Railway track. How to make a miniature railroad model Homemade rails

You can make a model railway with your own hands, but this will require extensive preparation. When building a model, knowledge in the field of design and operation is required railway, you can read about this in books that are used for teaching in higher education educational institutions, technical schools, as well as in instructions such as “Rules for technical operation of the railway”, “Instructions for railway signaling”. There are periodicals such as “Lokotrans”, “Semaphore”, “Railway Business”. In these magazines you can find useful information about the railways of Russia and the world, and some publications have sections dedicated to railway modelling. There you can find descriptions of technologies, working methods, patterns of rolling stock models, and expert advice.

When building a model with your own hands, you need skills in working with various tools: for working with wood - work with a jigsaw, files, for measurements and markings - the ability to use a square, ruler, caliper. To work with electronic devices– correctly mold parts, connect wires, solder, measure current and voltage. If you don’t have the skills to do the job, then it’s worth studying the technique and practicing before starting to build a model railroad. For training you can purchase cheap material and tools, and during the construction of the model, use high-quality raw materials and tools.

The construction of a model begins with the creation of a work plan, a route diagram, an approximate map of the terrain - with the planning and design of a railway line with your own hands. After the project is ready, the first step is to build a base for the model - a sub-model. In the future, a model will be located on it, and will be used as an external surface on which tracks, stations, depots, forests, mountains, rivers, but also inner part for wires, various devices, which ensure the layout works.

Paths are laid on the sub-model. Railway rails and sleepers can be bought in a store, but using special machines you can make them yourself. Few modellers are involved in such production. After laying the tracks, connecting the electrical part of the model, relief and vegetation are created, models are installed residential buildings, factories, train stations.

There are some details on the model, objects you can make with your own hands, or you can buy them in stores. If purchased models do not suit your appearance or do not have sufficient detail, then they can be modified independently. Some modellers use this technique.

Models of houses, plants, lighting poles, traffic lights - all these layout elements can be made independently, at home. You can find more information about how this is done in the articles in the “Layouts and Modules” section of the site.

In addition, the construction of a model is not only the production of individual railway infrastructure objects, it is the unification of all components of the model using a single, identical scale, era, theme of the model and time of year.

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 railroad,” 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.

2.2 My experience in creating a railroad layout at home

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.

Applications

ANNEX 1

Designation of 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.

Hobbies can be different: someone quietly and calmly collects stamps or candy wrappers, placing their entire collection in a thick album in the top drawer of the table, someone plays golf on Saturdays, and someone chooses an entire branch of art as a hobby and dedicates it to it all of my life.

This is exactly what can be said about lovers and fans of railway or railway miniatures, because to create crafts of this kind, desire alone is not enough - it will take a lot of time, effort, careful collection of information, sometimes resources, and financial investments, as well as, undoubtedly, skill, so that As a result, you have a real miniature railway of your own.

Features and types of railway modeling

A miniature railway is a subject of interest not only for children, but also for adults, and even more and more often for adults. Almost every child had a children's toy in the form of a railway station with rails, locomotives and carriages, and if it was more expensive, the set included various railway signs, semaphore, driver figures and other interesting details.

It’s interesting to play this game, but I always wanted more, for example, that the railway network was more developed and contained many branches and turns of the rails, so that the model trains were inertial or moved on their own, and you could control them using the remote control, so that there were a lot additional elements: tunnels, bridges, roads with vehicles, trees, people, etc.

To make such a toy, or rather, not a toy anymore, but a real model of a railroad with your own hands, you need to work hard, and not all children have this opportunity, so you will probably need the help of your parents. It’s good if they share your passion for railway miniatures and help you create crafts. For an adult lover of railway modeling, of course, it is easier in this regard.

As for the areas in which the miniature railway hobby exists, there are several of them:

some people simply collect only toy rails, trains and all the accessories that go with them;
others also collect, but now scale models;
still others are engaged in the production of railways in miniature, recreating entire historical stations and terminals, laying a real railway network from different directions of tracks, and engaged in the actual reconstruction of certain objects;
someone tries to make miniature copies of real or existing locomotives and trains in the smallest detail;
and one more interesting view Model railway is a park or garden railway, the creation of which uses very large scales, so such a model railway can even be used as an attraction and transport people in it.

