Hello
I am from Kolkata
I want to buy the things as stated in the title. Please help me, Any seller from Kolkata is preferred if possible. Other wise anybody who can help is welcomed.

Thanks

What gauge? OO, HO, N...?

New or used?

Please be specific.

Price is the factor here for now, I don't know the prices. But I would prefer HO or OO Scale
New as well as Used will also be welcomed until they are good.


Thanks

Cant you make your own one in the specified scale..?  can add lots of tracks all around your garden and plots.. trains at imagination..!!   

But how is it possible??
Please Reply to my PM

Thanks

Why not reply out here? Let us all learn from Roopesh Sir!

Oh sure why not..!!

Sure respected modellers.. i will share some of my train models, and technics about making it easy.. the diesel electric train is far easier, as it never contains complex moving systems, and over head power lines.. will share some here.. and i stopped making trains, as it became a mad to me.. and just my wife was getting lots of anger on me and she stepped all over it once..

There is a treasure trove of Railway sets lying with a person in Kolkata, All Marklin HO Gauge. Massive collection with more than 200 engines and 1000 Rolling Stock. The last that I knew, he had enough layout to cover an area of more than 1500 sq.ft. I don't know if he will be willing to part with any, but you can try your luck.Try and trace out one Mr. Burjor Patel, the Park Street/ Russell Street auction houses can provide leads. If he is still around, Mr. Patel will be around 80 years old today.

All the best!

Do you have any contact info of Mr. Patel?

No, I last met him about 15 years ago, when I was heavily into HO / OO Gauge. Nevertheless, start scouting the auction houses on Russell Street, I picked up some amazing deals there.

Check out Wonderland Toys at the crossing of Free School Street and Park Street. They used to be Hornby Dealers once upon a time. Victory Hobbies and Pline Hobbies (Howrah) are both members on this forum and are both dealing in model railways. Have you contacted them?

Hornby would be the best bet:

Positives : Huge range, comparatively cheap prices (Model Railways is an EXPENSIVE hobby)
Negatives : The OO Gauge makes all Engines and Rolling Stock look a little 'Upright' and top heavy in comparison, when using a mixed traffic of HO/OO components (Most modellers do).

Other than that, Bachmann from USA is also economical. Be prepared to shell out Rs.2500/- for a Diesel Loco and Rs.5000/- for a Steam.

It is a beautiful hobby, you won't regret this.

By the way, how much of experience do you have in this hobby? I hope you won't find this question impertinent. The reason why I ask is so that I know if you need any further guidance on the basics. At the moment, pardon me for assuming that you are a newcomer with zero experience / research in this field and I am lecturing you on the very basics. Forgive me if I am wrong.

VC sir are you into this hobby? When i was 12 i asked my uncle for a train set (a plastic one) little did i know he was into model railroading so what i ended up with was a HO scale railroad started set and a bunch of engines and controllers, they have been sitting safely tucked a way in a box ever since. Could you help me through the basics? And where can i buy tracks?

Bunch of Engines???

Please elaborate................

Yes, I am into this hobby for the last 20 years, now in hibernation. How may I be of service?

Yes quite of few diesel locomotives (a few were from lifelike others i have to check), just one steam engine. I want to build a track that goes back in time. I wanna get more steam engines and build a fully functional loco yard with a working turntable and all. As much input on what i should be doing will be appreciated.

Ya You are right I am a fan of Railway from childhood, but recently came to knew about this. And I only Know about the scales, but still have confusion about their exact size, You are always welcome to teach me more  

OK, Thanks. I will try to search him and also search them in the Toy Store. And about Bachmann Where to buy?? And I can happily give 2500INR and also 5000INR for locos, but where to buy??
www.hobbylinc.com
Is this site good??


Thanks

I had built my own turntable 15 years ago (couldn't afford to buy one then). Build a shunting / marshalling yard, it is awesome.

