Hornell Model Railroad Club
Informal Information Session
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Wednesday November 13, 2002
7:30 pm
Free admission
Our layout is in the basement of the Steuben County Courthouse in Hornell, New York.
Park behind Friendly's Restaurant and walk around to the front of the courthouse to our entrance.
Here are the directions to our layout with a map and pictures.
The announcement said this will be an "informal session" so we haven't set up any agenda as such.
We plan to start out by introducing some of our club members and have them briefly tell you what part of the hobby interests them the most.
After that we will show a short video tape called "Model Trains: The World's Greatest Hobby".
We are prepared to spend the rest of the time answering any questions that you may have. To get things started we have come up with a few topics that we can start out with.
You will initially have to decide what size trains you are interested in. We will point out some of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the most common sizes. We will also explain some of the terminology relating to the size of the models such as "scale" and "gauge" and the letters and numbers used to represent those terms.
You wil have to decide where to purchase your trains. There are some bargains to be found at large retail "Mart" stores but there are also some real advantages to shopping at a hobby shop that specializes in model trains. We will tell you where to find some of those hobby shops and what to look for regardless of where you shop.
You will have to decide on what specific items to purchase. You probably know that you will need a locomotive and cars along with track and a power supply. We will let you know what brands have proven to be good values and which ones you should probably avoid. Did you know that the choice of the kind of couplers that you use to connect the cars together is an important point to consider when you are shopping for trains? You might be surprised at which ones are not recommended.
There are several magazines related to the hobby and there are lots of web sites. We will let you know some of our favorites.
If you have any questions about this session or if you have any topics that you would specifically like us to cover please send us some EMail. The link is at the bottom of the page.
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Last updated March 16, 2005
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