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Yes, I know this is a wargame website, but I am venturing into a new project and it is: getting started in model railroading.

Now let’s get one thing straight right up front: I’m still a wargamer, and that’s still always going to be my primary hobby. But the truth is (as I’ve written about often) I got interested in miniatures first through model railroading and later through wargaming. I have always had the itch to have my very own train set but there have always been complications.

First, model railroading is very expensive, even more expensive than wargaming, if you can imagine. Second, model railroading, if you get into it seriously, requires a lot of skills that I don’t have and that I don’t really feel like learning. (The primary skill is electronics, something which I don’t understand at all, and something which YouTube railroading videos do not make look simple in the least.) Third, model railroading takes up space, and I just don’t have space. I live in a small place with no extra rooms, no shed in the backyard, and no garage. Building a model railroad has seemed impossible.

But.

I have got the itch, and building my dioramas (the Pilgrims and Sea Monsters dioramas) has caused me to want to scratch that itch. The train build that I am imagining will be chock full of little diorama-like vignettes. I’ve planned some of these out already, and they are all incredibly anachronistic. Alongside my Pilgrims and Sea Monsters will also be Bolt Action soldiers and a tank, Necromunda Ash Wastes wanderers, bizarre buildings, strange creatures. I’ve got a box of American Civil War artillery and a big spider who will be attacking them. In other words, this is going to be a different kind of model railroad.

But how to I solve the problems that I mentioned above?

First, money. I have been, in the last several weeks, selling (once again) a lot of miniatures on eBay to build up a train fund. I already have budgeted a monthly hobby amount that I spend on wargames and wargame miniatures, and I don’t intend to dip (much) into that amount to work on the model railroad. The railroad will be funded by eBay auctions of models, leaving me plenty of budget to get games that I can review here on this website.

Second, electronics skills. I have decided that I am going to not learn these. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time working on this model railroad idea, and watching a lot of model railroading YouTube videos, and I have come up with a track layout that does not include any special electronics other than the standard powerpack (which I understand) and LED lights (which I am doing using LED skills I already have and not the complicated stuff I’ve seen online). For those in the know, this model railroad layout will not include DCC, no powered switches, and not even any uncouplers. This is not a prototypical layout by any means, and the purpose of the train is not to move cars from one industry to another, but to go in a big, messy loop.

Third, space. Now we come to the big problem–but the solution. In the past, whenever I have dabbled in model trains, I have always used HO scale. But this model railroad layout is going to be in N scale, which is about half the size. And, with the much smaller size, I have devised a plan to build the layout on my desk.

I have written in the past about the wonderful desk that I have. It is enormous, a beast that was built in the 1940s for some CEO who needed a really big desk. In the past I have used the far right third of the desk to build wargame layouts. These layouts (North Africa and Normandy) are about 2′ x 4′. You can see that in the picture below.

The thing about this desk is that it’s very hard to use all of the space available, because it’s just so hard to reach anything in the corners. So the far corners of both sides of the desk are empty all the time (or, worse, accumulating junk). SO: what if I blocked off the far right side again, giving me a 2’x4′ space for building the layout AND ran the train all the way around the back and up into the left hand corner.

THIS is what I’ve come up with: the green is the layout. The right hand side will be open and have all the diorama stuff and be a great place to play. The back and left will have plexiglass on top of them, and there will be very little modeling underneath them. The left paint rack will sit on top of the plexiglass. (The monitor is on a boom arm.)

Now this will still give me a lot of room to flex my terrain-making skills, and I’ll be experimenting with weathering and painting and all sorts of things. In my wildest dreams I could see this being something like one of Geek Gaming Scenics or Real Terrain Hobbies terrain boards, just with trains on top of it. (I wouldn’t be surprised to see a tower from Tabletop World on there.)

And to say I’m excited is an understatement. I am waiting for the latest batch of eBay money to come in and I’m getting the train and power pack. I already have track and foam and the wood.

Anyway, this won’t interfere with wargaming content on this site. But I’m going to be keeping you posted all the same.