April 30th, 2010 10:05 pm
How old you are can play a big part in the trains you’ll select. Very young youngsters may be fascinated by electric trains, but they certainly won’t be able to set them up and run them. Many people think that children shouldn’t be given electric trains until they are eight years old. In my opinion think six is a good age to transition from toy trains and battery operated trains to real electric trains.
I recommend GeoTrax to many people with young children since the curves are designed so that no matter how a child assembles them the track pieces will always line up. It’s the only product I’ve seen that had this capability. With GeoTrax children can easily learn about laying out railroad track without the frustration of having to redo sections of it because the pieces don’t fit properly.
Electric Train Scales
When a scale, its important to remember, that the larger the number in the proportions the smaller the model will be. For example, HO is 1:87.1, or about half the size of O gauge at 1:48.
When referring to a narrow gauge railroad, it’s not unusual to see n3 or in the case of O scale there’s “n3″, “n2″ & “n30″ The “N” refers to narrow, and the trailing number refers to the gauge (or width)
The stronger supported scales are HO, N & O (more popular to less popular). scales have a larger manufacturer base, thus making it slightly easier to locate.
Layout space is key to enjoyment of your electric model trains. It’s important to pick a scale that will work well in the space you have. Don’t choose a O scale if you only have two square feet of space.
You can find many of layout plans on the web. Model railroaders’ home pages and model railroad manufacturers websites are good places to look. If your looking to buy a model electric train, parts and supplies have a look at http://electrictrain.org/.
Tags: electric train, Hobbies, model train, toys