Now is the time to choose the Railroad you will be modeling. Not after you have rolling stock from three different railroads and road names. Before you start collecting the roller stock and wasting money on stock your may never use it is better to find a Railroad you would like to model. The more information you gather now the more realistic your Railroad will be later.

Limiting your options to a single Railroad line is a good thing. By limiting your train layout to a single railroad line means you will purchase your running stock on that basis. This will eliminate buying B & O passenger train rolling stock when you have finally decided on a narrow gauge short line railroad.

The other advantage of picking your railroad now is that you can order the material, pictures, equipment and books in advance and save money or you can pool that money you would have spent on other railroad line on a single brass engine that has very realistic detail.

One of the advantages of choosing a modern day railroad is that new stock is being offered yearly. With some of the new rolling stock the detail is very accurate; this level of detail was only available in handmade brass model a few years back. Be careful which railroad you model because you may only find that the rolling stock is handmade.

Now that you have picked a Railroad it is time to pick the ERA or Class of locomotion you want to model, here is a short list of examples:

1820: short rail lines were built in the U.S. to service mills.

1830s: Train rail lines appeared in many sections of New England

1850: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad converted from horse driven power to steam.

1840-1856: Mississippi River is crossed.

1941: Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy is a mammoth 4-8-8-4 locomotive.

1944: Penn Railroad purchased a 4-8-4 steam turbine engine.

1944: UP FEF 844 4-8-4 steam locomotive.

1954: EMD E9 Diesel Era

1972: EMD GP38-2

Now a little more research before you start to build the layout. You will need to know what transportation was in used during your time period, what did street signs and building signage look like, what did billboards look like. What did product icons look like, etc

When you have completed that list you will need to answer a few more question about your railroad; what did the locomotives look like, I.E. numbers, signage, paint scheme, etc. Also don’t forget the box cars and there look and feel. It would look funny to have 1980 rolling stock matched with 1820 box cars.

This will also set the look of your layout’s scenery. Will you be modeling a city, country, mine operations, a power plant, or maybe a switch yard? The detail here is important, you don’t want red earth on a California switch back or mountains and tunnels in Louisiana, the highest mountain in Louisiana is only 509 feet.

In the next article we will look at track, track size, track type, roadbed and how to fix track to a layout.

Michael has more reviews and suggestions at his website new train layouts

Getting away for a quick break is a great idea to escape and enable you to have something to look forward to. With the increase of low cost airlines offering inexpensive flights all over Britain and Europe more and more people are using the many deals available to get away.

Unfortunately a lot of the cheap flights do not always leave and arrive from the main airports so you can spend lots of time on route to and from airports that are not near the destinations as you may thinks they are.

A possible solution to the lower cost flights is to go on a rail break, which can provide you with a better and more convenient choice and in many cases cheaper prices. A rail break going into London could work out cheaper and more convenient than you think. The train will arrive in the heart of London, which is where you want to be to give you access to all the attractions of central London. You will in all likelihood be able to get to your accommodation by taking the subway thus saving you money on cabs.

There are many deals providing outstanding value travel and accommodation for the one low cost cost. You can choose the London property of your choice and add-on a specially reduced priced rail ticket from as far away as Aberdeen.

Other choices for a rail break could supply you with a city break in Edinburgh departing from London. The main advantage is not simply in cost but the fact that you could travel from the heart of London and arrive in the center of Edinburgh without having to travel to and from two different airports.

As with everything there is invariably a price and convenience option to make. You could travel from more favorable but costly flight from a closer airport. This is could be a better option if you can afford it but if you save cash you could be capable of having 2 breaks instead of one.

Reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy a relaxing rail journey instead. Rail Breaks offers a plain alternative for a city break in the UK. Find out more with Angela Maithers of Hotel Breaks