Does train modeling exist?

There are numerous kits for HO scale model RR cars and IIR Ambroid did a series of O scale wooden kits with cast metal parts. I have not seen the Ambroid kits for a very long time, but then again I am not looking for them either.

hellwarrior

It's just by curiosity.  I find it bizarre that train modelling doesn't exist.  We can model almost every kind of vehicule except train.

There's plenty of railroad modeling. they tend keep to themselves

Ah, Hi-Railers (also "high railers").  An outgrowth of human-powered handcars and gandy-dancers.

Quite a few photos of US Army adapting ad hoc rail conversions to vehicles; probably other forces did similar.

Which could be an interesting kit, of a converted vehicle (or a purpose-built hi-tail) stuck by a track gauge change at a national (or former national) frontier.    (Y'know, the sort of thing Pawel would turn out in a weekend, and then rebuild five or six times, so, we'd have weeks of entertainment reading the WIP...<g>)

You know, an interesting conversion subject could be adding railroad wheels to a van or light truck to make one of those vehicles I see driving around on the tracks a lot.  I see a lot of such BNSF vehicles around here.  Have to look more closely at them to see how those wheels work, and maybe give that subject a try.

What's a train?

This is an interesting, if terse, build log:

www.rbadesign.net/.../135_GasMechanical.htm

i have built 1/72 K-5 rr gun 4 1/72 or 1/87 locomotives. getting readyt to build WRC360 C12 diesel in 1/35 and 1/72. also have half a dozen more 1/72 and 1/35 in the stash. lay my own track.

Since no one mentioned it, the sine qua non for the railroad scene still is Wathers (http://www.walthers.com/)

Caution, you will probably need a refill for your beverage.  Probably a good idea to open wiki in another tab (if only to chase down the scale notations (like On3 or HOm).  But, also to keep track of gauge--which is the spacing between the insides of the rails.

On gauge, most "big" railroads use a rail spacing in the 4'-6" to 4'-10" sort of size as a 'standard' or 'national' gauge.  For the US (UK/Commonwealth too, IIRC) the spacing is 4' - 8-1/2"an odd number held to be the width of Roman wagons based on the width of the draw-beasts used.  As nations formed and alliances rose and fell in Europe, there were strategic/political reasons to vary the gauges (mostly to deny access of other nation's railway equipment).

Except . . .
In wilderness and exploitation areas the heavy rail equipment was less needed.  So, "narrow gauge" stock was used.  Now, the wheels, couplers, brakes, etc. were all the same size as mainline equipment, but the rails wound be 1m/3' wide or 60cm/2' gauged--this allowed using smaller sleepers/ties to support the rails. and allowed slightly narrower corridors cut; and significantly tighter radii for curved track.

Where this gets beyond esoteric is from the view of a model manufacturer.  What to model?  UK stock; French?  German?  Eastern Europe?  What to make?  Locomotives, cargo cars, passenger cars?  Standard gauge or narrow.?  If narrow, which narrow?

Here's a bit more to muddy the water.  In current US locomotives, they break down into 2.5 groups.  Which are 4-axle, 6-axle, and everything else.  There are fewer varieties, probably only a dozen, down from the two dozen or so styles of locomotives a mere 40 years' ago.  If we include steam, the variety is near endless.  The European stock is as equally varied.

However, there are kits of all sorts of stock--they are just in HO, O; some N, and a smattering in 1 gauge (1/32).  Largest variety is probably in HO.  The boxcar kits are fascinating, the wooden parts are marvels; the working parts a study in micro engineering.  I caught a bit of this bug for having a college roommate who was a very serious model railroader--he was more a builder than a 'runner" though.  Not too much worry about fuselage seams (except tank cars)--but getting decals to no silver on actual wooden car sides is a task.

As noted above, there are some very serious brass kits.  They are spendy, and highly intricate, and all the ones I have seen require a deft touch with soldering.  But, it's hard to beat actual metal when modeling metal.  Being able to .use chemical blackening instead of paint is unique, too.

Our modeling maestro Pawel has a long thread on his build of a 1/32 WWII German locomotive [dang it, I cannot find it to link; I want to remember it being in Armor, but, it may be here in Autos]. 

The US Navy's SeaBees used 2' narrow gauge across much of the pacific.  It turns out HO rails space right at 2' wide in 1/35 (other than the ties are the wrong dimension and spacing.  But, a person could get HO working gear to cobble up some narrow gauge wartime models.

Oh, and to finish my ramble, one other problem in building static kits the manufacturers face is the length of trains   A train 3000'/1 km long is not terribly uncommon.  A narrow gauge log or ore train can still get 5-600' / 200m long.  At 1/48, a 200m long consist will be 4 meters (plus an engine) long.  That's about 14' of track to lay out.  (or about 2km in HO scale).

