Greetings!

[VentureForth]

I'm glad I found this forum.  I hope that there is great activity here to help me along my journey.  I started off nearly 30 years ago when I was in 5th grade and my dad decided to buy me some model trains in Japan.  I still have a good chunk of what he got me that Christmas.  He really didn't know what he was doing, though.  He bought some Tomix track (the old brown ballast stuff), some Kato, and even some Atlas.  Somehow he stapled it all together and had a layout.  I tore it up the next day.  :D

 

So, here's where I am today.  I'm sitting in SE Georgia, I'm 41, I have boxes of train parts from a Tomix DS-11, Kato C50, a nice 6-car 201 Chuo set, etc. etc. etc.  All that to go along with various American box cars I've accumulated over the years.

 

SO, I've got a great vintage viaduct set, a c317-curve oval set, and a ton of Atlas sectional pieces.

 

AND no turn outs.  I think eventually I would like to use it all.  I just don't seem to be able to sell - only buy.  And I want to do it all on a 4x8 sheet.  :)

 

So here I am.  I have no idea how on earth I'm going to join everything together, but I'm gonna try.

 

Look forward to hanging out here.

[miyakoji]

Hi VentureForth, welcome to the forum.  I think you'll be able to find plenty of help here.  I don't actually have any models, but I think this link came up in a thread in the last few months:

 

http://www.katomodels.com/unitrackplan/

 

Lots of cool layouts and lots of ideas.

[cteno4]

Venture,

 

Welcome! Sounds like you have quite a grab bag there! Glad to hear you are getting back into it all.

 

One word of warning trying to cobble together atlas sectional track and other small bit, it can be done but it can be frustrating! If you find yourself having issues loosing interest from frustration you might look at getting some new track (kato or tomix) and starting fresh. Atlas sectional track on its own can be a bit frustrating. Best when nailed down and joints soldered!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

Edited July 1, 2013 by cteno4

[JR 500系]

Welcome Venture Forth! Here's a very nice community with very friendly and helpful people for information sharing! Just a side note you might want to search for a topic first before creating a new thread~ 

 

@ miyakoji: That's a fantastic link! I've downloaded all the plans to study them carefully... Should be studied them BEFORE building my layout.. It's a little too late for me now. Would you happen to know if there is also a Tomix counterpart to this?

[VentureForth]

Thanks, JR500. I plan to search and post accordingly. I just meant the OP to be an introduction. :)

 

Great advise so far, though. Thanks!

[miyakoji]

@ miyakoji: That's a fantastic link! I've downloaded all the plans to study them carefully... Should be studied them BEFORE building my layout.. It's a little too late for me now. Would you happen to know if there is also a Tomix counterpart to this?

Unfortunately I don't.  I know some people here prefer the Tomix track, these would be useful for them.  But then, someone else here might know of this kind of thing for Tomix.