Model Trains

Intro

There are many different scales for model trains. There is Z scale or 1:220, N scale 1:160, Ho scale 1:87, S scale 1:64, O scale 1:48, G scale 1:25 and many more. The most common scale used is HO scale because it is a good balance between detail and space efficiency. It is small enough to fit in a reasonable amount of space while being large enough to include some of the finer details. The popularity of HO scale encouraged manufactures to develop HO scale more accurately.

Scenery

There are many different parts to scenery, like the location, the time of year, and the time period you want your layout set in. Taking all these things into account you have to decide what buildings you want to buy and if you want to do what is called kit bashing where you take pieces from differrent buildings and combine them.

The scenery also includes creating things like mountains, rivers, valleys, and lakes. To make the terrain most people use foam, plaster, and paint. Layouts can also include model people.

Below is a video of one of the largest model train layouts in North America.

SCMRRC

I am part of the Stoney Creek Model Railroad Club (SCMRRC) The SCMRC is centered in Southeastern Michigan and was founded in 1969. Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month in either different members' homes or the Rochester Hills Van Hoosen Museum. Every year around Christmas the club sets up a modular layout at the Van Hoosen Museum.

I joined the club in 2020 after my friend Luke asked me to go with him to see the Christmas display the club put up. After we saw the display, we both decided we would go to a meeting to see if it would be something we were interested in. After that meeting, we decided we wanted to join the club. Since then one of the club members' John De Baino gifted both Luke and I a train module each to use in the Christmas show.

Contact

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';