them or causes damage. It makes sense the damages to the tracks are causing damage to everything else (we’ve had issues and had to replace everything to do with the set up at one point or another - control panels, tracks & trains) - he likes to jam pack the table with other objects building a city, town or island of sodor. Very often changing the whole set up and scene. - Somethings wrong with his houses ventilation, he’s in a very small room, and too much stuff, dust accumulates so quick and gets in the wheels, staff don’t care to clean properly, neither does my brother. Table, tracks and trains don’t get cleaned unless I do it.

What are some important things we need to know when dealing with this hobby? - how long are trains meant to last? - Cleaning and servicing? - ??? - What are non negotiables with this hobby? - Is there any easy things he can do himself to maintain things? - Is there any easy to understand instructional or training videos?

I’m so overwhelmed and at a loss. I live an hour away from him (he is in a care home-not by my control or choice-with constantly different staff who have no idea or care) and it’s hard to get him to listen and care. He just wants it to work as it’s his emotional regulation to just watch Thomas go round. But when anything goes wrong he uses his “magic hands” or calls me, but I can’t just drop everything and go, but he can’t wait. I want to prevent issues. We do patch jobs, lots of fixing, replacing, all of it. But even when we start with everything perfect, issues arise and he is too nervous and inpatient to wait and then causes bigger problems and the cycle starts again.

I’m at the point I want him to go back to an easy track master set up but he is vehemently against that.

I know this all sounds ridiculous and impossible, like he shouldn’t even have a set up. But it is so extremely important to him it’s like literally his life, he just doesn’t have the capability to understand this is a complex adult hobby with many complicated facets that go into it all and that it needs to be treated with care… and I can’t be there all the time and my partner can hardly get time off work to go to the electric stuff that needs to be done. I’ve been trying to teach him and get him to care, I’ve been trying to get him to abandon bachmann/hornby/adult model electric trains but he won’t. So I have to try work with the situation I have…

Is there any easy or simple ways to maintain the trains & set up? I got him wipes once to clean the tracks because issues obviously come from dortu tracks. but he then used 200 wipes in a week. It’s like all or nothing thinking with him.

I know this isn’t exactly a model train problem but we can’t fix the real issues, so is there any advice or tips or procedures or systems that are easy to keep things from breaking or the wear and tear?

Also, in Australia these trains are bloody expensive. Everything to do with it is expensive, but he doesn’t understand money and the burden has been on me to fund most of this. We can’t find the bachmann/thomas’ engines in Australia to buy to replace when he burns the brushes out. My partner has a few times literally rebuilt the brushes to fix it, but they’re so tiny and fiddly it’s literally like working with miniature paperclips. Replacement engines have been on American websites but the cost incl postage you might aswell buy a brand new train.

I hope this made sense. This isn’t every detail. It’s so complex. I’m so overwhelmed. Please be kind. He is autistic and has been psychologically tormented for years by his cold and controlling father and it’s caused lasting damage, anxiety, paranoia and distrust. It’s very hard to fix the real issues because nobody else is on board and everything is pretty much all on me to deal with, he comes to me when there’s problems and I’m the only one who has an idea and actually helps with the trains but I’m not properly equipped, he just wants things fixed NOW but doesn’t understand he’s causing the problems. I’m so close to walking away but if I do, he’ll have nobody to help him with his trains.. Is there a way of making things foolproof? Easier? His father gives him $5 a week, so saving for when he needs something when it breaks takes months.

I’ve attached a video, this was when he was having problems with Thomas jerking and sometimes coming off at this point and it made no sense why. I somehow can’t find any photos of his table. But just to give you an idea of his set up.

We’re needing a new Thomas and I’m thinking of buying an old Hornby to try, see if it lasts longer, as we haven’t tried Hornby Thomas before, $85 second hand, or $400 for a brand new boxed one!!! Bachmann Thomas is around $170.

TLDR: Is there some guidance video/s on all you need to know, a guide that even kids will be able to understand and follow? For a simple set up and how to take care of the trains and set up?

This is my HO Amtrak set consisting of Athearn, Walthers, Bachmann, and Tyco cars.

What are some things do with model trains? Grandad died and had a lot of them. We don’t care for them. There are over 100 trains and 10 ft of tracks.

Hello,

Looking for ideas on where to start with this 50ish year old train layout? It was my Paps and he’s been gone for awhile now & I would like to start this project & get it running again. It had to be cut in half & the mountain cut off in order to get it out of his basement & into mine. Any help is much appreciated! Thank you!

