This post on Brass HO Trains looks at why the Brass HO Trains are preferred over other trains. Earlier the garden railroads were more popular and people had them in the yard. Many have also dedicated the whole of the attics, basements or rooms for the perusal of their hobby of collecting model trains of the bigger scales like O and smaller ones like Brass HO trains. However, using bigger models took up a lot of space and people wanted more than a simple oval or a round track. The collectors of the model trains wanted to give a realistic look and add the scenery and landscaping from their imagination.

Thus, HO model trains gained popularity as the size was good enough to provide detailing and big enough for handling. They use standard gauge train tracks that are easily available with many of the hobby shops, retailers and also on the internet. HO basically stands for Half-O, which means that it is half the size of the O scale model. The model HO trains are durable, sturdy and offer a good balance of the detail of the bigger models, occupying lesser space, and also costs less than the bigger ones.

When HO trains were first introduced in 1930s, people found it too small and did not overtake the popularity of the O scale trains until the 1950s. Today more than 65% of the hobbyists prefer this scale. Once the hobbyists found the size to be comfortable in all aspects, more and more people started buying, pressurizing the manufacturers to make them easily available. The manufacturers have now come up with trains, tracks and railroad accessories in all the possible sizes making it possible for a wide variety of sizes and shape of layouts available.

The Brass HO trains is preferred among other materials used because of the rich look and the enduring quality. Unpainted and painted versions of the HO brass model trains are now available and one can also get custom painted ones. Some models are given a coat of rust and mud painting to give a look of wear and tear. With model trains, one can go to any extent of giving life to one’s imagination.

Brass HO Trains

This post in Brass HO Trains is about setting up the basics for your model trains. The Brass HO trains and all other scale model trains have four basic components. The locomotive, the cars, track pieces and the power supply. The model HO trains can be powered by a transformer or power pack or a DCC system. A beginner can start off with an oval or circular track that is simple to understand and accommodate inside the house.

The assembling of the track might be a bit tricky. A simple oval shaped track that comes in the beginner’s kit would be a good start. We also recommend getting a book which can take you through the steps (HO Railroad from Start to Finish (Model Railroad Handbook, No 36)). One can find out one’s own easy way of assembling, like getting the curved pieces first, placing of the piers, etc. The feeder and the railer positions must be properly placed to ensure the power supply without the hinderances of the wires. Rerailers can be used at regular intervals so that the position of the wheels get automatically adjusted at frequent intervals. If the train set does not come with a railer, it can be obtained separately. It can be fixed into the rails to roll down a locomotive or car that smoothly gets adjusted into the track. Railing can be done by hand, but is difficult for smaller models like Brass HO trains.

It is important to set the throttle to minimum or zero and clear away any things on the rails before plugging in the power supply. To prevent short circuits, do not use any metal laying across the rails. Some power supplies have a circuit breaker that can be reset and others emit sounds when there is a short circuit and later reset themselves. Once the trains are railed on the track, rise the throttle very slowly and let the train start to move. This will be the minimum throttle. The maximum throttle will be the point where the train is moving at its fastest without compromising on the safety. For each model the minimum or the maximum throttles may differ.

The forward and reverse movements come next. It is different for 2-rail and 3-rail systems. For 2-rail sets, the switch works in opposite polarities of the DC voltage applied to the rails, causing the motor to reverse. For 3-rail sets, the transformers have a direction button and work on AC voltage. The direction button causes the drops in the electric current on the rails and causes the train to move forward or backward.

HO Railroad from Start to Finish (Model Railroad Handbook, No 36)

Brass HO Trains

This post on Brass HO Trains is about Digital Control Systems. Today’s digital world has found its way to the Brass HO trains and other model trains, to make it more interesting, workable and easy to operate. The most popular control system is the Conventional 12V DC, but the Digital Command control is taking over the trend. This is because the digital systems make it possible to control all aspects of operating as a separate entity. It also uses minimal wiring, along the rails. Digital signals are sent along the rails and control most of the operations including the signals, turnouts, cranes, turntables, level crossings, etc.