No idea about that site. I trust victoryhobbies (member of this forum) based out of Madurai (I hope I got that right?). They have a large collection and are ever so ready to help.

Yup I mailed them[victoryhobbies], but still no reply. If you have any contact number please provide me.
Pline is very much costly and produces only brass models of Garden Scale.

Victory Hobbies details:
Victory Hobbies
4540 Villapuram
Madurai,Tamilnadu-625011
Email- victoryhobbies@gmail.com
Vignesh balsubranium
+919600027222

See if this helps.

My advise would be to invest in a beginners set to start with and do a huge amount of reading on the net. Try and purchase American makes as they are the best value for money. Marklin and Flieschman are German and too expensive in the long run. Hornby - I just dont like. Just search for "Model RR for beginners" on google and you will have a lot of stuff to start with. NMRA is a great site. Also check out "Tony's Trains". Just remember that this is a very painstaking and patience-taxing hobby and also rather expensive (fortunately you dont crash and dent your purse). But patience and eye for detail is essential. There is no RTF and ARF here! You have to get down and get your hands dirty.

I have been into model rr for about 15 years now and have just dismantled my third layout (pics ttached) in the hope of designing and building a completely new one at my new house in Kerala.
I have always stuck with HO for various reasons (good compromise between space considerations and failing eyesight!!!!).
I run all American locos (about 10 of them I think) and wagons (about 100) and my layouts are freelanced (not based on any actual current or past prototype). Atlas is my choice of locos (diesel) as they are reliable without being expensive and my wagons are assorted. My last layout had about 200 running feet of track with industrial sidings and a shunting yard as the main features.
I have been using Peco and Hornby flex track and my trains run on Digitrax Super Chief DCC system with sound. I use ESU Loksound decoders in all my locos.

Wow Pradeep Sir that is very beautiful. If you find time then please post a video.

Pradeep Sir, beautiful layout. I had something similar that I dismantled when I relocated to Guwahati, 12 years ago. Never had the time to put it up again. I have about 20 Engines and rolling stock. Jouef, Fleischmann, Hornby, Triang (Metal body), Lima, Roco, Pico (erstwhile East Germany), Bachmann are some of the marques that I have. Will try and put up some pictures soon.

Crown Railways based out of Malad West in Mumbai, used to manufacture a starter set based on a 0-4-0 Triang Loco in the early sixties. I'm lucky to have 2 such engines in my collection.

I too believe in "freelanced layouts".

Vc, you are quite a collector! It would be such a pleasure to meet you. I remember Crown and I have seen some of their wagons. I hope my RR does not get relegated to storage in the process of re-locating!

here are two links of what all is there is victory hobbies...hope it gets your mouth watering     >

 https://picasaweb.google.com/114652025188784726117/VictoryHobbies?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/114652025188784726117/NewArrivals?feat=directlink

Thank You Mr Pradeep It was really helpfull


And also thank you akky, they are really mouth watering
What a Collection

Okay DM - you need to make a few decisions first:
1. Scale - HO, N, Z, O, G etc. I would suggest HO as it has the widest range available and is the most popular. That reason goes a long way as a decision maker in our country. http://www.nmra.org/beginner/scale.html,
2. Operating system - DC (Direct current) or DCC (Digital Command Control). I started with DC and converted to DCC about 6 years ago. Its not so much more expensive than Dc as people make it out to be. Tou can start small and grow as you go along. Its worth it. www.dccwiki.com/DCC_advantage_over_DC, http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=972, http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/intro/dcc-different-dc.htm,

Once you have decided, write me a line and we can take it further.

[Admin Note] Unwanted "Quote" removed... use "Reply" instead... See usage guidelines : http://www.rcindia.org/rc-india-forum/forum-usage-tips/

1. I also Prefer HO, but How about OO. Is it good and easily available? Is it little expensive than HO? I heard OO runs on same track size as HO..!!

