Toy railroads are integrally associated with childhood. Many of us at a young age once owned a plastic or iron model. railway. And those who could boast of a foreign-made model were considered lucky.
Nowadays, the hobby of toy railroads has grown into a large modeling industry. Moreover, this business is already more focused on an adult audience than on children.
To the main attributes - a track and a locomotive with trailers - trees, houses, roads, cars, and relief surroundings were added. And a table with a full-fledged model of a railway, with many details and little things, is already real art.
Abroad, similar products cost from 2 thousand dollars, but in this article I will tell you how to make a full-fledged model of a toy railroad with your own hands.
Table
You will need space for the layout. Ideally, this should be a separate table, but you can get by with a small table, or simply a fenced-off area on any suitable surface. It all depends on your desire and scope. I recommend starting with a small place - for example, part of a table, and then, if you are inspired, make a larger layout. It’s better to start small than to immediately take on a large amount of work and quit halfway.
Starter set
The thing without which it will not be possible to make a model railway is the railway itself. Or rather, a set of rails, a train and a power system for it. Here, alas, there are no alternatives - everything needs to be bought. It’s good that these days there is so much to choose from on the market.
Sketch
To know where you are heading, you need to have a goal in front of your eyes. Make a rough sketch on paper - where everything should be and what it will be like general form your layout. Browse the Internet, look at numerous railroad models and take note of what you like - bridges, crossings, houses, stations. You can make a model of a stop station in the Wild West, or you can make a station in the center modern city. But be sure to decide before you get to work. And make markings on the table so that you don’t suddenly discover that the track goes beyond the boundaries of the table, or that the barrier will cling to a passing train.
Mountains
The presence of a mountain with a tunnel through which the train will pass will decorate the layout. To create a small mountain you will need polyurethane foam, plywood, knife, alabaster and sandpaper.
First, think over and, if possible, draw a sketch of the future mountain. Then knock down a small box of plywood or other material over the rails. suitable material. Make sure that the size of the box will allow your train to pass freely through the tunnel. Then start applying foam around the box, with pauses of one and a half to two hours, to allow the layers to dry and not sag under their own weight. After you apply the required volume of foam, leave it to dry for at least a day.
After a day, pick up a knife (a stationery knife is more convenient) and start picking at the mountain - cut off the excess pieces, giving it the shape you intended. Cut out hollows, crevices, try to make it as natural as possible.
Next you will need alabaster. Dilute it with water and thin layer up to 3mm cover the entire mountain. It dries quickly, so use small amounts of it. Then wait again for several hours until everything hardens - it is better not to use a hairdryer.
Now we need to paint over the mountain gray. To do this, buy a can of primer at any auto store, matching the color of the gray stone, and you can paint your mountain. Just test the paint on something else first to make sure it's the right color for you.
Next, use sandpaper and rub the mountain in places to remove layers of primer here and there. This will make the mountain more naturalistic, so that it is not a uniform color, but a shade from light to dark gray. You can repeat painting and sanding several times until you get something you're happy with. You can also paint individual pieces of the mountain white or black to make it more realistic.
Finally, take green paint and tint the pieces of the mountain also in the color of green - this way it will be even more naturalistic. Only the paint should be a believable, “moss” color.
Your mountain (or slide) is ready. Congratulations, you've already done quite a bit of work. Next in line are the remaining details of the relief.
Here it all depends on your imagination, the size of the free space and the suitable details that you have. Fill an empty table surface - for example, with fake grass, which is sold in stores. Toy houses, figures of people, transport, a railway crossing, a train station with a station, a bridge, trees - these are all the details that will decorate your layout. Many of them can be found in Lego sets, or simply individually in toy stores. Companies that sell products for railway modeling also sell excellent kits, but in this case, be prepared to spend a lot of money.
You can make a layout at big table, with many details, relief terrain, electric running and a real town in miniature. But you can also make a small model - a battery-powered train, with a small piece of landscape and a few decorative elements.
Whatever option you choose, the model you make will decorate any home and will be of interest to any company - both children and adults.
