N Scale Model Railroad Table
The surface where you layout your toy train set up can make a huge difference as well. I know, you like those tiny N scale trains so it doesn’t seem like such a significant deal. Everything is so tiny in N scale that it just doesn’t appear like you need all that sturdy a surface for it. Take a sec. Let me try to set out my point. The type of surface you have your N gauge locomotives on can really be very significant. Here are some reasons why:
A unbalanced surface won’t do:
Straight off, you don’t want to choose a table that is weak and that will lean or that can be easily pushed down. When you show your new setup to your tinier family members you don’t want the little tykes to be able to accidentally derail your trains with just an accidental touch. One bad moment and your locomotives could be in pieces scattered about the floor. What a nightmare! Don’t leave yourself open to that. If you’re practiced with your hardware you might fashion this yourself.
Cool Tip: Here’s a cool suggestion. If you happen to have an good ping-pong table you don’t use any more, then stop thinking of it as your ping pong table and start thinking of it as your new locomotive table. Ping pong tables are nice and big so they free lots of options for your layout. If you have HO or smaller, you will never need any added room than this. Even if you have a Lionel O or one of those new S gauge locomotives, you’ll find that you can really do a great deal with a table this large.
If you like to go places with your trains, you need a well designed hobby table:
If you plan on taking your N size model train layout around and showing it for strangers, you may want to invest in a travel ready train table made especially for arts and crafts. There are a few different internet sites that devote themselves to designing these kinds of train tables that are sturdy but light weight and easily portable.
Cool tip #2: Here’s a room saver: Lower your table from the ceiling. Want your garage back for your cars? You can use pulleys to lift and drop your locomotive whenever you would like.
Domino tables:
Domino tables are you best bet. These tables can be united in any shape or setup. What these great domino tables allow you to do most however is to develop your locomotive layout in any way that you would like. Unlike other types of tables that demand you modify your scheme to fit their designs, these tables allow you to control the limits of your track work. The light weight design is ideal for model train lovers. So light, its easy to take your whole setup from room to room. Its even no problem to fit in your car trunk. In fact, you might find yourself altering your track design on the daily.
A good toy train track is only as solid as the foundation it is constructed on.
Here is more information on N Scale Model Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.
Model Train Table
So where are you going to place your model train anyway? That looks pretty good but did you say it gets wet a bit in here when it poors. That could definitely throw a wrench in the works, huh? It’s good to carefully think through where we place our setup. Here’s some ideas:
Just throw it on the floor like your laundry in college:
The lazy solution is to just leave it on the ground. This preserves the time and trouble of getting or constructing a hobby surface, but it is not very good for tinier locomotives. Bending over and kneeling down do not make for the best hobbying experiences for adults. This sort of an overview of the smaller gauges just makes them look tiny and uninteresting. Not to mention that your locomotives are much more likely to be stepped on and damaged in careless moments. You really need a display hobby locomotive surface for the HO and tinier variety trains. Even O trains look better on a display area.
Pre-existing shelves
In some houses there are natural display areas or elevated spaces that lend themselves to hobby locomotive layouts. Again, the main benefit of this is that you don’t have to go through the extra labor and cost of setting up a toy train table. Very few of us are this blessed however. There are some obvious problems to most random display spots. These spots tend to be too small for a model train setup and they tend not to be configured in the right way. So, such areas dictate a host of limitations to your hobby training. This is never a good way to grow your toy train empire.
Another lucky possibility is that you happen to have a spare area just lying around somewhere:
Sometimes you get lucky and serendipitously come across an area at home. This helps in that you can carry it to the spot you would like, but most tables that are not specifically built for hobby training have other drawbacks. Not only are many such tables wobbly, but you still have to adjust your train display to conform with the pre-existing measurements of your table rather than the opposite way around.
Home-made toy locomotive tables:
Since lots of us enthusiasts are good with our hands a very popular decision of toy trainers is to make a surface ourselves. Often we handymen and women will extend an existing space to make it work for the toy locomotive layout we had in mind. You can also really give your train table some unique personality in this manner. The obvious negative here is the amount of time and skill that it takes to make such a surface. Just as huge of a problem is the fact that such tables tend to be permanently one size and as your toy training empire expands you have to go through the trouble of building yet another area to increase your surface space. Also, if you are pressed for time, this will really add a substantial amount of time that you have to spend getting ready before you even start your actual model training. I won’t put down homemade surfaces except to say that if your engineering talents don’t extend beyond model locomotives, trying to build a table can really be a black hole of time and effort that you may not have much to show for on the other side.
Hobby surfaces, the decision if for those who are willing to shell out the clams:
There are these special kind of hobby surface that is just perfect for toy training. These sturdy but lightweight tables come in 2’ by 4’ cutouts that are designed to be connected together in any fashion that you would like so that multiple areas can be put together to fill any space. These tables do away with many of the spatial limitations that you might have had with other table choices. This rights the balance of power between you and your table making it so that you dictate the shape of the area rather than the surface dictating the shape of your layout. Also, because they are lightweight they can more easily be moved out of the way and since they can easily be changed and added to as you see fit, they can grow with your model locomotiveing ambitions. You can also more easily transport your surface if you want to show your design around. For this reason, these areas are really the best option for model locomotive displays.
With your [table|surface|area] [choice|decision|option] out of the way you are now free to really embark on your [model|toy|hobby] [train|locomotive] adventure. Good blessed and happy modeling!
Here is more information on Model Train Track. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.