2. About OS, It is still confusing me. Reading the articles, DCC looks more better. But For now Money Matters for me. So you tell me which ones better and which one should I adopt.

OO is 1/76 scale loco running on HO (1/87) tracks. To me it looks a bit out of proportion. Anyway if you build HO you can run a few OO trains on it too.
I would say invest a bit more and go with DCC. Much easier to set up and operate and much more dynamic and realistic. Buy in small bits. Your first investment needs to be time - to find a suitable track plan and purchase tracks and turnouts for it. I would suggest that you build a "Allen's Time Saver" or a similar puzzle first. Its a classic switching puzzle layout that can be accomodated in a small space and can be put away when not in use unlike a large layout. http://www.gdlines.com/Timesaver_Plans.html, http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/. It can also be incorporated into a larger layout later if you so wish. Building this will teach you the basics of Model RR and its operation.
Investment will be the following:
1. Digitrax Zephyr Extra - for DCC operations. http://www.tonystrains.com/products/digitrax_stsets.htm $180.00
2. Peco or Hornby flex tracks. I can give you some of my used stock. Enough to build a Time Saver.
3. Five turnouts ( preferably No 5 or 6). I'll see if I have spares.
4. One loco - preferably a small shunter/switcher (with decoder and sound) - $180.00
5. Five 40' freight cars - Bachman $15.00 each
6. Five Hornby or Peco point motors $10.00 each (I need to see if I have any spare)
7. 15 to 18 V AC power supply
8. Misc stuff like ply board, wiring of proper gauge, nails and screws and then ofcourse material for building up the scenery.
All the above might be cheaper on ebay if you are patient and hunt for it.
By the way, whatever I mentioned as from my stock is not against any payment. If I have it, you can take it. But only once you have invested some time and money on a proper project.

Pradeep Sir, your kindness is laudable, to say the least. DM you are one lucky guy. Years ago, I've had to BEG people to sell me stuff. No one gave me anything for free.

One word of advice, if you decide to build OO, stick to only OO - don't mix HO with it. Personally, I would find that restrictive. If I were in your place, I would have gone ahead with HO and enjoyed the freedom of building, cross kitting, expanding et al.

An invaluable resource for all Model Railway enthusiasts. A must have book.

VC, I wanted my first toy train when I was four years old. Must have been a pretty bad want because I remember every bit of it. Saw it in a shop window in New Market in Cal on Christmas Eve. I remember the steamer horns going off. Obviously we couldn't afford it and I decided to save for it in clay piggy bank. I remember the day it got full and I broke it. Got Rs.5/-. Still not enough by a long shot. Had to wait till I earned enough to afford such expensive toys. I realize DM cant afford it. He is a student. Thats the irony of it all. You have to grow up before you can play with these trains and planes. So if I have stuff I dont use, i have no problems giving it to someone who can use it and enjoy it. People have done it for me and I should do it for others.  Even with the freebies, it works out to a lot of money.
DM, you can get a workable HO train set (Bachman) for about $100.00 with about 12 pcs of track to cover a 4 ft board and a train that will go round and round. Thats a toy. You'll get bored with it in no time. I have no idea how old you are but if you are anywhere over 15, thats a waste of money. Better to save a bit and start with the serious stuff.

Deja Vu. That sounds so strangely familiar. I practically grew up in a toy shop called Modern Toys in New Market, owned by the Sahas, all "Uncles" to me. As an adult, I raided their junk heap to retrieve the 2 Crown railway sets. Thereafter, I tracked down Mr. Ashwn Mehta (his father owned Crown railways) during my sojourn at Mumbai and bought a lot of imported stuff from him.

