A model station seen from above, with red and blue trains on parallel tracks beside a red-roofed depot

Pick a scale, then decide how to run it

The first decision, and the one that sets the rest

First, the scale

HO Scale1:87, where a 40-foot boxcar is about 5.5 inches long. It has the widest choice of trains and buildings, and the models are big enough to handle and detail easily. A starter oval needs about 3 by 4 feet, and a layout with some variety needs about 4 by 8.

Start here

Measure the spot the layout will live in. If you can spare about 4 by 6 feet, buy an HO set and run it on the floor or a table this week.

N Scale1:160, roughly half the size of HO, so the same railroad fits in a quarter of the area. A starter oval fits in 2 by 3 feet and a full layout fits on an interior door. The parts are smaller to work on and the choice is a little narrower.

Start here

If the space is closer to 2 by 3 feet of tabletop, buy an N set. Its starter oval fits there with room for a building or two.

Then, how you run it

Digital Command ControlAn upgrade to either scale rather than a third choice. A basic power pack changes the voltage on the rails, so every locomotive on the track moves together. Command control keeps the rails at full power and sends instructions to a decoder inside each locomotive, so you drive two trains independently and get working sound and lights.

Start here

Run your set on its own power pack for a few weeks first. When you want a second train moving on the same track, read an introduction to command control and check that your locomotive can take a decoder.

DCCWiki

Open a card and add its gear to put that scale's set, track and first building in the kit. Picking one scale takes the other out. Digital Command Control goes on top of either.

Read up on command control

DCCWiki Free reference on digital command control: how it works, wiring and decoders

What to check before you buy a train set

Everything is in the box: locomotive, cars, a full loop of track, a power pack and a rerailer. A set missing the power pack is not a bargain.
The track has a molded plastic roadbed base. It clicks together, stays together on carpet or a bare table, and needs no cork or loose ballast underneath.
Extra pieces are sold for that track system. Brands of roadbed track do not click into each other, so the set decides whose turnouts and curves you buy next.
Curve radius: in HO, 18 inches is the usual set curve and suits four-axle diesels and short steam engines. Long passenger cars and big steam want 22 inches or more.
A diesel is the easier first locomotive. Steam engines have more moving parts to derail and to clean.
Before every session, wipe the rail tops, check that each track joint is fully closed, and roll one car around the loop by hand to feel for bumps.

Curving model tracks fanning out past covered station platforms, seen from above — Curves and turnouts on a model station

Your first month, step by step

Tick these off as you go

A black model steam engine with red wheels on track laid over bare plywood, with a man leaning in to look at it — A test run on bare plywood

What you can build in your first month

A bigger track plan

The set's loop rebuilt as a figure 8 or given a siding, so the train has a route to follow or a place to drop off a car.

A first building

One snap-together or simple glue kit, assembled in an evening and set beside the track.

A green corner

A square foot or two of painted base covered in ground foam, with a few trees planted in it.

A grade crossing scene

A painted road across the track, a building and some grass, finished enough to photograph.

Where the layout lives

A layout needs a spot where it can stay set up: a spare-room corner, a basement wall or part of a garage. Keep it somewhere dry with steady temperatures, since damp corrodes rail and swings in heat make track joints open and close. Put the base at table height or higher on a folding table or sawhorses so you can reach every piece of track, and keep it no deeper than 30 inches if it sits against a wall. Sheets of rigid foam make a lighter and quieter base than plywood, and you can carve ditches and streams straight into them.

What trips beginners up

Expect derailments at first. Nearly all of them trace back to a track joint that is not fully seated or a kink where two curves meet.
Expect stalling as the rails get dirty. A thin dark film builds up within a few weeks of running and has to be wiped off.
Scenery looks rough until the last layer goes on. Bare painted foam is a stage every layout passes through.
Drop the urge to fill a 4 by 8 sheet on day one. A small layout you finish teaches more than a big one that stalls at bare plywood.
Do not glue or ballast track until trains have run on it without trouble for a week.
Do not mix scales or track brands on impulse. A sale-price car in the wrong scale is money gone.
Do not push for speed. Trains look right and stay on the rails at a crawl.

A small black model steam engine on a curve of track laid across green ground cover, with model trees behind it — A small engine on a grassed curve

Three people standing beside a large club layout with a rail yard, buildings and a painted sky backdrop

Where to learn more

Guides, track planners and clubs

The hobby is well documented and most of it is free to read. Start with a structured beginner guide, plan your track on screen before buying more of it, and visit a club or a train show to see finished layouts and ask how they were built. Club members are usually glad to let a newcomer run a train.

Free guides, planning software and local groups

How the kit is put together

The starter set is most of the cost, and it differs by scale, so the set, its expansion track and a first building sit behind the HO Scale and N Scale switches: turn on the one you chose. The lines everyone needs are small: something to clean rails with and a knife. The recommended lines are the base and the scenery materials, which work the same in either scale and can wait until the trains run well. A command control system is the one large later purchase, and it only makes sense once you want to run a second train.

A small yellow model switcher and ore cars on curved yard track, with a dark passenger train behind — A yard switcher with ore cars

Make up your train

The cleaning block, knife, base and scenery supplies start in the train. The starter set, its expansion track and a first building join once you pick HO Scale or N Scale, above or from the add-ons in the kit, and the command control system stays out until you add it. Compare the options, then set your tiers and check out from the kit. Clicking a card selects it there.

Track cleaning block

essential · Track care

Dirty rail is the most common reason a new train stalls. A few passes with an abrasive block restores electrical contact.

budget

Walthers SceneMaster Bright Boy Cleaner Standard Grit Abrasive Track Toy

4.7(548)

$10.98

Model Railroading

Pick a scale, then decide how to run it

What to check before you buy a train set

Your first month, step by step

Where the layout lives

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

How the kit is put together

Make up your train

Track cleaning block

Hobby knife with spare blades

Rigid foam base sheets

Earth-tone acrylic paint

Ground cover turf

Scenic glue

Model trees

Plastic model cement

HO scale starter train set

HO scale expansion track pack

HO scale building kit

N scale starter train set

N scale expansion track pack

N scale building kit

DCC starter system