If you and your child are planning to make a toy with your own hands, then try building your own railroad. Children love toys with many details. Gathered together with an adult railway may become your favorite toy. To make it you will need very few items that can be found in any home. And in the end you will get a unique and bright thing that will delight your child and remind you of the time spent with you. If you don't know how to make a railroad yourself, but want to try, then it's time to learn.
Tools and materials
- Sheets of thick cardboard
- Ruler
- Simple pencil
- Paper scissors
- Stationery knife
- PVA glue
- Acrylic paints
Step by step instructions
There are several ways to make a toy railroad, but it’s best to start with the simplest one.
- Determine the approximate size of the future railway. The length of the rails will depend on it. The rails need to be cut out of thick cardboard. You can use boxes from shoes, furniture or equipment. Lay a sheet of cardboard on the floor and draw stripes of the selected length on it. Surely, your railway will have bends, so you will need not only straight, but also curved strips for turns. So you can do ring road, which is much more interesting to play with.
- Paint the future rails with gray paint, as it looks most like metal. Choose acrylic paints, since they are not washed off from the surface of the paper.
- Prepare the sleepers. To do this, you need to cut a sufficient number of small strips of cardboard. At both ends of the sleepers you need to mark the points where the rails will be laid. It is best to coat the sleepers with brown or red paint, since they are made of wood.
- Place the painted rail blanks in in the right order and turn bottom side up. On this side you need to glue the prepared sleepers at the same distance from each other.
- Now it's time to move on to making the train. For carriages and locomotives, it is most convenient to use small cardboard juice or milk boxes. If there are no such boxes, then you can glue them together from pieces of cardboard yourself. For the locomotive you will need two boxes, which need to be glued together so that one box is located vertically and the other horizontally.
- The locomotive and carriages are usually painted the same color, but you can use any colors or designs you like. After the paint has dried, don't forget to paint the windows.
- Painted wheels need to be glued to the cars, and the cars themselves need to be connected to each other with strips of cardboard. The train is now ready to be placed on the railway.
- To make the toy even more interesting, make it cardboard box station or several stations. They can be painted realistically. From leftover cardboard you can cut out silhouettes of people, trees, houses, roadside posts and color them with felt-tip pens and paints.
How to distribute roles
Now you know how to make a railway with your child. Let him actively participate in the process. The child can be entrusted with coloring the parts and gluing the parts of the railway together. And it is better to do all operations with scissors and a stationery knife yourself so that the child does not cut himself. If you want to trust your child to cut out some of the pieces, give him scissors with rounded ends that are designed for small children.
For young modelers and enthusiasts who feel sorry or don’t have money for purchased rails, but at least have time, below we present you an example of a budget modeling railway track.
The basis Our road is a subframe made of slats and plywood. Its size can be approximately 3000x500x120 mm or more. It depends on the area of the room. The role of ballast is performed wooden blocks, on which sleepers are laid. Homemade rails are attached to the sleepers.
To make your road surface look like the real thing, lubricate it with liquid wood glue and sprinkle with sand sifted through a fine sieve. When the glue is dry, shake off any excess sand. You can do it another way: paint the stretcher with paint. Of course, first it needs to be puttied and sanded...
Sleepers can be made from strips of plywood or pine planks 60x10x4 mm. In order not to bother with making each sleeper, the work can be simplified. Take a sheet of plywood, mark it according to the size of the sleepers and cut it with a fine-toothed hacksaw, then smooth out all the irregularities with a file and sandpaper and paint it oil paint or black ink.
The finished sleepers are laid on the canvas - glued at a distance of 20-25 mm from each other.
To make them you need a stamp. It is made from two metal rectangular bars of the same section.
Process these bars on a milling or planing machine. On one, mill a groove measuring 7x10 mm and two notches with a diameter of 3 and 4 mm, on the other, the same notches, but instead of a groove, a protrusion. You will get a device like a punch and a matrix. The rail head is stamped into the recess (see figure below). For a 1:50 scale model, a 3.5mm notch is used, and for a 1:100 scale model, a 2.5mm notch is used.
Let's talk about the sequence of operations. Take a strip of tin (see picture below), draw a center line, fold it. Place a wire with a diameter of 2.5-3 mm inside for the rail head, crimp it with wire cutters and now put it in the stamp. Clamp the die in a vice and you will get a rail that is even along the entire length with a good head and neck.
Without removing the rail from the die, flare its base with a screwdriver different sides and level with a mallet.
