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How to Build Model Trains

Model train enthusiasts get a thrill from assembling a locomotive and watching it snake its way along the track to its destination. Regardless of the scale model of your train, the steps to putting it together are largely the same. However, more care must be taken with smaller-scale equipment, which tends to be more delicate.

Things You'll Need

Hobby knives
Hobby glue
A place to set up your trains, such as on plywood benchwork
Sheets of plywood and 2-by-4s for bracing

Instructions

- 1
  Purchase a ready-to-run set, or RTR individual cars, or buy kits and assemble the cars. Check each car and the locomotive to make sure that nothing is missing or broken. Check your track and transformer for any defects, such as a damaged housing or bent rails.
- 2
  Begin laying your track on your layout table or floor. Think about how a real railroad might lay track in the same environment. Run a couple of sidings or spurs past the station and try to avoid s-curves, where the track curves first in one direction and then immediately in another.
- 3
  Place the train upon the track and attach the transformer or power pack wires to the track. Start running the train to ensure that the track has been laid correctly and carries power to all areas of the layout. Make sure that the train can successfully negotiate all of the switches from each direction without derailing.
- 4
  Add your scenery, if you plan to use some. Use track ballast purchased from a hobby store and lichen or foam for shrubbery. Apply a coat of paint to the plywood top and then shake lichen bits or other store-bought scenery on top and let the paint act as a glue.
- 5
  Construct and place your buildings and other structures in appropriate places on the layout. Add lighting for them if you want. Set the structures down and glue them to the layout. Drill holes through the tabletop for any wires for lighting and run them under the table to the transformer or power pack.

Model Railroads