This one has a history crafts short. During the summer holidays I had quite a lot of free time and wanted to do something with your own hands. One day, while passing by a railway crossing, I had the idea to make a working model of such an ordinary object at first glance.
For the base You will need a desk drawer. We mark the locations of objects on the box and drill holes for attaching the semaphore and lights, and also drill holes for the wiring of the house.
For the house you will need:
- a piece of thin plywood;
- thin transparent plastic;
- matches;
- whatman;
- LED with wires to illuminate the house.
We cut out the walls and roof of the house, then saw through two windows in the walls and glue the resulting parts together using hot glue and paint. The glass is cut out of plastic. They should be slightly larger in size than window hole and glue them. We cut and paint matches. Using super glue we make window frames. Finally, we attach the LED in the center of the roof of the house.
Now let's take care of the road and landscape:
Road consists of glued finely sifted screenings that are rolled with a roller. The surface is painted and marked.
Railway track We do the same as the road, only we add a second layer (smaller width). On top we lay sleepers made of ice cream sticks and rails made of thick aluminum wire.
Grass made from shavings painted green.
For lanterns you will need :
- LEDs with wires;
- Regular body ballpoint pen and a helium rod;
- strange things that lay in my desk.
Putting everything together and we get:
Semaphore:
- Dowel for skirting boards
- Pen body and gel pen refill
Cut off the top part of the dowel. Bend the rod at an angle of 90 degrees. We cut off half of the handle, drill the cut part of the dowel and the handle, and connect them.
Barriers: We make them from two pieces of plywood of different thicknesses and make two holes at the ends of a narrow strip.
Electronics and mechanisms
We make a simple multivibrator circuit and connect it to semaphores. They are switched on when the barriers are lowered using a homemade “relay”.
Many articles have been written about this topic, but I decided to write my own and below I will explain why...
I’ll say right away that until recently I had no experience in building a model railway. Searching for the necessary information on the Internet yielded little. Some articles “bypassed the basics” and immediately “jumped to complexity” such as: “now let’s make mountains”..., or the proposed layouts were extremely complex: they immediately suggested mastering the Autocad program. In other articles the emphasis was placed on some trifles like: “ You will need a hammer..."that's all valuable information. All the articles found did not correspond to our goals and objectives. I had to do everything myself in person ask and pry in stores and, of course, from amateurs.
Family tradition
Let's go back 12 years. In the photo below, in the St. Petersburg communal apartment, I am playing with my son Alyosha in the railway, which my father gave me many, many years ago, when I was still in elementary school! 
Yes, you can’t say anything, the quality and reliability of PIKO has been time-tested. After all, almost every weekend my son and I assembled, disassembled, designed... And when our family moved again, each time the box with my father’s gift was first on the list of things to move. Only we had to leave it... and again with my father in the village, it is intact to this day!
Goals and objectives of our future layout
Primary goal: psychomotor development of the child.
That's why copy number , beauty (yes, such that you can’t touch it with your hands) and unnecessary complexity fade into the background. But this does not mean that we should make a “simple circle” and “stupidly drive” a train around this circle... In other words, we need to make the layout as functional and interesting as possible for the child.
Our tasks:
- development of fine motor skills: coupling and uncoupling of cars, loading and unloading, construction of various objects on the model itself and many other small operations;
- development of thinking and problem solving: this is something like a puzzle, for example, you need to remove a car from the middle of the train (not just with your hands, of course, but with maneuvers) and leave it on sidings (so as not to interfere) or for loading and unloading. It seems elementary, but believe me, such a task can sometimes “strain” even an adult a little;
- interaction of the child with other players: for example, a child controls a train, stops the train and asks another player to switch the switch. Or the child drives the train exactly to the loading location, waits for another player to load the car and then transports this cargo;
- the acquisition of knowledge: give an idea about various types transport and their interaction. Transportation of various cargoes (for people we will use a passenger car, for large cargo - a platform, etc.). “Combined” transportation, for example, we will load something into a container (directly inside this container), then transport the container itself and then unload it at the place of arrival.
This list, of course, can be continued endlessly...