I've seen the best and worst of this hobby and experienced ecstasy and agony. I've seen the nadir of degradation amongst the erstwhile riche of North Calcutta, who would smash and stuff priceless engines into cartons but would refuse to part with them. These sets were collected by their fore fathers and are today rotting away along with their decrepit homes. I've met a man who lived, and probably still lives, in a time warp near Marine Drive Station. He still believes that India is ruled by the Brits and he hasn't stepped out of his home since 1945. He was hand crafting a Bombay Central Layout in OO gauge. This was one scary, surreal experience.

I remember the Anglo Indian gentleman from Park Circus, Kolkata, who sold off 25 Complete Train sets to Mr. Thambe of Guest Keen Williams for a paltry Rs.25,000/- in 1992. I wept that night. My wife understood.

I've drooled over two Godrej Almirahs stuffed with Marklin Locos. I've seen a Fleischmann 2-6-2 being torn to pieces by a destructive 6 year old. I could go on and on.

Yes, I have seen a lot. Perhaps, the reason why I choose to keep this hobby under wraps for the moment is because, I don't want to relive the frustration of not being rich enough. Maybe someday I will be, and then I can afford to create the layout that I have always dreamt of.

Yeah, I am 17 Years Old. Thanks for what ever you said
Yah I will get bored that is why I dont want a train set but Individual Things.
Real jobs is way too far, and I don't want to wait. I will have to gather and incrrease my Investment soon, But the problem is there is no good store to buy. I tried to contact Victory Hobbies, He told he will email me but I have not got a mail from him. Just now I cannot afford the DCC. Can anybody provide me with other Stores for Model Trains? Is www.hobbylinc.com trustable, can they ship it to India?

@VC No Indian Online store has this book, Amazon does not ship to India when I tried to ship few months back. Can you provide me the link?

Modern Toys in New Market, Does they still deal with Model Railroads??

And my all wishes are with you, I hope you make one of the greatest layout soon Then I will surely visit it, Hope you won't mind  

And Thanks a lot to all of you,  

Follow this link:

http://www.ebay.in/sch/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A1%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A3276&rt=nc&_nkw=train+sets&_ipg=200&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1514

Wonderland Toys, Park Street, Kolkata
Phone:  (033) 22299062
Mobile:  9830050766, 9830153552
Address:   41, Park Mansion, 57-A, Park Street, Kolkata- 700016, West Bengal

Now laddie, the rest is up to you......................

Thank You again

DM, if you want to start with a DC operation, I can loan you a Hornby dual controller for two  But you will still need a loco and a few wagons. Check out http://modeltrains-corner.com/c1_0021.htm, http://www.decibelscalemodels.com/, trains.http://www.trainaidsa.in/. See if there is anything within your budget. DO NOT BUY WITHOUT CHECKING WITH VC OR ME FIRST.
As for books, the best model rr books are from Kalmbach Publishing. http://www.kalmbachstore.com/modeltrains-railroading-model-railroading-books.html
Here is someone who is building up slowly - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/39694-model-railroad-train-sets-thread-5.html

Hello VC Sir Thanks, Your Details of Wonderland Toys worked, They sell Hornby Models, New Stocks will come in May.

Thanks Pradeep Sir, It is really helpful. I will surely contact you before buying Locos and other stuffs.
The Changer tracks needs extra machine to do it automatically or its inbuilt?

Apart from showiing off  , I am also trying to keep this thread from fading into oblivion. After all, we haven't had a Train thread here for a very long time.

Here are some of my Locos.

The first two are of my Roco Krokodil - my pride and joy.

Thanks to DM and Pradeep Sir, I managed to locate some of my stuff. The others are still packed up in my godown / studio.

Found some of my rolling stock, tracks and points / turnouts. Will post pictures soon.

Good Collection of locos And Surely

Wow VC bhaiya, GOD knows what else you have packed up in your sleeves. Can I ask you something, If I may, with all these stuff that you have, why don't you build a layout in your house, its a pity that all these wonderful models have been kept into darkness.

VC bhaiya and DM do these Wonderland guys keep RC stuff also, or any static airplane models/gliders?

