Model Trains

[Analog Kid]

I used to wrap a rag around a small piece of thick cardboard or wood to make a rail wiper.

[andy3055]

Some photos with VWs!

[andy3055]

More!

[MarkF]

I wish I had some HO scale vehicles but they are so... expensive.
The ones you see in my photos are old Matchbox vehicles from my childhood. 
They're a little too big for HO.

Oh, for the old days when you could get Athearn Blue Box rolling stock cars for $5.00

[tszaboo]

I wish I had some HO scale vehicles but they are so... expensive.
The ones you see in my photos are old Matchbox vehicles from my childhood. 
They're a little too big for HO.

Oh, for the old days when you could get Athearn Blue Box rolling stock cars for $5.00

There are many 1:76 models available because that's a standard for car models. It's close enough.
Plus I've found you can buy scenery by the dozens on used model fairs.

[MarkF]

I wish I had some HO scale vehicles but they are so... expensive.
The ones you see in my photos are old Matchbox vehicles from my childhood. 
They're a little too big for HO.

Oh, for the old days when you could get Athearn Blue Box rolling stock cars for $5.00

There are many 1:76 models available because that's a standard for car models. It's close enough.
Plus I've found you can buy scenery by the dozens on used model fairs.

If I'm not mistaken, 1:76 scale is OO in Europe the UK.            ^{(Happy now?)}
While HO scale in the USA is 1:87.  Making my Matchbox cars a little big.

[tszaboo]

I wish I had some HO scale vehicles but they are so... expensive.
The ones you see in my photos are old Matchbox vehicles from my childhood. 
They're a little too big for HO.

Oh, for the old days when you could get Athearn Blue Box rolling stock cars for $5.00

There are many 1:76 models available because that's a standard for car models. It's close enough.
Plus I've found you can buy scenery by the dozens on used model fairs.

If I'm not mistaken, 1:76 scale is OO in Europe.
While HO scale in the USA is 1:87.  Making my Matchbox cars a little big.

Most EU model trains are H0. The English have OO, which also goes on the same rails as H0.
Cars independently have 1:76.

[RoGeorge]

When we were kids we knew them as 9mm, 12mm or 16mm, the distance between tracks (in Romanian the distance between rails is spelled 'ecartament', the automated translation gives the English words 'gauge').  I don't know if those 9/12/16 millimeters were in metric system or if the values were the closest (rounded) imperial->mm conversion.

We never refer to the size by HO, or by scale 1:nnn (like in maps).
I'm not sure if the model trains correctly preserve the track gauge.

For example, when trains were traveling between Europe and Russia, the wagons were lifted with a crane (without wheels), and placed on a parallel track with another set of wheels.  This was because there is a gauge difference between the European and Russian railways, and it was faster to change the wheels than to disembark everybody, or to unload and reload the transported goods.

Are there any Russian train models, too, and if they are, do they have a different gauge between tracks? 

[MarkF]

We never refer to the size by HO, or by scale 1:nnn (like in maps).
I'm not sure if the model trains correctly preserve the track gauge.

They don't. 
According to Wikipedia the track gauge for both HO and OO is 4' 1½" where as standard gauge is 4' 8½".

While both scales run on the same track, the models themselves are actually different.

   
OO scale (left) and HO scale (right) models of the EMD Class 66 from Wikipedia.

[tszaboo]

We never refer to the size by HO, or by scale 1:nnn (like in maps).
I'm not sure if the model trains correctly preserve the track gauge.

They don't. 
According to Wikipedia the track gauge for both HO and OO is 4' 1½" where as standard gauge is 4' 8½".

While both scales run on the same track, the models themselves are actually different.

   
OO scale (left) and HO scale (right) models of the EMD Class 66 from Wikipedia.

The "We" plural is not a neopronoun, it's a description of people, a country or several countries. In which case it would refer to several post Warsaw pact countries would refer to model rail.
OO is non existent In continental Europe. You have H0, TT and N, but TT fell out of fashion. People would just call it 16mm, or 12mm rail. Or in West Europe, they would just call everything Marklin, because that's what seems to have most of the market anyway, with their AC 3 rail H0 system.

[RoGeorge]

Be "we", I meant "we, the kids, were talking back then about train models as being of type 9/12/16mm".

[Analog Kid]

For example, when trains were traveling between Europe and Russia, the wagons were lifted with a crane (without wheels), and placed on a parallel track with another set of wheels.  This was because there is a gauge difference between the European and Russian railways, and it was faster to change the wheels than to disembark everybody, or to unload and reload the transported goods.

