"Modelling Railway Lines for a WW2 Battlefield" Topic

I game in 20mm for WW2 engagements. I have now come to the stage that I need to include railway lines in my terrain. I do not need much, but I wonder which model sources are best and what the best approach is?

My initial thought is to build terrain tiles in the same way I do for roads and rivers. Would that work? And if so, what is the best source for the actual tracks themselves? 'Ordinary' model railway lines or something 'wargame specialist'?

Grateful for any advice.

I use 15mm rail lines. Either the Flames of War ones or the ones from Battlefield Terrain Concepts.

Artilleryman, would you need a train on this too?

Good point Royston. Probably yes either for a scenario or scene dressing.

I would probably use 15mm as well in order to help keep down scale distortion. If you want full size, you can buy used HO track on ebay or at train shows for almost nothing.

I picked up some old sections of N Gauge track from a bring and buy, about 10 feet of rail. I chopped it up into various lengths and just lay it out over the underlying terrain.

So, you have two options.

First you go with ho/oo to scale in with figures

Or you go with 15mm (TT?) to scale in with the footprint.

Which would annoy you least?

Ooooh! Decisions, decisions. Another good point I will have to think about.

In the US, I would go with HO scale model railroading stuff. In the UK, OO may be easier to find, but both scales generally use the same track anyway (unless you go with one of the specialty scale-accurate gauges).

Even though both are slightly underscale (1/87 or 1/76), the rails will look fine (real life rails were in multiple gauges anyway), and the trains will still be a bit on the large side for gaming. I use N gauge (1/160 scale) for 15mm and 1/144 scale gaming, and still have to make comically short trains to make them playable.

Click-together track with roadbed is the kind of easy modular solution wargamers dream about. It's pluggable, stackable, pre-painted, and portable. If you think it looks too plasticy and toy-like out of the box, it's not hard to weather it and add plants. If you shop within the same brand, you may be able to find bridges you want that also just plug right in.

If you don't want or can't use the roadbed, it's even easier to just get flex track, and that also has the advantage of accepting arbitrary bends anyplace you want them. You might have to tack it down to hold tight bends – the track pieces have some memory, and the minimum curve is for modeling, not wargaming.

If you decide to put trains on your rails, model railroading rolling stock is lighter and cheaper than cast lead wargaming pieces, plus it fits the track perfectly. It also rolls, which is nice if the train moves during the game. It can be hard and/or expensive to find the exact WWII engines and cars you want in model railroading pieces, so if you're picky about having accurate trains, that may push you toward wargaming miniatures. If you do that, chances are you'll also have to buy the track from them, so they fit.

- Ix

You have another option. There are more and more 3D sculptors making rail and trains specifically for wargamers. And as they are a 3D file you can properly scale it to whatever is your favorite game scale.

3D printing could be a good solution for rolling stock, especially for specific engines/cars. However, I would recommend using 3D printing only for the rolling stock, and not for the tracks. Here's why:

• Every tie needs paint that contrasts with the roadbed underneath.
  
• The roadbed needs glue between every tie to make the ballast stick.
  
• The rails need to be rusty on the sides and shiny steel on the top.

If you buy model railroading tracks, the rails are already bright metal and the ties are already some black/brown base color. If either is too plain, it's easy to use drybrushing and/or washes to make them look more weathered.

If you get the track with the gravel roadbed integrated, you can get it in a gravel color (if you shop around) so you don't have to apply sand (scale gravel); if you don't, you have to get glue into those tiny little spaces between every single tie, on both sides of the rails, and in between, so the sand will stick. If you slop glue onto ties or rails (easy to do), the sand sticks to them, which looks awful and might interfere with the train wheels.

- Ix

That is a lot of information and good advice. Lots to chew on. Thanks everybody.