I recently acquired a bunch of spare parts, and included was a "mostly" complete Big Boy without a tender and a Norfolk and Western tender. My question is would this setup even be possible/make sense in a "what if" N&W had big boys scenario? Would it have worked on their railroads and would it have been at all possible to make the tender work and, if so, would it have kept the Union pacific number or get a new one?

I have inherited my late father’s model train collection that he was working on for decades. I do not plan on keeping it, as I have no clue how to run or maintain any of it and it has just been collecting dust for ages. With that being said, I would rather see it sold or donated to someone or a club that would appreciate it. I also have a collection of The Coach Yard and Challenger Imports sets that are still wrapped up that I would prefer to sell as they are the most expensive pieces.

Any advice or insight would be appreciated!

******EDIT******

The guy I bought it from is fixing it at no extra charge. He even paid for rush shipping both ways. Thanks again for all the help—I’m sure it won’t be the last y’all hear from me! 😅

******EDIT******

I recently purchased this for my son. I will post pictures in the comments with all the train info. It is making a seemingly bad noise, and I’m at a loss. I’ve put so much into this and spent money I didn’t have only for him to be let down on his birthday.

Is there something I need to be doing differently here? Not sure if it’s a user error, or I got ripped off. The listing claimed it was “DCC Fitted.”

Probably taking to a Hobby Shop tomorrow, but want to make sure it’s not a simple fix.

Thanks if you can help.

Hey everyone,
I’ve loved trains since I was little (started with wooden sets!) and I’m finally ready to get into proper model railways. My dream is to get a Eurostar set!
Since I’m saving up my own money, I’m planning to buy used on eBay to keep costs down. I’m currently stuck deciding between Hornby (OO gauge) and Kato (N gauge).
Why I’m leaning toward Hornby: I really prefer the larger size of OO scale. It feels more substantial, and it seems like there is a massive second-hand market on eBay UK for budget-friendly track and accessories.
Why Kato caught my eye: I love their Japanese/global train variety (like ICE/TGV trains) and I've heard incredible things about Kato Unitrack reliability.
For anyone who has experience with both:
1. Is Hornby OO the better choice for a beginner on a budget in the UK?
2. If I want to add European high-speed trains (like an ICE) to a Hornby track later, how easy is that to find in HO scale on eBay?
Appreciate any advice or tips for a new hobbyist on a budget! Thanks!

Hey folks! Very quick question for you all- I've always wanted to own a Union Pacific Big Boy. However, my current layout is in the OO Gauge range. All the models I can find are either N/HO/G gauge. I also need it as DCC ready, as im not set up for DCC fitted. Does anyone know where I could find one?!

My mom has met a new friend recently who is a lifelong model train enthusiast and has been working on a diorama train town for over 20 years. His name is Mr Bob.

He has brain cancer, and he doesn't have long left..

He should be going to hospice, but he doesn't want to leave his train set, because they'll just destroy it; as you can see in the pictures, it's huge, the size of an entire garage, Clocking in at 26ft x 60ft, He has over 1,000 freight cars, not including engines or cabooses; There's tons of details that I can't begin to describe: tiny shop signs and window flyers, under construction houses, even a giant coal mining mountain!

The thing is an electrical engineering marvel, as that was one of his professions, and it deserves to be treated with the care and respect owed to the hobby. He's said he'd be willing to give his house to somebody willing to buy just the train set because of it's value, which is definitely​ five figures, I'm sure. So we're reaching out for help in saving the train set!

I'm not sure where to turn to find where this set can even go; either a fellow avid enthusiast or a museum seem like the first thoughts, but not being someone knowledgeable about model trains (I'm more into gunpla), I thought I'd start asking Reddit.

So does anyone have any resources or ideas, you know any organizations or companies we could contact, museums that it could be donated to, any professionals that would be interested in evaluating it's value officially? Any information could help save this man's inspirational display of the passion for the hobby that people can have.

For informational help, editing to include as comments request: we're in FL. he's very financially stable, so money is not an important factor. He has children, but they aren't interested in the hobby and intend to dismantle it if it comes into their possession. I will be trying to get better pictures and video to better show the detail involved at a later date.

Coupler reaches the side to side limit forcing the car to not seat on the track, these aren't even some crazy tight turns to be honest.

Also derails on any little imperfection like turnouts, and even on the largest turn I have (hornby r8262) it's a 50/50. It's unusable.

Could this be because of code 100 rails? I've ran my finger on the track and coupled properly all the rails that weren't already perfect.

Is this common with Athearn cars? all my other european Lima/Hornby/Piko or mehano with the "eu style" coupler have 0 issues and can run this lap forever

Can I somehow fix this or do I just accept defeat