The component of a typical control system include throttle, central unit, booster, locomotive decoder, stationary decoder, sound and funtion decoders, feedback bus and computer interface. Each of the component has its own function. The throttle controls the operation of the train and are also known as cabs. They are used to select the train to operate at a given time and also control the speed and direction of a train at a time. The Central unit, being the center of the whole digital system, gets the commands from throttle and sends the corresponding signal to the track so that the commands are executed by the respective parts of the track.

An integrated booster helps amplify the low-power signal that the central unit produces or limits the high current to more tolerable levels as in the case of Brass HO trains and other smaller models. In larger layouts, partition of the track into segments and each will be powered by its own digital booster. Each of these boosters is connected to the Central unit or to the next booster segment to receive the signals to be amplified.

There are two main types of decoders for the devices. The locomotive decoders are fitted inside the locomotives. It receives the command from the central unit via the booster and interprets them to the rails. Thus the changes in speed, direction, etc are sent to the motor to execute. The Stationary decoders are those that are connected to the fixed devices like signals, level crossings and turnouts. They are generally mounted under the layout, where they are less obvious. Many other types of decoders also can be placed for specific functions like controlling headlights, ditch lights and others. The PC sound cards are used as sound decoders. Many sounds of the trains starting and sounding horns are pre-recorded and they are synchronized with the movements of the train. Some decoders come as a single unit and perform the functions of the locomotive control, sound effects and also the function control.

The feedback bus is basically a sensor that keeps a track of the movements of the train and sends the information to the central unit. This knowledge helps the central unit to know when to stop sending signals and when the train has reached its destination, trigger a particular signal or close down a level crossing. Some of the central units are also connected to the computer of the collector. This way, the trains and their movements can be controlled with the help of the computer interface. The digital command control systems are one type of the digital model train control systems. However, in general, they are understood as a generic term for all types of digital systems pertaining to model trains.

Brass HO Trains

In this post on Brass HO Trains we look at celebrities who like model trains. As George Bernard Shaw said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” Model cars have always been a fancy for the young and the old alike. One thing about the hobby is that the modeller can do anything with whatever he or she has in the collection and keep the number same or add more models to it. With a whole lot of suppliers and importers, the collectors can make the display a detailed version, playful or just display whatever is available. The Brass HO trains have been the most popular and expensive hobby, but the other scales like O, N, G, etc have also been given importance.

There have been a lot of people who are interested in the railroad and model trains and the list also includes the various celebrities who have been into the hobby. Actors like Yul Brynner, Whoopi Goldberg, David Hasselhoff, Mandy Patinkin, Donald Sutherland, etc have known to be passionate about the hobby. Patrick Stewart was quoted as saying he is a big-time railway buff. Joe Regalbuto, the famous actor of “Murphy Brown” had his garden railroad featured in “Garden Railways” magazine. Micheal Gross, the actor of “Family Ties” is a passionate train fan and a railway historian, photographer and modeller. He always preferred train journeys to flying. James Doohan of Star Trek was seen in a TV Guide issue working on the brake cylinder of a coach in the L.A. area railroaders club; he also had a huge collection of model trains at home. The actor of “Different Strokes” is interested in Lionel trains, and does them as realistically as possible. The famous Walt Disney has a live steam and various other models and interest in model trains.

The famous television personalities like anchors of reality shows and newscasters have also been interested in model trains. Tom Brokow had been concentrating on Brass HO trains. Roseanne Barr, Jay Leno, Sally Jesse Raphael, Tom Snyder, Arthur Godfrey, etc. have been known to have great railroad collections. Jim Scancarelli, the cartoonist of the famed “Gasoline Alley” had his photos featured in Walthers catalog.

Various musicians like Roger Miller, Johnny Cash, Phil Collins, Roger Daltrey, etc have also shown interest in the model railroading hobby. The race car drivers who were interested in the model railroad include Danny Sullivan, Richard Patrese,  and Sam Posey. Micheal Jordan, the famous basketball player is rumoured to be a model railroader. Ed Dougherty, the pro golfer is fond of Lionel models and houses his collection in  a two-storey building behind his home. Joe DiMaggio and Roy Campanella are baseball players who like to collect Lionel model trains.

