Model Railroad Hobby Shops | Sign Of The Times

Today, I visited one of less than a handful of hobby shops in my area that stocks model railroad trains. In addition to its bread-and-butter RC planes and slot cars, this was the only recently set up store that dedicated a modicum of shelf space to the model railroad hobby, specializing in the Fleischmann and Kato model lines.

Or at least they used to.

Whole shelves formerly devoted to model trains and track were now exclusively displaying slot cars, tracks and accessories. RC model planes loomed, suspended overhead. The store's train display, an N-scale Fleischmann layout sitting on top of a Noch mountain landscape had been packed up and according to the boss, "Moved to the warehouse." In its place was an RC helicopter display.

A single 12inch glass shelf displayed the solitary N-scale Fleischmann starter set and an HO scale Special Edition steam engine.

But I can't really blame them for this decision to reprioritize. The model railroad hobby has never been big where I live. Real estate is at a premium, and few households have room for a permanent railroad layout.

And in an age of fast-paced lives, faster-paced hobbies and instant gratification, few folks have the time, patience or inclination to plan and build a model railroad.

Sign of the times, indeed.

But it is precisely the slow pace of planning, building, landscaping and tweaking a model railroad that drew me to the hobby in the first place.

For that hour a day when I run my trains --while looking for new things to add on or modify that do not require drastically ripping up track -- I'm engrossed in an imaginary miniature scene of my own creation. And dreaming of soon moving to larger premises where I can really let my handiwork and imagination fly.

Model Railroading | Attaching Fleischmann Profi-Track to the Baseboard

This was the method I used to attach the Fleischmann Profi-Track to my baseboard.

Fleischmann Profi-Track has a plastic roadbed molded onto the track to simulate ballast. This saves us the trouble of ballasting the track ourselves with PVA glue and fine modelling ballast which can get messy. Really messy.

And ballasting your own track it makes it nearly impossible to remove later, without damaging it, should you want to remodel and change your layout.



Incredible detail of the ballast stones on the roadbed of every Fleischmann track 

I'm really a fan of the Fleischmann system because of the high degree of detail on all their products, both train and track.

Above is a pic of the detail in the roadbed. You can literally count every ballast stone!

And you can also see the fine wood grain detail on the railway ties to boot!

Using 3M 4011 Exterior Mounting Tape attached to the underside of the trackbed, I fastened the track to the foam level of the baseboard. 3M 4011 is made of some sort of rubberized material, is extremely sticky and very, very strong. As an unexpected benefit it also has sound dampening properties for quieter running.

And the good thing is that if I ever decide to re-do my layout -- which will not be too far into the future -- I can simply pry off the track without damaging it.




3M Exterior Mounting Tape




Attaching 3M Exterior Mounting Tape to the bottom of Fleischmann track.

Woodland Scenics | Adding Rail Worker Model Figures to a Model Railroad

I enjoy adding HO scale figures to my railroad layout, creating miniature scenes that add tiny pockets of activity and detail. Each one tells its own story!

Sometimes I'll go 'figure shopping' and look through the display rack to see what catches my attention -- that alone is enough to trigger the imagination and create ideas for possible new scenes I wouldn't otherwise have thought of.

Railway workers at work on a damaged sleeper.

Here I've depicted railroad workers repairing a damaged railroad sleeper and installing the new tie. The figures are from the Scenic Accents Rail Workers set and are affixed into their standing positions with Accent Glue.

Woodland Scenics Rail Workers

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Notice the ground cover which is made up of layers of Woodland Scenics Earth Blend and Fine Turf 

I have a gap of one sleeper in my layout from where I attached Fleischman flex track to the regular Profi-Track. The metal rail itself is connected so that section of the track is perfectly functional. Having these railway workers work on the track, so to speak, sort of explains the missing sleeper.

One worker is even carrying the replacement sleeper on his shoulder!


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Rail worker carries a sleeper on his shoulder

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Woodland Scenics Rail Workers set includes a Hand Cart, seen here on the tracks in the background 

I'm all thumbs when handling tiny objects and trying to glue them down and this is where Woodland Scenics Gentle Grips come in pretty handy. Gentle Grips are tweezers with rubber tips that are umm.. gentle, and will not chip off paint like regular metal tweezers might. The rubber tips also give you a good grip on any tiny object you might be trying to grapple with.