30 Rapid Fire Model Railroading Tips and Tricks

TRAIN SETS
3D PRINTERS
CAMERA
MICROPHONE
LIGHTS
MOTION CONTROL

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“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall;
don’t be happy when they stumble.
For the Lord will be displeased with you
and will turn his anger away from them.
Don’t fret because of evildoers;
don’t envy the wicked.”

Proverbs 24: 16-19 NLT

[Trains-With-Shane]

A tip i'd like to add is to lay out all your track and test it with your locomotive before you ever start putting your base scenery together. Just connect it all and test it on the bare benchwork first. This way if you find there is something that your locomotive doesn't negotiate right you can make changes before you have to worry about moving any scenery features.

[spot]

I'm looking forward to building my first bench. Currently, my board is resting on a series of cinder blocks. They may not look great but it's level 😊

[halrichard]

As a beginner in model rail roading (starting layout construction in October) I appreciate the amount of information you mix in with enjoyment. I have learned a lot and gained the confidence to proceed. I continue to look forward to your videos. Thanks!

[pacificcoastminiatures]

A cheap source for latex scenery paint is the mis-tint section of the paint store or big box store. I got a light brown and even a sky blue for my backdrop that way. 😊

[Evilminiature]

As a beginer i just fricking LOVE this channel! Hope you will have a great week! Greetings from Stockholm Sweden /Victor

[melkitson]

Another great one Jimmy. I particularly loved the final point. This is the most important one.

[edwardaudet]

Great video, your tips are just right for newbies and veterans of the hobby, we all stray away from the basics at times. Thanks Jimmy, all your videos are keepers. But this one tops them all.

[RDNTrains]

Great tips Jimmy! Now, just how many cups of coffee were downed in the making of this video? That was fast!

[bostonrobb]

Great ideas, enjoyed watching. Have an awesome day jimmy.

[Unfnation]

Hi. Very new to this hobby and like a railroad, I am building those connections and memories with my grandchildren now that I am retired and have time. I've been lurking for about a month now, trying to get a grasp of it all. It's a lot of stuff, but as I understand it now, you need to know a bit and then, learn along the way. Found your channel a couple of weeks ago and I like this video most of all. So far. 30 tips, 8 minutes. Why isn't that a rule somewhere? Now I love the deep dive too, like in the Rasberry Pi Arduino stuff. Also very cool btw, but when it comes to bambo skewers for decoupling and how to make better trees, I need this.

So, it's the age old "lets put a train under the tree and through the village" hook that got us this year. Now I know, just a nice simple train this year, Probably n guage, but now we start to buy rolling stock and track, control and start some modeling setup to make more scenery. Grandson number one loves running trains, Granddaughter number one, is gaga for the village people. (yes I just said that and it's correct). The other two grandsons are a bit short yet but I see already they have a mind for this. Plus those clever little fingers can get into just the tiniest spaces. (Which isn't exploitation) it's passing on a hobby by participation. lol

My son is a lead programmer for a major gaming outfit and so, while I start with the Adruino programming, it's a Tom Sawyer whitewashing a fence gambit. Yes, the evilness of one's elder years, I know.

Thanks for the tips!

[TrainWork]

Great tips, pretty much how I got to where I am. Again another great show. Operate on Operator 👍😀

[donaldlewis]

Awesome Tips and Tricks. these apply to all railroaders!

[kenr]

Great advice. I have to give two thumbs up for SCARM - and I paid the $50 for the full version - that helps the guy who wrote it continue to work on it

[thisisgeoman]

Hey Jimmy, thankyou for the tips! Only 2 min’s in and I bought Rail Modeler Pro for my layoutdesign. I’m not sure what I want with the tracks, so this helps me a lot! So thanks again for the tip! Now I’m going to finish watching the video :-)

[everdc]

I was having a drink of coffee when you said op session. For a 1/10 of a second I thought you said obsession🤣 I thought there was some real help coming with that🤪

[richardwest]

Thanks for the confirmation that I am doing some things right!

[OTRWA]

Agreed with designing track and layout...digital software and even a tape and paper will expose problems before you set it in concrete

[jerrysmith]

The "++" has recently been dropped from DCC++EX name. The new, simplified designation of DCC-EX is much less a mouthful and helps distinguish the new version with a complete rewrite of the original coding. Thanks for your videos building this DIY command station. They gave me the confidence to venture forward and build my own.

[wilzdart]

All great points, When building a layout you have to think ahead. I think you will agree scenery needs to be planed out because the star of the show is the train. one of my friends had to tear out a section because he wanted a scenery look that just did not have ample space. Great scenery takes a good layout to Great.

[jeffreyholmes]

You really can’t read any of the names on the Patron scroll. It might be time to switch to a higher frame rate export so they run smoother or jump to fade in/out title cards instead. You’re just getting so popular 😝🤩🤓