Brass HO Trains

The products from Greenways includes Brass HO trains and other brass models from leading importers like Overland, Key, Coach Yard, Rail classics, MTS, Glacier Park, etc. Models required can be booked in advance or choose from the available stock. The other products include locomotives, rolling stock, parts and accessories for all scale model trains. If pictures of your train sets are sent, the company can send you the required or matching accessories or parts.

We have all scales of brass model trains including HO, O, S, LG, N and Z. Parts and accessories can be found in HO scale and multi-scale. Various accessories and parts are categorized under different topics for the ease of search and online purchase. The new products from the various companies are listed in a separate section. Another website of the same company has metal and steel cars, structures and accessories like trucks and wheelsets, freight car loads, lineside items, construction equipment and model automobiles.

The parts for HO model trains are listed separately. Parts and accessories like Sill with Steps, underbody tank assembly, boiler shell, center beam, tender signal hose, fanning house, tender ladders and numerous others are present in the stock to be ordered readily. The various track side parts like bells, frame components, pipes and fittings, stacks, steps, gears and motors, drawbars, etc are available and one can see the pictures before ordering them. On the whole, the company deals with Brass locomotives, Brass cars, Brass details, brass drivers, brass structures for Brass HO trains and other scales of Brass trains.

Brass HO Trains

Brass HO Trains on the Marklin Model Train Company: Originally a toy company that specialized in doll house accessories, Marklin found its name and fame spreading with the branching and developing the model railways. The first ones were the wind-up trains with cars that ran on tracks. These tracks could be expanded and extended. Marklin realized that the initial purchase of the model trains would keep the consumer coming back for the accessories and also more train sets. Marklin is also known to have developed model railroad gauges or scales other than N scale and Wide gauge. The range of scales available are Gauge 1, HO scale and Z scale. Trix, acquired by Marklin, provides Holdings of N-scale and DC operated HO scale.

Marklin’s range of HO train sets came out in 1935 and have been liked by children, teenagers and adults. The HO locomotives have diecast metal frames and metal wheels, while most of the locomotives and passenger cars have the bodies made of metal, too. The use of metal wheels in the freight and passenger cars prevent derailments. The HO starter sets come with a locomotive railcars, oval of track and transformer. The C track extension sets are available to expand the track layout of a starter set, to attach the passing sidings, switching tracks and storage sidings. Simplicity of the complex layout schemes and the challenging switching operations is the specialty feature of the Marklin train sets. Further, the Marklin HO train sets have known to grow in value as time passes and is still growing.

The special feature of the Marklin’s is the concept of third-rail track system eliminated the polarity problems in wiring and gained popularity because it was trouble-free. The third rail is concealed in the roadbed with only small studs protruding through the track’s ties, and the outer two rails are connected electrically.

Marklin also brought about the first digital rail control system. Marklin K83 and k84 are the Digital systems with the address of each module set by a DIP switch in the case. Right from its start in 1986, the multi-train control products has found its way to the top markets and eventually houses. The  current digital system allows simultaneous operation of up to 80 locomotives and 256 solenoid accessories all on the same layout. The DELTA multi-train control system is the entry level for digital scale and is expandable to the more complex digital versions.

With the extensive range of products, all care is also taken to give a great packaging and also a print run number that indicates the printer, month and year of printing.

Brass HO Trains

At Brass HO Trains we know that when you spend a fortune on HO Scale Trains to satisfy your passion collecting them, it sure goes to say that they are not meant to be locked up in a box or cupboard. Each of these HO train set is an asset that you would be proud to display and show off. Building the right kind of cabinet does the trick.

The essential things that one needs to consider are proper functioning of the models, keeping them safe from dust and dirt, yet allow proper viewing when it is running. Certain locomotives and cars that are not suited to the layout may be among the collection, like the Brass O train, Lionel HO trains, Bachmann scale trains etc. These can either be separately displayed or can be accommodated in a corner in the same case. The boxes may be chosen to be mounted on walls or can be at the center or corner tables. The easiest route would be to get a display cabinet that is designed specifically for model trains.