A little history

The miniature railway is not at all a tribute to fashion and not a new phenomenon, because the history of railway miniatures and model making goes back more than one hundred and fifty years. For the first time, a model railway appeared as a toy in the nineteenth century (in the second half). Germany, represented by the manufacturer Märklin, took upon itself to ensure the necessary industrial volumes. Their miniature railways were so high quality and good that even royal family I ordered myself such a model for the Winter Palace.

Based on the scales of the railways presented in the miniature German production, scaling standards for model railways were later adopted. By the end of the nineteenth century, America also got involved, launching it on the market for the first time in the world. electric model railway (manufacturer: Carlisle&Finch).

Almost until the middle of the last century, an ordinary toy in the form of railway rails with a train, and a perfectly accurate copy or a miniature railway were perceived equally, however, after the toys stopped causing such a stir, and modeling began to take shape as a serious hobby, gradually finding more and more more fans.

Therefore, manufacturers tried to please their new admirers - adults who were eager to assemble a full-fledged miniature model of the railway. To do this, they began to produce more advanced models, where the rails could be folded into a full-fledged railway track in miniature, where locomotives and cars had many parts and elements, which also included various buildings, road paraphernalia and signs, semaphore, etc.

Nowadays, there are practically no global giant companies left that would be engaged in such production, however, there are many small successfully operating companies specializing in the production certain models trains or additional accessories, without which a miniature railway is impossible.

Scales, components and other nuances

To make a model of a railway, you must understand many nuances, for example, on what scale a miniature railway is usually made, what type of kits and configurations of the craft can be obtained, whether a diagram is needed and where to get it, what to do with the components, necessary details and various accessories, etc.

Standards of scales and sizes for railway modeling are very different. The most common sizes are those bearing symbol TT and NO.

Standard size TT - from the English Table-top trains - means that the model of the railway is made on a scale of one to one hundred and twenty (1:120) with a track width of twelve millimeters. Such a miniature railway is also called twelve-millimeter. It also makes all the moving model trains - this is done by supplying electricity along the rails, although it is also possible to connect an electric locomotive through the contact network.

A large number of models and various accessories for assembling railway miniatures of this standard size are produced:

German companies Berliner TT Bahnen, Tillig;
European manufacturers Roco and Piko have a small selection;
the Jago company delights fans with rare models of vintage locomotives;
Russian companies “Peresvet” and “TT-model”;
American PossumValleyModels, GoldCoast (some models of cars and locomotives).

Another common standard size is BUT. The name comes from the English abbreviation HalfZero or half zero. In this case, the model of the railway is made in a scale ratio of one to eighty-seven (1:87). There is also standard size 0, in which the scale is taken twice as large, that is, 1 to 45. And here we get half zero, but we use latin letter O instead of it in the notation.

A miniature railway on this scale is considered the most popular and widespread in the world due to the fact that it can be made without using complex devices; moreover, these model railways are large enough for detailing, but at the same time quite convenient and compact for placing the layout in a house or apartment.

A miniature railway of this standard size is also mobile: energy is supplied from the contact network or along the rails (in the case of electric motors in locomotive models). Plus - you have the opportunity to use additional interesting elements when creating crafts:

device of a smoke generator that will run on oil and create a smoke effect over diesel or steam locomotives;
installation of a sound decoder in rolling stock - you can play any sound files that simulate the noise and sounds of train movement, etc.;
signaling devices, which stands for alarm, centralization and blocking.

There are various other sizes available. For example, the large-scale standard G, the development and production of which has been carried out since 1968 and is still being carried out by the German company LGB. This the clearest example garden railway designed to be located under open air. In general, the larger the scale at which the miniature railway is made is chosen, the more detailed the prototype should be repeated, the smallest details and elements should be taken into account.

Do it yourself or buy it?

Today you can find many thematic forums and special publications dedicated to railway modeling. You can purchase various elements separately and then assemble them together to create your own model railroad.

However, first of all, you will need to decide on the available free space. Can you dedicate half or even an entire room to the layout? If not, then you will have to first start building a sub-model or equipping a special place. To do this, you can use at least a separate table or make a retractable / folding tabletop, which will be used only for your project and nothing else, which means you don’t have to fold and put away the layout every time.

There are also options for modular layouts, which consist of individual blocks, cantilever structures (you can attach sub-layouts to the walls, like shelves) and lifting ones (easily removed from the ceiling).