Attach the finished rail to the sleepers with nails. Do this carefully and as accurately as possible. First of all, mark a line of one thread of rails along the entire length of the canvas. To do this, pull the thread exactly at a distance of 15 mm from the edge of the sleepers, securing it to two nails temporarily driven into the first and last sleepers. Lay and nail the rails exactly under this thread. At the same time, they should neither touch it nor pull it to the side.
There is another way. Plan a rectangular block measuring 1000x32x10 mm. Place it in the center of the ballast, secure it with nails and lay rails on either side of it. You will see how evenly they will fit, and the distance between them will be precise along the entire length - equal to 32 mm between heads.
The rails must be connected to each other at the joints with rods that are inserted into the rail heads. The rail joints should be in the middle of the sleepers.
When you have completed one section of the track, test the locomotive on it and begin building the next section.
Fasten the sections together with metal hooks or loops attached to the stretcher.
So, you have built a railway track, laid sleepers and rails. Now you need to install the support masts and tension the contact wire.
Support masts. Plan out a support from a block 200 mm long and with a cross-section of 21 x 21 mm. Take plywood (30 x 30 mm) for the base. Drill a hole with a diameter of 10 mm in the center, sand it with sandpaper and fit the lower part of the mast under it.
You can make the pendant on which the contact wire is attached from any wire with a diameter of 2-3 mm. Don’t forget to wind the spring as shown in the figure; to do this, take a nail with a diameter of 2 mm, clamp it in a vice and wrap a spiral 10-12 mm high around it. The pendant is ready. It is attached to the support mast through a bracket and, in addition, for greater strength pulled by a string - regular thread or thin wire.
Insulators there may be plastic beads or small buttons.
Contact wire runs along the entire railway track. It is supported by the support masts we just told you about and the support wire. It is fixed above the contact wire and connected to it with guy wires.
To make the model portable, the hanging wires have a break in several places and are connected by connectors - two metal plates: the contact wire is soldered to one, and the support wire to the other. The plates are equipped with a lock - cutouts are made on one, rivets are soldered on the other. Thanks to this, the plates are easily and quickly separated.
You can “green” the finished railway. The material for the “grass” is dry sawdust painted with gouache green. They are sifted through a sieve onto a tablet greased with wood glue, drying oil or oil varnish.
“Trees” are made of rubber sponge, foam rubber or rope copper wire. The harness is folded in half and twisted to the distance of the “trunk”, and for the “branches” the wire is separated. To make the “tree” “green”, it is dipped in liquid glue, allowed to drain and the “crown” is sprinkled with finely chopped colored tissue paper.
Layout is a very interesting activity.
I have always dreamed of making a model railway since childhood; in reality, I only completed a few spans of experimental tracks. Unfortunately, during my work I encountered many problems and scarce parts, in this article I want to discuss with you the most frequently asked questions when creating a layout of railway tracks and transport.
In the second issue of ModelMen magazine, I published an article and several photographs from the website of one experienced modeler, he builds model railroads and participates in exhibitions with his creations. Even by looking at the photographs of the layout, you can already determine for yourself the amount of work, make a list of tools and materials. I will not give the entire list of what is needed at once because it may not be complete, let’s better figure out together what is made of what.
Base
The model railway track must stand on something, so at the very beginning it is necessary to construct a base (table) for the model. The base can be solid or collapsible. It’s easier to make a solid base, but then you need to decide in advance on the room for the layout; it should be a spacious room in case of expanding the scale.
For the base you will need legs; you can take them from old ones school desks or make them yourself. The entire structure can be easily made from plywood and wooden blocks. For fastening you will need screws and metal corners. To make a collapsible model, you will have to rack your brains over the design of the base and methods of its transportation.
Tool
To work you will need many different tools:
Hammer
- screwdrivers
- wire cutters and pliers
- chisels
- files
- spatulas
- scissors
- knives
- tassels
- soldering iron
- etc.
Railway track
In order for trains to move in in the right direction we need rails; they can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores for modellers. If you, like me, do not have such stores in your city, then you can buy them through online stores or go buy them yourself. In extreme cases, you will have to make the rails yourself.
The simplest construction option is to use ready-made rails; they are glued or nailed with small nails to the base; the joints can be soldered and cleaned with a file.
If there are no ready-made rails, then you need to think about how to make them yourself; you can take the dimensions of the rails that are sold in stores and make the same ones of your own. For sleepers you will need to cut a lot of thin blocks, this can be done on a small machine. The rail itself must conduct current, so it is advisable to make it from thick copper wire, which can be rolled on manual machine to rectangular section. You can attach the rail to the sleepers using good glue or solder to nails driven into the sleepers, this can be done after 3-4 sleepers.