A person can be hired to build or you can build your own cabinet. Pre-fabricated cabinets are available that can be used to display the HO train set. Cabinets with glass front doors can be ideal for proper viewing of the beautiful HO brass model trains. The display case must be according to the planned layout space and dimensions. This kind of cabinet settings can be fast, less expensive and easy to build, too.

However, if you want to start from the scratch, you would need to purchase enough wood to construct a cabinet. An open-ended box would be ideal if you want to fix a glass surface for viewing. The box has to be shallow, yet have dimensions to fit your model train pieces. The shelves can be placed at different heights that is appropriate and do not come in the way of the running trains, and can be made with wood or glass.

A relevant scenery can be set up as a backdrop for the entire surface of the box at the rear side. A mirror backing can be done to make the whole set look bigger and apparently make the collection look larger. The doors can be done with glass or clear acrylic, fixed with hinges or sliding along the beading. The tracks, buildings, trees, rocks and many other accessories can then be arranged that have match the scale of your brass HO trains or any other scale used.

Many companies have come up with display cases that can be purchased right away and fixed on to the wall at your home or office, suitable for model trains of O, S and N scales. When you go for a readily available cabinet, you get a wide choice of sizes, material and colours.

Enclosed cases are wall cabinets with sliding Plexiglas doors. Some companies offer 3-4 shelves for displaying brass O scale and S scales trains. They also come in various colour choices like natural oak, dark oak, natural pine, etc. The see-through display cases with acrylic doors, that are hinged to the cabinets are also available in the market. Doorless cabinets and, cases made of plastic are also available. Getting the right one to suit your Brass HO train collection or other model trains is entirely your choice.

Brass HO Trains

Brass HO trains on creating layouts… a collection of Model Trains is an interesting hobby. This collection, when displayed would be a pride of the collector, while a working model of a set of tracks, stations, scenery and other things would make the whole thing come to life. One needs to dream a lot about these carriages and engines to build a unique layout, with realistic crossing points, water falls, bridges and tunnels. The hobby has also given rise to a new market where the demands of these layouts are being met by upcoming manufacturers. Some of the basics required to build a layout are given here.

The builder needs to first choose a theme of the layout. The trains, buildings, trees and the scenery has to match the geographic zone or the area in question. The layout space has to be defined and the total length of the tracks has to be considered. The beams and pipework that project can be potential dangers if care is not taken to keep them out of the way.

Locomotive cars constitute the rolling stock of the whole HO train set. One has to be careful in selecting everything right from the couplers to the tyres. Some of the tyres can be real tiresome and hinder the smooth running of the trains. It is best to be informed about how the locomotive HO works and why some locomotives are better than the others. Levers that are responsible for smooth running and sudden halting of the trains have to be considered.

The HO brass model trains need to be run on tracks that run between a themed location like a town, hillstation or a forest. Building scenery can be fun, especially if you use low-cost items such as thermocol and POP. The scenery could include things like trees, buildings, windows, telegraph poles, old signage, ground cover, rocks, roads, fences, scenery props or a scrap yard scene.

Tracks can run along the whole length of the layout space, criss-cross between themselves and curve around the outer perimeter of the layout. But one has to be careful about creating curves to avoid derailments. Choosing the right kind of rail joiners is the trick. Running your favorite collection of Brass HO trains would be fun if they run simultaneously in the whole layout.

Adding realism to this kind of layout with a little imagination would work wonders. Creating a tranquil pond, drainage canal, raging waterfall and rippling stream, soldering the tracks, etc are some of the ways to do so. One can also add up some rust, mud and tyre marks to give it an aged look or the appearance of wear and tear.

Powering is required to make the trains run, lights and LEDs light up the path and the layout, make the motors run for the waterfalls and other accessories, etc. The engines of these trains are different their compatibility with certain transformers is better than with others. With the various power packs that are available in the market, you can choose the one that is more suitable for your requirements. Care has to be taken to make the layout of the Brass HO train set according to the HO scale for smooth running of the set.

