Dale Kraus

The layout open house season is approaching. I truly hope that those of you who have never had your pike open for visitors will consider doing so, as it is always enjoyable to see what someone else is doing in this most diverse of hobbies. With that in mind, here are a few tips for the first-timer, in no particular order, which the “old veterans” can follow too. They are all taken from my experiences as both a visitor and a host.

  1. Clean the track! Then clean it again. This avoids having to make excuses for the dirt.
  2. Select your best running locos, and use only the best 2 or 3 of those. Make sure the wheels are cleaned and the engine is lubricated.
  3. Run only your best, derailment-free cars. Clean the wheels of these cars. If there are any binds or misaligned couplers, park that car in the yard.
  4. Make up the trains you will run from these selected locos and cars.  Run each train completely around the pike 3 or 4 times. If anything derails, remove it.
  5. If you have any troublesome sidings or spurs avoid using them. If you cannot avoid their use FIX IT.
  6. Clean up the layout. Remove any distractions like pliers, screwdrivers and bright boys.
  7. If you have any bare spots simply cover then with dirt, grass and small bushes. If you have unfinished sections, that’s OK.
  8. Clean up the layout room and hide any construction materials.
  9. Make sure all locos and rolling stock on the layout are completely on the track. (Looks better that way.)

It’s always good to get a second set of eyes. Invite a buddy over and have him or her take a look. It’s amazing what might be found. I once left a water tower smack dab in the middle of a turntable pit. Interesting, but not very prototypical.

If you are going to have a buddy help you run the railroad, get together a day or two beforehand and run the trains you have selected. Agree on where the trains will meet. In this era of DCC it’s really easy to have cornfield meets. These are interesting and prototypical… but embarrassing. Back in the Seattle NMRA national, a friend and I were running trains and yakking with the visitors when one of the guests remarked, “I don’t think you really planned that.”  There on the grade, which neither of us could see well, were two steam locos, nose to nose and grinding away.

Remember: You’re among friends. If a gremlin pops up, we’ll understand.