The basis
Let's talk very briefly about the base: rails, locomotive, cars and power supply.
The most common and convenient scale is H0 or 1:87 (∼90-95% of all railway models). Keep in mind that it can be written as the letter "H" and a zero (more correctly), but also as the letter "H" and the letter "O". The track width is 16.5 mm. Remember scale "H0"["ash zero" or "eh zero"] - search, ask, buy only this scale!
There is one more detail. As you know, there are straight rails, and there are also curved ones. So, this “degree of curvature” is measured by radius. Those. if we assemble a circle from curved rails, we can measure the radius. If you plan to use only a small two-axle locomotive, then there is no problem. But if you use a large six-axle one (two bogies with three axles each), then it will not be able to pass with a small radius. It's like a truck with a long trailer can't drive down a road with sharp turns. I won’t bother you with this, because... Different manufacturers may have different “curvature” markings. You just need to remember this.
It's good if you purchased ready set, and from it you can assemble not just “ circle" or " ov al”, and it has arrows, dead ends... But what if you need to assemble it yourself from scratch? First, you need to decide what size the layout will be (see below). Then you need to sketch it on paper. And then the drawing can be made in full size. And if you already have rails, assemble them directly on the drawing and outline them. With this huge “picture” you can already walk around and select the missing rails, simply by applying them to the drawing! By the way, now there are flexible rails on sale, you can bend them as you wish, i.e. you can put one of these instead of 4-6 usual ones and the most important thing is that this long rail can be either straight or curved at your request, exactly repeating all your fantasies in the drawing!
The simplest and cheapest is analogue model of a railway. Everything is simple here: we send current along the rails (minus on one rail, plus on the other) and the locomotive moves, because in him Electrical engine. They stopped supplying the current - the locomotive stopped, changed the polarity - the locomotive went in the other direction. Recently it has appeared digital control. In this case, the rails are always energized, but the peculiarity is that a command is sent to the locomotive (along the same rails) so that, for example, the engine, or lights, etc. turn on. Each locomotive is assigned its own unique code. If there are two locomotives (even next to each other), then you can control one of them, the other will not respond to these commands. In other words, different compounds can be controlled independently. Such a system is much more complex and its cost is an order of magnitude higher.
For our purposes and goals, simple, old and reliable analog control with an inexpensive power supply it is more than enough.
Where can I buy
On many sites that describe the construction of a model, they offer to immediately buy a starter kit. If you “don’t have money” and you are too lazy to do something with your own hands, then this is not a problem (they will do everything for you, and by the way... what are you forgetting here?). You need to keep in mind that a child can break something during the game. In other words, the layout should not be “cheap”, but it should not be too expensive so that the child can only look at it. In addition, we don’t just need identical cars, we need variety: a platform, a car in which the door opens (for loading), a passenger car, some kind of tank, etc. Therefore, to start, I would advise looking for used sets, and then supplementing them as necessary with both new and used objects. In fact Many people have such sets lying around. In Montreal, where we live, you can buy them at Marché aux puces. There I bought a starter kit for only 20 dollars at regular price— 100 CAD! I've also seen a lot of good deals here: kijiji.ca. But be careful, prices are often unreasonably high! Very good prices at the Udisco store. You can also buy online, such as ebay.com, but this is mainly for supplementation. By the way, when we lived in St. Petersburg, I saw a lot of things at the Juno market.
DIY railway model
You can play on the floor, but assembling the railroad itself will take 30-40 minutes, after which you will no longer have the strength to play with your child. Then the rails will constantly be disconnected somewhere, and the cars will leave them... It will be necessary to endlessly put everything back! Also, contact will often be lost, you will need to look for where there is no contact. The child will walk, step on the rails, sweep away objects he has built, or may even step on the train... But You will be crawling on all fours this entire time.(like me in the photo above). I’ve already been through this and it “finished” me...
Layout size
The requirements for the layout parameters were as follows:
- so that he can easily rush through the door,
- so that we can put it against the wall (when we’re not playing),
- so that during the game you can walk around the layout,
- so that the layout is as large as possible,
- so that the child can calmly play “like on a table”,
- so that we adults don’t crawl on all fours and so that we don’t have to make an appointment with a massage therapist after such games.