Brass HO Trains

In this article Brass HO Trains talks about the history of HO Model Trains and how they can be traced back to the period soon after World War II. The Japanese craftsmen were producing exact replicas of the trains using high quality brass. The Americans who were stationed in Japan noticed these and got their favorite train models made using photographs. These model trains were accurate to the scale and were completely hand-made.

These brass trains were made in the HO scale, i.e., 1:87 the size of the real trains. The OO trains, which were double the size of these HO trains, were more popular in United Kingdom, where they were developed in response to the economic pressures of the depression.  Though HO trains were invented in the 1930s, they gained popularity by the year 1950s, when the interest in model railroad as toys was taken over by hobbies of collecting realistic items. Also, the brass O scale trains were found to take up too much space. Importers like Max Gray, Westside Model Company did the job of getting the Japanese manufactured trains to the American market.

One advantage of using brass was that it is non-magnetic and thus enable the motors to run smoothly. The crafting and sculpturing is also more easy in brass. Most of the models were hand-made and hand-soldered. The brass models were bought by people because they can operate them and make them run on the tracks and scenery that are constructed using similar scales, rather than just displaying them on display cases. It required a lot of effort on the part of the worker. As the demand grew, the HO brass model trains started becoming more expensive.The models that were once $50 to $100 now come in at $10,000, not to mention those that are sold in auctions at about $30,000.

Original versions of the brass trains were not painted. The grills, wheels and other accent parts were however, nickel-plated. As the demands of the market grew, some trains were painted in graphite and black to make them look realistic. Sometimes, water stains and rust marks were added here and there to make it look all the more original.

Gradually, the interests were also setting in to get collections from particular manufacturer that made the Brass HO trains. So, the collectibles were based on the road or train company name that they are collecting.

The manufacture of the train models continued in Japan until the 1970s, after which they were made in South Korea. The new manufacturers had a lot to improve, which they did, until the modern day Brass HO trains are now being made and collected as a hobby and interest. A collection of the brass trains would not bring in much money as such and people import them only out of interest, to be appreciated and enjoyed by his fellow collectors.

Read more at Brass HO Trains

When a person has an opportunity to start a collection, the first thing they usually do is try to discover a great resource that will provide them all the information they will need to start their selection.   Once they have achieved a high level of knowledge or at least an understanding of where to start they will begin to look into how to start their collection.  

This often incorporates finding kits or starting pieces to help lay the foundation for the direction you hope to take your collection.   For a model train collector this often starts with deciding whether they want to collect antique trains, OO scale trains or HO brass model trains.

For a train collector the idea of collecting antique trains is a great venture if you are looking for a high valued collection.   This pursuit can often be considered boring since your antique models are often stored in cases for preservation, limiting any interactive feature to your collecting pursuit.   The OO scale trains represent one of the oldest forms of functional train collection possibilities.  

This form of collection can be associated with the individuals who enjoy building scale model landscaping and have entire rooms or basements dedicated to this pursuit.   While the interactive options of OO scale trains are attractive, they take a tremendous amount of space in a home as a result of their size.

The issue of size is often a leading reason that model train enthusiasts look towards HO brass model trains.   HO brass model trains are named HO for often being half the size of the traditional OO scale trains.   The half size available with HO brass model trains allows a collector to collect the same style and quality model trains as the OO scale train while greatly reducing the demand on space.  

In addition, with an HO brass model trains collection you can take advantage of being able to place more accessories and accents on your built HO brass model trains environment since the reduced size does not limit your design opportunities.

When you are looking to start your HO brass model trains collection there are many great brands that you can purchase to customize your collection.   The leading brands found with HO brass model trains are Broadway limited HO trains and Marklin HO trains.   With Broadway limited HO trains and Marklin HO trains you can invest in a quality product that offers all the same details and functionality as the more traditional OO scale train models.  

In order to discover more on the opportunities related to Broadway limited HO trains and Marklin HO trains along with a premier source of information to aid you in your HO brass model trains collection visit www.brasshotrains.com