Hope that did not over-muddy the water.

Thanks again guys for your help.  Very interesting.

Here are some that I found doing a simple web search.

yes, you can get static trains,,,,,,,you just use the locomotive models that are designed to be pulled behind the powered ones on a model RR layout

they look just like the powered locos, but, are empty like the cars behind them

for a forum, Kalmbach has a block in the lower right corner of each of these pages that take you to Train forums, there are six links there, with "Forums" or "Community" links at the top of each page when you load them

Rex

AMT/ERTL  offered a model of the Civil War locomotive 4-4-0 "THE GENERAL" last produced in 1994. It was in 1:25 scale and measured 25" in length. It made up an impressive looking model molded in four colors and had brass plated parts. One sold recently on Evilbay for $39.00.

 But to answer your question concerning a lack of RR stock to model...most rail enthusiests want to build something that "runs" on their train layout so they spend there money with that in mind... over the years model companies offered locomotive "dummies", kits that looked good but had no motive power. Some guys would buy them, build them and set them in a permanent place on their layout such as a roundhouse scene being serviced or overhauled. Problem was (at least in HO scale) the dummy kits were almost as expensive as a running locomotive. Besides most rail "nuts" scratch build/kitbash locomotives, buildings and rolling stock so a non operating loco doesn't have wide appeal.

If you feel the need to build a non operating RR item there are a few options. You could always scratch build a piece of rolling stock( box car, tank car, gondola, just to name a few), using parts from Walthers company catalog, HO, O, and large scale. Keep in mind that there are MANY scales to model railroading, not just main line gauge stuff. Small railroads ran narrow gauge locomotives and were tiny in size compared to the larger railroads but you can build them in 1:32 scale and they look great.

A scratch build project I undertook was a 1:28 RR snowplow made from a box car. Remember the beauty of RR models is that many roads built their own one of a kind equipment, you can add your own "flair" to your build...hope this helps you, you don't need a kit to build something that interests you. Good luck!  

Wow, look at the details on this one.

Thanks subfixer.  Are there other static train kits?

This one might keep you busy for a while:  http://plasticmodelbuilding.blogspot.com/2012/11/br-86-locomotive-from-trumpeter-135.html

I was thinking the same thing,,, why don't them make static kits  of railroad engines, cars, boxcars,,etc etc.  I would love to have some of those sitting on my shelf for display.

Can never get tired of looking at train engines...what a fantastic feet of modern engineering for all those parts to work in unison...with steam shooting out.

Revell had/has a couple of engine kits (plastic models). One is the Union Pacific 'Big Boy'. A locomotive from the glory days of steam. It's a static model of appx 1/84 or 1/87th scale.

 Model Railroading as a hobby is alive and well, however their focus is to mimic the operations of an actual railroad and so the engines are electrically driven and do pull rolling stock. A different focus that kind of precludes the display pieces that our plastic model kits produce. IMHO Trumpeter makes their WWII armored train offerings as companions to all the available 1/35th WWII genre armored vehicle kits. Like tanks and such.

 You might sum it up as saying that railroad models are a "Different hobby".

I do an occasional train subject- static scale, not to be confused with model railroading, which caters to operating trains.  Kalmbach has another magazine, Model Railroader, and I'd guess that mag may have forums like FSM.

However, static scale trains might be as much of an orphan there as here.  Of course, there is a miscellaneous forum which is supposed to cover every genre not included in the genres for which there is a forum.  I'd go there and try to get some threads going.  

I do wish there were more kits, though I have long considered doing a large scale locomotive- something like a UP Big Boy or a DMIR 2-8-8-2, maybe 1:48.  There are the old Monogram locos (now reissued by Revell, but those are not very detailed.  And of course there are the neat Minicraft old timer historically significant ones (I have built two of those- have on more in the queue.

There are a few kits. I think mostly geared towards rail guns and the occasional steam engine.

But most model train stuff are geared towards the model railroaders.  Kits are a bit of a thing of the past as eveything is mostly RTR (ready to run) on home layouts.

I think Trumpeter do some in 1/35 in plastic and I have seen some amazing ones in full brass but they are very expensive

Phil

Thanks mrmike for the info but I was searching for something about assembling, gluing and painting train.  Same thing that we do with planes, ships and tanks but for train.

You may want to check out Kalmbach's railroad special interest publications, especially Model Railroader, which has been a mainstay in scale rail modeling for decades. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on a link.

mike

It's just by curiosity.  I find it bizarre that train modelling doesn't exist.  We can model almost every kind of vehicule except train.

Unfortunately nothing for trains

What kind of trains are you into