That's interesting, and I didn't know that.
I had assumed that the Soviet Union used our (U.S.) standard gauge of 4'8-1/2" (1435 mm), but that's untrue.
I guess I thought this because of the "Little Joe" electric locomotives that we built and were going to send to the Soviets, but which were withdrawn before being shipped over there. They were then put into service in the US. So were they built to our standard gauge, and then the Soviets were to replace the wheelsets?

That's quite a big difference between their gauge (1524 mm) and ours (1435 mm).

[tggzzz]

For example, when trains were traveling between Europe and Russia, the wagons were lifted with a crane (without wheels), and placed on a parallel track with another set of wheels.  This was because there is a gauge difference between the European and Russian railways, and it was faster to change the wheels than to disembark everybody, or to unload and reload the transported goods,

I expect you are aware of

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latour-de-Carol three gauges at one station in the Pyrenees.

https://www.revistaitransporte.com/changing-gauge-without-missing-a-beat/ main lines (URL changed)

[Analog Kid]

https://www.revistaitransporte.com/index.html@p=4571.htm main lines

That link is 404 for me.

[tggzzz]

https://www.revistaitransporte.com/index.html@p=4571.htm main lines

That link is 404 for me.

Strange. I wonder what the hell happened there.

Try https://www.revistaitransporte.com/changing-gauge-without-missing-a-beat/

[andy3055]

OO vs. HO:

This is a great explanation of the whole thing.

[Analog Kid]

This shows an automatic gauge-changer in operation.
The train doesn't even stop.

[MarkF]

The opposite side of the tracks.

Layout update with new 3D items:
  - Shorter office building walls that are more to scale.
  - Rooftop air conditioning unit for office building.
  - Trash dumpsters.
  - New end-of-track buffers.
  - Pedestrian track crossing (Not entirely happy with it.  It might get the bin.)



That short section of track between the Iron Works and the Office Building is all that's left to do of the ballasting.  The little pedestrian crossing is holding up production.  That whole parking lot and road crossing area has been a headache.  It just doesn't look right to me.

Added lights to the Office Building but have to paint and assemble it next.

How do people do their parking lots?  I have seen a few techniques used but haven't decided the easiest way to make them.  Art was never my strong suite.

[Njk]

When we were kids we knew them as 9mm, 12mm or 16mm, the distance between tracks (in Romanian the distance between rails is spelled 'ecartament', the automated translation gives the English words 'gauge').

Exactly. 9mm were too small and 16mm were too expensive so I'd 12mm (of so called TT scale, which corresponds to 12 mm inter-rail distance, according to Wikipedia). Mine were all from Piko, Germany. BTW, the company is still in business, that's amazing

[Infraviolet]

RoGeorge, reply 257:
I think there was something similar in Spain in the first half of the 20th century. Spain had a different gauge to the rest of Europe so there were special stations in the Pyrenees which had trains from Europe arriving and passing everything across to a Spanish gauge train parked alongside it.

[andy3055]

I think Spain still has them.

[jonovid]

Model Train Sound Synthesizers
 If you're interested in adding 1970s analog sound synthesis to your model trains
here is some audio synthesizer electronics particularly made for model trains.
at the time this equipment was very expensive.

The Obscure World of Model Train Synthesizers

Benn Jordan is a musician & his yt channel that about acoustics & Music synthesizers not model trains so you may need to skip some parts of the video.

go to video time line-
0:58 the analog sound equipment made for model trains
2:17 how it worked on a model train
3:13 the cost of the equipment at the time
4:00 yt channel check out ‪@Hyce777‬!  about PBL digital model train sound equipment.
4:35 setting up the electronics
5:19 to 8:46 playing & testing the sound equipment
14:38 the electronics

[andy3055]

Amazing! I was laughing at the rat's nest of wires and plugs.

[andy3055]

Is there any chance someone can 3D print some gears for me?

[MarkF]

What size and type of gear are we talking about?

I've been printing pretty small stuff.  But, I would not be able to get enough detail out of anything small enough for say a locomotive drive gear.  And something on the order of a dime wouldn't have enough strength in PLA or PTEG.  I've never printed gears so I don't know how they would hold up under load.  I believe a filament printer will have problems printing even a gear the size of a dime.

I drew up some squirrel cage fan blades but never printed them.  I'm afraid they'll just fly apart.  They're about 5" diameter.

You would probably have better luck with someone who has a resin printer.

But hey, I'm always game to try drawing up a gear and trying to print it.
Then we're going to be fighting dimension tolerances and printer calibration.

I saw, some time ago, a YouTube video where they printed some small gears but can't remember any details.  If I get some time, I'll try to find how they worked out.