Electrical equipment
For the movement of the train there is a pipe electric current, unless of course you are making a steam locomotive. Factory and homemade blocks power supply (see diagrams, radio engineering), the output voltage should not be dangerous, usually a power supply up to 16 volts is used, for small models 6 - 9 volts is enough.
The train moves with the help of an electric motor; it can be taken from broken toys or purchased at a radio store. Electricity is supplied to the engine from two rails, the voltage from them is removed using two or more counters or from the metal wheels of the train itself.
To distribute electricity along the layout (base), you will need copper wires and connectors.
In addition to the trains themselves, the layout may contain traffic lights, barriers, lamps and other elements that require electricity. Before routing the wires, carefully consider every detail; after installation it will be too late to wire the wires, you will have to cut the layout.
Landscape
An integral part of a good layout is the design of the landscape, this is worth paying attention to special attention. To be similar to reality, you need to work hard on simulating hills, vegetation, buildings, people, vehicles, etc.
Many parts can be used in finished form, i.e. take toy cars, figurines of people, you can also buy figurines of animals, trees in children's stores...
To imitate hills, mountains, etc. you will need plywood, building gypsum, papier-mâché, fiberglass, acrylic paints and other finishing materials.
Buildings
Models of buildings can also be purchased at toy stores or you can make them yourself from wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, plywood, etc.
Often modelers take real train stations as a model, photograph them and turn them into miniatures on the table.
On the site I will periodically publish my developments and those sent by you, you are probably interested in information on how to make a model train, traffic lights, trees, bridges and other elements for the railway. And I will also publish electrical diagrams, photographs and drawings of old and new trains.
Many articles have been written on this topic, but I decided to write my own and below I will explain why...
I’ll say right away that until recently I had no experience in building a model railway. Search necessary information gave little on the Internet. Some articles “bypassed the basics” and immediately “jumped to complexity” such as: “now let’s make mountains”..., or the proposed layouts were extremely complex: they immediately suggested mastering the Autocad program. In other articles the emphasis was placed on some trifles like: “ You will need a hammer...“, that’s all the valuable information. All the articles found did not correspond to our goals and objectives. I had to do everything myself in person ask and pry in stores and, of course, from amateurs.
Family tradition
Let's go back 12 years. In the photo below, in the St. Petersburg communal apartment, I am playing with my son Alyosha in the railway, which my father gave me many, many years ago, when I was still in elementary school! 
Yes, you can’t say anything, the quality and reliability of PIKO has been time-tested. After all, almost every weekend my son and I assembled, disassembled, designed... And when our family moved again, each time the box with my father’s gift was first on the list of things to move. Only we had to leave it... and again with my father in the village, it is intact to this day!
Goals and objectives of our future layout
Main goal: psychomotor development of the child.
That's why copy number , beauty (yes, such that you can’t touch it with your hands) and unnecessary complexity fade into the background. But this does not mean that we should make a “simple circle” and “stupidly drive” a train around this circle... In other words, we need to make the layout as functional and interesting as possible for the child.
Our tasks:
- development fine motor skills : coupling and uncoupling of cars, loading and unloading, construction of various objects on the model itself and many other small operations;
- development of thinking and problem solving: this is something like a puzzle, for example, you need to remove a carriage from the middle of the train (not just with your hands, of course, but with maneuvers) and leave it on sidings (so as not to interfere) or for loading and unloading. It seems elementary, but believe me, such a task can sometimes “strain” even an adult a little;
- interaction of the child with other players: for example, a child controls a train, stops the train and asks another player to switch the switch. Or the child drives the train exactly to the loading location, waits for another player to load the car and then transports this cargo;
- gaining knowledge: give an idea about various types transport and their interaction. Transportation of various goods (for people we will use passenger carriage, For large cargo- platform, etc.) “Combined” transportation, for example, we will load something into a container (directly inside this container), then transport the container itself and then unload it at the place of arrival.
This list, of course, can be continued endlessly...
Warp
Let's talk very briefly about the base: rails, locomotive, cars and power supply.
The most common and convenient scale is H0 or 1:87 (∼ 90-95% of all railway models). Keep in mind that it can be written as the letter "H" and a zero (more correctly), but also as the letter "H" and the letter "O". The track width is 16.5 mm. Remember scale "H0"["ash zero" or "eh zero"] - search, ask, buy only this scale!