So, we measured a couple of rooms where we planned to play railroad games, estimated and came to the conclusion that a size of approximately 1.5 x 2 meters would be suitable. In order not to complicate the design of the layout, for now we decided to simply place it on four stools during the game.
Let's start construction
I bought 8mm plywood. Checking it again, I assembled all the rails on it and sawed it off to the required size. 
On the picture at the bottom You see how the future railway is assembled. I assembled the rails on plywood in the same way. before as give it right size. The railway should be made as rich and interesting as possible (if possible), and not just a “circle” or “oval”. Plan various branches and alternate routes. Of course, I want there to be “more railway,” but some distance needs to be left at the edges so that the locomotive or cars do not fall to the floor when derailing. In addition, it is easier for a child to construct something and play on the edge of the model; he can build different objects there, there may be a road, etc. 
Such large plywood will be deformed both due to its gravity and due to the fact that the child will lean on it while playing. And when the plywood deforms, the rails will deform. In this regard, with reverse side need to be strengthened. By the way, this reinforcement will also help protect the wires if you want to install any additional electrical objects (like traffic lights, lights, or make arrows so that they can be switched remotely). 
I thought for a long time about how to cover this entire layout. At first I wanted to just paint it, but it wouldn’t look very nice. The professionals themselves, who build complex railroad models, cover everything with PVA glue and sprinkle special “grass” on top. But I settled on a special vinyl mat (Woodland scenics) that I saw in the store. I don't think this is ideal, maybe even would be better suited some kind of fabric, BUT keep in mind that this The fabric should not accumulate static electricity!
They assured me that this mat adheres well and recommended a certain glue. Seeing an elderly seller in front of me, with a serious, professional expression on his face, I, of course, believed him. The “cool” scientific glue turned out to be simple PVA in our understanding! And as it turned out later, the plastic did not stick properly. So be careful, double-check advice, even if it is given with serious look 🙂
I additionally stapled the edge of the mat to the slats. In addition, the mat will be held by rails, because we lay the rails on the mat and nail them through it to the plywood.
Now let's look at how we will lay the rails, for some reason this important point everyone ignores. You can immediately nail the rails onto the model, but this may increase the vibration from the train, especially since we have plywood, which will not effectively dampen it and light cars can come off the rails. Therefore, a kind of bedding is placed under the rails in the form of an embankment. This The “substrate under the rails” is called ballast. By the way, at first I thought it was purely for beauty, until they explained it to me. Ballast is often made from cork, in my case the ballast consisted of two halves, which made the task easier. First, we assemble all the rails on the breadboard, connecting them as expected with contact terminals. We try to make the joints as invisible as possible. And then we install them with special nails through special holes in the sleepers (see photo below). 
Then we raise the rails, as in the photo below... 
And we put ballast under the rails. Next, we apply PVA to the layout (but not to the rails) where the ballast will be and carefully lay it down step by step, repeating the configuration of the canvas. And pin it with pins. Be careful with the glue, I got it on the arrow, I had to switch it for a very long time so that it wouldn’t stick! 🙂 
Next is also an important point. Having laid any area, we press down carefully (!!!) rails and hammer in a nail. VERY IMPORTANT:The head of the nail should not be pressed tightly against the sleeper! There should be a very small distance between the head of the nail and the sleeper, approximately the thickness of whatman paper or thick paper.
In the next article we will show you this layout in the game and tell you about future plans.
- PIKO German company, which produces everything for railway modelling, was organized in the GDR and remains one of the leading in the world to this day.
- “Copycatness” is a term... Many people make model railroads very similar to their prototype, i.e. copy. At the same time, trains are assembled so that the locomotive and cars fit each other in terms of time of use, place of use...
- Remember that children can play with each other (or with adults) starting around the age of four, this means interaction, for example, one child “pulled up” in a car, waited for the other to load it and “drove” further. Before that, they play “in parallel,” one might say: “in the same sandbox, but not with each other.”