Why don't you call them? 9830050766

That is a really diverse collection VC sir.

Here are some of mine

and a steamer

Wow! All that stuff hidden away!
DM, the "changer tracks" are called "points". You  do have the option of "throwing" them manually or through "point motors" or more sophisticated decoder controlled slow speed "Tortoise" machines. A lot of experienced modellers prefer to throw them by hand as it is more authentic.

Et tu Flying Truck? Wah Wah!

great...great..

Hello Roopesh Sir

Please share us with your experiance of making model trains on your own if you have enough time..!!

I love trains the visiting the rail museum in Delhi was an epiphany for me, sadly the days of steam ended before i had a chance to see them.

VC sir is that first loco (electric one) brass?

That Krokodil is a classic. Its the original orange issue. The new ones come in green i think.

Yes that Krokodil is a classic and no, it is not made of brass. There is some history behind this model. I picked it up in 1993 in Mumbai for a princely sum. Once I got it home and inspected it closely, I found it to be heavily damaged. Many fittings like grab rails, lights etc were missing / broken. Took it to a studio, had it photographed and sent the photos to Roco in Austria, requesting for help in restoring it.

A few months later I received a small packet via airmail from Roco. It contained the entire fittings kit along with some other items for the engine like spare axle rods. There was a bill enclosed. Dad happened to be based at Brussels then, and he arranged for the payment. However, Roco had sent the parts as an act of grace and were really not expecting any payment.

Pradheep sir where do i get the gravel that i see used in your layout in india?

1. You can buy something like Profi track manufactured by Fleischmann or else, you can follow the next step:

2. Technique of making HO Scale gravel:

Items required:

Aquarium gravel
Mortar and pestle - metal
Kitchen / Juice Strainer with 0.5mm/1.0mm square holes

Take the aquarium gravel and gently pound it in the mortar and pestle, sieve it through the strainer. Voila! You have created HO / OO scale track gravel!

Thats brilliant. Do you have a technique for grass and what they call scenic cement? i saw a tutorial on how to make pebbled roads but it needs a silicone mould to press on the plaster to make it look like a pebbled roadis there an alternate i can use?

Could you also help me choose a 4x8 layout, i found these on the net

http://www.modeltrainguide.com/index.php?mode=displayarticle&section=3&article=3

I want it to be a dark gloomy dirty layout not all bright and green, something taken out of the industrial era of europe coal mines or steel foundries and the like.

I also need help with scale sizes of buildings and stations and factories.

Thank you

Yup...VC is right. Its always great to find a DIY alternative to the packaged material. I use marble chips or "dana" and run it once in a kitchen dry grinder and then sift it in a wire mesh. Repeat till all the "dana" is used. Then I mix up various shades of grey with acrylic or white plastic emulsion with black tint medium and chuck all the sifted gravel into them, let it soak for a minute and then lay it out to dry on a newspaper. It dries in clumps but its easy to separate.
90% of my green scaping is sawdust in various grades soaked in various shades of green and yellow acrylic paint and dried. Larger tufts of bushes etc are sponge or foam from discarded or old cushions torn into chunks and run through a blender with water. The resulting stuff is again dyed diff shades of green, yellow and brown. Taller grass is made from bristles of old paint brushes and fibre from ropes suitably dyed.
Everything is glued on the layout using a diluted mixture of Fevicol sprayed on with a bottle sprayer.
As for track plans, avoid 3, 6 and 10 as they require insulated track joiners or reverse loop circuits. Also avoid 7 if you dont have a turntable. The rest are simple enough oval or figure 8 plans on 4x8 ply that are all a good place to start.

Pradeep Sir +1. I couldn't have put it better.

FT - Go to your nearest household/kitchen equipment store and pick up some nylon strainers. They normally come in sets of 3 in different sizes. One plastic frame and 3 nets that you can clip on and off. This is an invaluable equipment for scenic modelling. Grass paper should be available at artists supply stores. But it can only be used for depicting mowed lawns in country dioramas. For the industrial layout that you are aiming for, get your hands dirty.