It is also better to take an appropriate scale for an apartment, for example, with a standard size of 1:87 you will not do much, because you will need a minimum space of one by three meters. It is better to stay at a scale of 1:120 or 1:160, since designing a layout in an even smaller standard size Z (1:240) will require a lot of skill, effort and financial investment.

To create your own miniature railway, you will need to invent and think through it down to the smallest detail. future view. Perhaps it is worth starting with the simplest scheme, for example, making only one rail ring and a locomotive with several cars. Over time, you will add additional tracks, trains, semaphore and signs, a station and buildings, figures of people, etc. to the project.

Experienced craftsmen already know how to create entire detailed landscapes - mountains and plains, bridges and tunnels, forests and fields, miniature streets, numerous forks in paths, depots and other interesting things.

Even for the most simple project It's better to make a diagram. Just try to draw what exactly you want to create. If your plans include creating a certain railway historical era, then you will need to thoroughly study all available information on this topic, find archival photographs, copy them, etc.

Also detailed diagram will be needed for making models of steam locomotives and carriages. You can use a diagram of a specific machine by finding a photo of it. Just divide the actual dimensions of a particular train by the scale you need and you will have ready plan the buildings.

Step-by-step work plan

Provide space for the project and make a base (a simple configuration can even be placed on a sheet of plywood).
Transfer the diagram of the future railway miniature to the sub-model (draw how the rails will go, mark forks and turns, roads where you will place buildings or structures). For a complex rail arrangement, the circuit can be designed on a computer in a special program.
Laying the rails. Rail material can be purchased at a specialty store or made yourself. Since current passes along the rails in moving roads, craftsmen make them from thick copper wire, rolling it until rectangular section on manual machine. Sleepers are made from thin blocks, which are also cut on a machine. The tracks are attached in two ways: either glued or nailed with small nails to the base; then the rails can be soldered to the same nails or the rails can also be glued to the sleepers.
For a moving model, you need to additionally develop an electrical circuit, and then mount it on a breadboard. The power source is usually taken homemade blocks, you can take the factory one. Do not forget about the safety rules - the output voltage cannot be high, use a power supply up to sixteen volts, and if the model is small, then six to nine volts will be enough. An electric motor for a train can be purchased at a radio store or removed from a toy. Conduct electricity from two rails to the engine. To distribute electricity throughout the base, stock up on connectors and copper wires. Think through all the details before wiring - where the semaphores and traffic lights, barriers will be located, whether the lights will be on, etc.
Dump and lay ballast, selecting it according to size among aquarium soils or any household bulk materials.
Think over and create the relief and landscape. To make your layout look like the real one, be sure to design beautiful landscape. Can be used professional materials, such as a spatula mass, forest litter, meadow powder, different layers of earth, crushed stone, sand, gravel and other interesting accessories from famous manufacturers. If you choose more budget options, then to imitate mountains it is quite possible to get by construction foam, which can then be easily painted in any color desired color. Hills, fields, vegetation and other decor can also be recreated from plywood, building gypsum, fiberglass, papier-mâché, wood and others finishing materials. To paint the parts, use acrylic paints.
If you don’t have the time or desire to bother so much, then many elements can be taken to the layout and in finished form, for example, from toy sets that contain figurines of trees, dummies of grass or bushes, animals, cars, signs, people.
The situation is the same with buildings - either use ready-made options, or build them yourself from cardboard, wood, plywood, papier-mâché. Use photographs of real train stations and other buildings as samples.
Add the necessary components: paint roads, paint the grass, place human figures and place trains on the rails.

A passion for railway modeling can begin with a donated set of railroads and trains. Although such a hobby requires considerable effort and expense, it undoubtedly helps to develop, think, create and not stand still.

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 the 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

Goals and objectives of our future layout

Primary goal: psychomotor development of 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 of different types of 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.

It’s good if you purchased a ready-made set, and from it you can assemble more than 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 it has an electric motor. 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 when the regular price is 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 in 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

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.

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 the desired 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 railroad,” 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, reinforcement must be made on the reverse side. 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 some fabric would be better, 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 a 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 everyone ignores this important point. 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...

In the next article we will show you this layout in the game and tell you about future plans.

PIKO is a German company that produces everything for railway modelling, it was founded in the GDR and remains one of the leading ones in the world.
“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 .