Here is the basic layout of the HO railroad.
We made a new layout. Continuation of the topic .
The text of the work is posted without images and formulas.
Full version work is available in the "Work Files" tab in PDF format
Introduction 3
Chapter 1. General information about railway modeling 5
Chapter 2. Construction of a railway model 6
2.2 My experience in creating a railway model at home 7
2.3 Sociological survey “Railway modeling” 8
Conclusion 9
List of sources and literature 10
Applications 11
Introduction
Do you like to meet and see off trains? Perhaps you are delighted and admired by a train passing by, or amazed by the power and strength of the locomotive, which pulls loaded cars behind it. However, you do not yet have the opportunity to connect your profession and life with the railway. Then you will be interested to know that there is such a hobby that will allow you to have your own train with cars, stations, rails and the surrounding world. This is railway modelling.
Railway model making is not such a simple hobby as it might seem at first glance. In order for the result from practicing railway modeling to be pleasing, it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge in general issues of railway technology, strive to acquire new knowledge in this area, apply various techniques and technology, choose material for creating mock-up or model objects, be able to use the tool correctly and, of course, do not forget about safety precautions.
In our work, we want to collect such information and offer our own version of the railway layout.
We believe that our research will help arouse interest in technology, will contribute to the development of imagination and fantasy in children, and perhaps will help someone decide on the choice of a future profession.
Research problem: find out how to organize the work of creating a railroad model at home.
Object of study: model of the railway.
Subject of study: conditions and technologies for creating elements of a railway layout.
Purpose of the study: describe creating a model railroad at home.
Research objectives: study literature on this topic; research modern methods and technologies for constructing a railway model; describe a model of a railway created at home.
Research hypothesis: it is assumed that if certain conditions are met when creating a railway model, this will make the model as realistic as possible.
Theoretical significance We see the work in the fact that the research conducted will contribute to the development of students’ interest in technology in general and in railway modeling in particular.
Practical significance of this work is that collected materials can be used by teachers and students additional classes on the environment and technology. Also, the research materials may be of interest to those who want to get into railway modeling.
Research methods: study of specialized literature; generalization and systematization of material; observation and recording of results, photographing.
Brief overview of the literature and sources used. A huge number of practical and theoretical manuals, catalogues, reference books and periodicals are devoted to the topic of railway modeling. We have at our disposal a selection of the periodical “Railroad in Miniature”, which describes in detail instructions for creating model objects. A lot of general information about railway modeling (history, development, modern achievements, the most famous models and technology for making models) is collected in a three-volume publication “The Art of Railway Modeling”. “Models of Railways” edited by Barkovskova B.V. is one of the first domestic publications about railway modeling, this book is very popular in our country, it is not without reason that it is called the “Bible of Modeling”. Here you can find general information about this hobby, its types, production technology and storage of layouts and models. This topic is also widely discussed in Internet communities and forums.
Chapter 1. General information about railway modeling
“Modelism” is the making of a model that reproduces geometric shapes nature, linearly reduced in all planes and repeating the texture of the outer surfaces of the original. The word “model” itself is French and means the likeness of some object in a reduced form. Thus, modeling is usually called a large-scale reproduction of an existing or pre-existing object.
Today no one can confidently say what happened in the beginning: a real locomotive or its model. According to some reports, the English engineer Richard Trevithick, before building his first locomotive, tested a smaller copy of it. In any case, it remains certain historical fact that at the beginning of the nineteenth century the railway model came to our world almost in parallel with the real railway.
The development of railway transport in Russia contributed to the development of railway modeling in the world. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway at the beginning of the 20th century became a worldwide phenomenon. At an exhibition in Paris in 1900, the Siberian Express model, which is classic example models of large-scale forms.
Today the model railroad occupies important place one of the most popular hobbies all over the world. People of different ages and professions are keen on creating copies of rolling stock and entire railway complexes - models.
In the first half of the 20th century, three development paths for railway modeling emerged. The first of them is large-scale, includes high-class museum and exhibition models made by professional layout designers; the second is student’s, which is popular in our country and has great educational significance; the third way is small-scale amateur.