BTW Sir, is the family aware that you used the kitchen grinder for crushing dana? I almost went through a divorce when I pondered aloud the same technique for powdering Potassium Nitrate for my rocket engines. Ended up making my own ball mill.

VC, I haven't survived 37 years of marriage by being an idiot! I GOT MY OWN MIXER GRINDER WAY BACK! Actually purloined the one discarded by the kitchen in the process of mixer grinder upgrading.
Works well with pot nitrate and sulphur too.

Pradeep sir and VC sir, thanks. got to learn important things

I got a site junglee.com of amazon.com. There are locos available, but to ship they charge 690+270Per KG.
My question is what is the approx weight of locos ranging between 2.5K to 4K.


Thanks

Ok i have decided to go with the figure 8 layout in the attached pic. I only have lifelike power lock tracks so gotta see if buying the additional tracks required for this layout will be economical vs starting afresh using standard tracks.

This photostream will form the base for modelling my track. Time to start on the lumber mill  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/imlsdcc/sets/72157624901223715/detail/?page=5

This could take a few years to complete.

Thanks for all your help.

Each loco would weigh around 250 - 400 grams on an average.

This is one of my favorite layouts ever. Maybe some day

Hi,

I model trains in HO scale and my main interest is in logging and mining layout. I had a mining layout in my house. It was L shape and had incline more than 8% (not advisable!! But i used it due to limited space). It was ZigZag layout. I performed operations like ore hauling, loading ore in bigger ore cars. Main interest was banking operation. Here is video of it:



Here are some photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12758928@N06/3588526581/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12758928@N06/3588526441/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12758928@N06/3588526229/

Best regards
ashutosh

what is HO and OO?? I am not a train modeller...

Difference in scales.

OO is 1/76 and HO is 1/87 scale.
By the way Asutosh, your layout looks interesting. What space did you occupy? Any plans of restarting?

In simple words HO (HO:1/87.1, OO:1/76) is scale at which the models are scale down from Prototype, where as gauge is distance between tracks. HOn30 is HO scale on narrow gauge (prototype 30"). N gauge track is used for this. For us in India it is ideal scale as we can model all narrow gauge trains (2' gauge, like Matheran railway) using easily available HO scale rolling stock and N gauge track.

OO scale is more popular in UK, in fact started in UK. Motors which were available that time were not able to fit in HO bodies so gauge remain 16.5 but scale was 1:76. You can run Hornby OO trains on HO gauge track. But they tend to 'Jump' on turnouts as they have bigger flanges.

My layout was in L shape. Width was just 1' and length was 4' in L shape.

Now I am concentrating more on small layouts called as Pizza layouts, where I try to stick accurately to scale and add more realistic details. Size of layout is 2'X2'






Best regards
ashutosh

Today first time I came here while surfing for train modeling. Read this thread thoroughly and wow! introduced to this hobby. Actually I'm unschooling mom and following our interests is our learning. Yesterday my 7 year old son surfing on net for train & toy train he want to make...he found many videos of rail road making etc. and was hooked to it. In fact he's tinkering guy and not satisfied with just passive toy and everything he want to make himself with help of parents. Reading this thread found Pradip Sir & VC Sir too are interested in this hobby since childhood. I hope I will get some valuable guidance from you all experienced people.

Sejal

Hello All,
I have lot of HO scale stuff for sale Used but in very good condition find the following link for details.

my email- vcjain.bpl@gmail.com
With regards,    
V C Jain, Contact No. 8871380316  (9 AM to 6.00 PM)
for details visit my face book forum link
http://www.facebook.com/groups/296108230479296/

Hello,

One HO scale layout  of size 6'X1.5' for sale in (Engines) running condition.
With regards
V C Jain
here is the link of my video on Youtube

&