There is one more detail. As you know, there are straight rails, and there are also curved ones. So, this “degree of curvature” is measured by radius. Those. if we assemble a circle from curved rails, we can measure the radius. If you plan to use only a small two-axle locomotive, then there is no problem. But if you use a large six-axle one (two bogies with three axles each), then it will not be able to pass with a small radius. It's like a truck with a long trailer can't drive down a road with sharp turns. I won’t bother you with this, because... different manufacturers may have different markings"curvature". You just need to remember this.
It’s good if you purchased a ready-made set, and from it you can assemble more than just “ circle" or " ov al”, and it has arrows, dead ends... But what if you need to assemble it yourself from scratch? First, you need to decide what size the layout will be (see below). Then you need to sketch it on paper. And then the drawing can be made in life size. And if you already have rails, assemble them directly on the drawing and outline them. With this huge “picture” you can already walk around and select the missing rails, simply by applying them to the drawing! By the way, now there are flexible rails on sale, you can bend them as you wish, i.e. you can put one of these instead of 4-6 usual ones and the most important thing is that this long rail can be either straight or curved at your request, exactly repeating all your fantasies in the drawing!
The simplest and cheapest is analogue model of a railway. Everything is simple here: we send current along the rails (minus on one rail, plus on the other) and the locomotive moves, because in it electric motor. They stopped supplying the current - the locomotive stopped, changed the polarity - the locomotive went in the other direction. Recently it has appeared digital control. In this case, the rails are always under current, but the peculiarity is that a command is sent to the locomotive (along the same rails) so that, for example, the engine, or lights, etc. turn on. Each locomotive is assigned its own unique code. If there are two locomotives (even next to each other), then you can control one of them, the other will not respond to these commands. In other words, can be controlled independently different compositions. Such a system is much more complex and its cost is an order of magnitude higher.
For our purposes and goals, simple, old and reliable analog control with an inexpensive power supply it is more than enough.
Where to buy
On many sites that describe the construction of a model, they offer to buy it immediately starter kit. If you “don’t have money” and you are too lazy to do something with your own hands, then this is not a problem (they will do everything for you, and by the way... what are you forgetting here?). You need to keep in mind that a child can break something during the game. In other words, the layout should not be “cheap”, but it should not be too expensive so that the child can only look at it. In addition, we don’t just need identical cars, we need variety: a platform, a car in which the door opens (for loading), a passenger car, some kind of tank, etc. Therefore, to start, I would advise looking for used sets, and then supplementing them as necessary with both new and used objects. In fact Many people have such sets lying around. In Montreal, where we live, you can buy them at /only for registered users/ . There I bought a starter kit for only 20 dollars at regular price— 100 CAD! I've also seen a lot of good suggestions here: /*****/ But be careful, prices are often unreasonably high! Very good prices in the store /*****/ You can also buy online, for example at /*****/ , but this is mainly for padding. By the way, when we lived in St. Petersburg, I saw a lot of things /*****/ .
DIY railway model
You can play on the floor, but assembling the railroad itself will take 30-40 minutes, after which you will no longer have the strength to play with your child. Then the rails will constantly be disconnected somewhere, and the cars will move off them... It will be necessary to endlessly put everything back! Also, contact will often be lost, you will need to look for where there is no contact. The child will walk, step on the rails, sweep away objects he has built, or may even step on the train... But You will be crawling on all fours this entire time.(like me in the photo above). I’ve already been through this and it “finished” me...
Layout size
The requirements for the layout parameters were as follows:
- so that he can easily rush through the door,
- so that we can put it against the wall (when we’re not playing),
- so that during the game you can walk around the layout,
- so that the layout is as large as possible,
- so that the child can calmly play “like on a table”,
- so that we adults don’t crawl on all fours and so that we don’t have to make an appointment with a massage therapist after such games.
So, we measured a couple of rooms where we planned to play railroad games, estimated and came to the conclusion that a size of approximately 1.5 x 2 meters would be suitable. In order not to complicate the design of the layout, for now we decided to simply place it on four stools during the game.
Let's start construction
I bought 8mm plywood. Checking it again, I assembled all the rails on it and sawed it off to the required size. 
In the photo down You see how the future railway is assembled. I assembled the rails on plywood in the same way. before give it right size. The railway should be made as rich and interesting as possible (if possible), and not just a “circle” or “oval”. Plan various branches and alternate routes. Of course, I want there to be “more railroad,” but some distance needs to be left at the edges so that the locomotive or cars do not fall to the floor when derailing. In addition, it is easier for a child to construct something and play on the edge of the model; he can build different objects there, there may be a road, etc. 