Student model making introduces students to railway technology. This type of modeling does not aim at strict large-scale reproduction of rolling stock and other elements of the railway. The main ones features- This big choice scale of models and their arbitrary shape.
Amateur small-scale modeling includes the construction of miniature replica models of railway rolling stock, as well as the construction of model complexes for these models, reproducing, as it were, the railway as a whole. This type of modeling can be home or club, i.e. individual or collective.
Chapter 2. Construction of a railway layout 2.1 General recommendations to create a railway model
A railway model is a model that recreates railway objects in miniature. The layout may contain a model of a railway station, parts of a stage, access roads, a locomotive or carriage depot, urban infrastructure with railway tracks, natural objects along which the railway line runs.
The first thing we must decide on when deciding to create a model railroad is scale. In railway modeling, the concept of scale is closely related to standard size. The standard size is characterized by a scale reduction and model track width. There are several main standard sizes of model railways; you can get acquainted with the main ones in the appendix (Appendix 1).
Having studied in the literature various instructions on creating model railways, we have compiled an approximate sequence of work for making a model railway at home.
Make a sub-layout, a platform on which all the elements of the layout are attached and the rail track is placed. For a simple layout you can get by plywood sheet the right size.
Mark paths, roads, locations of buildings, etc.
Place substrates to simulate a ballast prism.
Lay the rails. Before this, you need to buy a sufficient amount of rail material.
Develop electrical diagram and mount it on the breadboard.
Dump the ballast. Imitation of ballast - required element layout. Ballast can be selected according to size among aquarium soils or other household bulk materials similar type.
Create a relief (hills, mountains, river valleys, etc.).
Paint the bases underneath various elements landscape (grass, sand, forest soil).
Label roads.
Fabricate and install buildings.
Apply grass cover and other vegetation.
Place figures of people and vehicles on the layout.
Having decided to create our own model railroad, my dad and I subscribed to the magazine “Railroad in Miniature” (Appendix 2).
Since we decided to create a simple layout, we settled on wall version. For the baseboard we used strips of plywood 30 cm wide. Using wooden blocks, we attached them to the wall with self-tapping screws.
My dad and I bought rails and switches from an online store. They were nailed to the model with small nails (Appendix 3).
To simulate ballast dumping, sifted river sand was used. Dad applied glue, and I poured sand (Appendix 4).
We made grass from sawdust painted with green gouache and glued it to the model (Appendix 5).
The station building is flat - dad cut it out of a piece of plywood, and I painted it and drew the windows (Appendix 6).
The station building is voluminous. I worked as a burner, a screwdriver, a chisel, a hammer and stationery knife. The walls, floor and ceiling are plywood pieces held together with toothpicks. To make it look more realistic, the roof was covered with black paper (Appendix 7).
We also bought traffic lights and glued them onto the layout. Dad connected the wires, we placed locomotives with cars on the model, and I checked how it all worked (Appendix 8, 9).
The layout is ready, but this does not mean that nothing else will change in it. We are planning a lot of all sorts of improvements and improvements. So there is a lot of work ahead! (Appendix 10)
2.3 Sociological survey “Railway modeling”
I was wondering if my classmates, friends and acquaintances were familiar with this activity? Do they want to get interested in railway modeling and will they be interested in my work? I conducted a survey (Appendix 11) and received the following results:
Conclusions: Interviewing boys and girls aged 6 to 9 years, I found that:
A lot of people (74%) like trains.
Few currently have a railway (31%), but the majority would like to have their own railway (58%).
Few people are familiar with the concept of “modeling” (21%).
Respondents want to know how to create their own model railway (63%).
Consequently, the research topic is really interesting and relevant for most of my classmates, friends and acquaintances. I will definitely introduce them to my research and share practical recommendations.
Conclusion
In our research work We formulated the problem - to figure out how to organize the work of creating a railroad model at home. During the research process, we considered general issues, principles, possibilities and methods for building model railways at home.
Our observations helped us verify the correctness of the hypothesis put forward: if certain conditions are met when creating a railway model, this will make it possible to make the model as realistic as possible. Our layout is small world railway.