Such large plywood will be deformed both due to its gravity and due to the fact that the child will lean on it while playing. And when the plywood deforms, the rails will deform. In this regard, with reverse side need to be strengthened. By the way, this reinforcement will also help protect the wires if you want to install any additional electrical objects (like traffic lights, lights, or make arrows so that they can be switched remotely). 
I thought for a long time about how to cover this entire layout. At first I wanted to just paint it, but it wouldn’t look very nice. The professionals themselves, who build complex railroad models, cover everything with PVA glue and sprinkle special “grass” on top. But I settled on a special vinyl mat (Woodland scenics) that I saw in the store. I don't think this is ideal, maybe even would be better suited some kind of fabric, BUT keep in mind that this The fabric should not accumulate static electricity!
They assured me that this mat adheres well and recommended a certain glue. Seeing an elderly seller in front of me, with a serious, professional expression on his face, I, of course, believed him. The “cool” scientific glue turned out to be simple PVA in our understanding! And as it turned out later, the plastic did not stick properly. So be careful, double-check advice, even if it is given with a serious look :) 
I additionally stapled the edge of the mat to the slats. In addition, the mat will be held by rails, because we lay the rails on the mat and nail them through it to the plywood.
Now let's look at how we will lay the rails, for some reason this important point everyone ignores. You can immediately nail the rails onto the model, but this may increase the vibration from the train, especially since we have plywood, which will not effectively dampen it and light cars can come off the rails. Therefore, a kind of bedding is placed under the rails in the form of an embankment. This The “substrate under the rails” is called ballast. By the way, at first I thought it was purely for beauty, until they explained it to me. Ballast is often made from cork, in my case the ballast consisted of two halves, which made the task easier. First, we assemble all the rails on the breadboard, connecting them as expected with contact terminals. We try to make the joints as invisible as possible. And then we install them with special nails through special holes in the sleepers (see photo below). 
Then we raise the rails, as in the photo below... 
And we put ballast under the rails. Next, we apply PVA to the layout (but not to the rails) where the ballast will be and carefully lay it down step by step, repeating the configuration of the canvas. And pin it with pins. Be careful with the glue, I got it on the arrow, I had to switch it for a very long time so that it wouldn’t stick! 🙂 
Next is also an important point. Having laid any area, we press down carefully (!!!) rails and hammer in a nail. VERY IMPORTANT:The head of the nail should not be pressed tightly against the sleeper! There should be a very small distance between the head of the nail and the sleeper, approximately the thickness of whatman paper or thick paper.
In the next article we will show you this layout in the game and tell you about future plans.
- PIKO is a German company that produces everything for railway modelling, it was founded in the GDR and remains one of the leading ones in the world.
- “Copycatness” is a term... Many people make model railroads very similar to their prototype, i.e. copy. At the same time, trains are assembled so that the locomotive and cars fit each other in terms of time of use, place of use...
- Remember that children can play with each other (or with adults) starting around the age of four, this means interaction, for example, one child “pulled up” in a car, waited while the other loaded it and “drove” further. Before that, they play “in parallel,” one might say: “in the same sandbox, but not with each other.”
Here is the basic layout of the HO railroad.
We made a new layout. Continuation of the topic .
Analogue control (DC) or digital control (DCC)
We chose analog control, we will talk about this separately here (the article is not ready yet).
Control Panel
A control panel was installed on this mockup (see photo below). It switches all automatic arrows, the turntable (in the center), and switches two lines in the Depot on and off.
The panel itself is made of 2 mm aluminum sheet, bent at 90 0, for fastening to the table. It is removed during storage (see video).
Traffic lights and lighting
Traffic lights are connected to automatic turnouts and controlled by turnout switch relays. We made the traffic lights ourselves: a pair of diodes, resistance and epoxy glue.
So far we have only done the lighting of the depot. In the future we plan to provide lighting in other places.
What would we change if we were making this layout from scratch?
The distance from the edge of the table to the ballast is on average 5 cm. But after we purchased new locomotives, it turned out that this was not enough. These locomotives are “advanced” and heavy. On high speed, such a locomotive sometimes capsizes when turning, if you don’t slow down. To ensure that the locomotive does not fall on the floor, there must be a space of at least 7-8 cm.
Result:
We have completed all assigned tasks. The layout functions well. The marshalling and siding tracks provide sufficient space for carriages while leaving the main tracks clear for train traffic. Now every corner of the gaming table is easily accessible. The appearance of sorting tracks, a container terminal, and a depot added many elements to the game.