The sociological survey conducted helped to verify the necessity and relevance of the topic presented in the study. We hope that our recommendations will help you create your first model railway, and you will feel the magic and wonder of the world of small model railways.
List of sources and literature
Barkovskov B.V., Prokhazka K.I., Ragozin L.N. Models of railways / Ed. Barkovskova B.V., - M.: Transport, 1989
The railway in miniature - M.: Eaglemoss Editions LLC, a selection of magazines for 2014-2016.
Moskalev L.M. The art of railway model making. [In 3 vols. T. 1]: History. Initial skills / Moskalev L.M., Myasnikov A.G., Ragozin L.N. - M.: Zheleznodorozhnoe delo, 2011. - 256 p.
www.railmodel.ru/-site about creating a home railway.
ANNEX 1
|
Symbol standard size |
Main scale |
Scale meter size, mm |
Width gauge, mm |
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3
APPENDIX 4
APPENDIX 5
APPENDIX 6
APPENDIX 7
APPENDIX 8
APPENDIX 9
APPENDIX 10
APPENDIX 11
Research paper questionnaire
Maksimenko Dima
How old are you? ______________
Do you like trains? Not really.
Do you have a toy train? Not really.
Do you know what “Modelism” is? Not really.
Do you want to have your own railway with small trains, stations, houses, trees, tunnels, cars, tractors, people? Not really.
Do you want to learn how to make a model railroad with your own hands? Not really.
If you and your child are planning to make a toy with your own hands, then try building your own railroad. Children love toys with many details. A railroad set together with an adult can become a favorite toy. To make it you will need very few items that can be found in any home. And in the end you will get a unique and bright thing that will delight your child and remind you of the time spent with you. If you don't know how to make a railroad yourself, but want to try, then it's time to learn.
Tools and materials
- Sheets of thick cardboard
- Ruler
- Simple pencil
- Paper scissors
- Stationery knife
- PVA glue
- Acrylic paints
Step-by-step instruction
There are several ways to make a toy railroad, but it’s best to start with the simplest one.
- Determine the approximate size of the future railway. The length of the rails will depend on it. The rails need to be cut out of thick cardboard. You can use boxes from shoes, furniture or equipment. Lay a sheet of cardboard on the floor and draw stripes of the selected length on it. Surely, your railway will have bends, so you will need not only straight, but also curved strips for turns. So you can do ring road, which is much more interesting to play with.
- Paint the future rails with gray paint, as it looks most like metal. Choose acrylic paints, since they are not washed off from the surface of the paper.
- Prepare the sleepers. To do this, you need to cut a sufficient number of small strips of cardboard. At both ends of the sleepers you need to mark the points where the rails will be laid. It is best to coat the sleepers with brown or red paint, since they are made of wood.
- Place the painted rail blanks in in the right order and turn bottom side up. On this side you need to glue the prepared sleepers at the same distance from each other.
- Now it's time to move on to making the train. For carriages and locomotives, it is most convenient to use small cardboard juice or milk boxes. If there are no such boxes, then you can glue them together from pieces of cardboard yourself. For the locomotive you will need two boxes, which need to be glued together so that one box is located vertically and the other horizontally.
- The locomotive and carriages are usually painted the same color, but you can use any colors or designs you like. After the paint has dried, don't forget to paint the windows.
- Painted wheels need to be glued to the cars, and the cars themselves need to be connected to each other with strips of cardboard. The train is now ready to be placed on the railway.
- To make the toy even more interesting, make it cardboard box station or several stations. They can be painted realistically. From leftover cardboard you can cut out silhouettes of people, trees, houses, roadside posts and color them with felt-tip pens and paints.
How to distribute roles
Now you know how to make a railway with your child. Let him actively participate in the process. The child can be entrusted with coloring the parts and gluing the parts of the railway together. And it is better to do all operations with scissors and a stationery knife yourself so that the child does not cut himself. If you want to trust your child to cut out some of the pieces, give him or her scissors with rounded ends that are designed for small children.
