What Tools will I need?

[Desertdweller]

It's getting close to Christmas, and, hopefully, there will be lots of newcomers to our hobby.  I was thinking it might be helpful to present a list of tools that are necessary to build and maintain a model railroad.  While this list is aimed at N-scale, most of the items will apply to other scales as well.

I'll divide this into train maintenance tools and layout building tools.

For mechanical maintenance of the trains:

Two good sets of miniature screwdrivers, one each of flat-blade and Phillips.

A medium-duty hobby knife (X-acto is a good brand), with an assortment of blades.  A good sharpening stone can extend the life of the blades.

A small needle-nose pliers and a slip-joint pliers.

Fine sandpaper, 400 grit or finer.

A Microtrains coupler gauge.  This is a little device that can be used to set coupler heights, trip pin clearance, wheel spacing, and to check track gauge.

A stainless steel scale rule.

Pointy small tweezers.

Assortment of straight pins and flat toothpicks.

An extra powerpack (like from an old trainset) and a foot or so of straight track.  A pair of lead wires for the powerpack.

A small makeup brush for dusting.

Plastic cement and/or gap filling superglue.

Lubricants:
Light plastic-compatible oil.  Light plastic compatible grease (LaBell 106 or equivalent).  WD-40 (use sparingly, never directly from spray nozzel!).

Two other items are needed in any railroad shop for railroads of any scale (including full-size):
A variable speed hand-held motor tool (Dremel or equivalent) with assortment of drills, cutters, cutoff discs, sander drums, and wire wheels.  Safety glasses!
A small bench vise.

A soldering iron is very handy.  Use rosin-core solder and have a stand for it.

Model railroad building tools:

All of the above, plus:

A good wood saw.  Doesn't need to be a power saw, a good crosscut will do.  Plywood can be cut dimensionally at the lumber yard.

A variable-speed electric drill and assortment of bits.

Flat blade and Phillips screwdrivers.

Tape measure or yardstick.

T-square.

Spirit level.

Soldering gun.

White glue (like Elmer's Glue-All).

Small wire cutters.

Small fine-toothed razor saw (X-acto or Zona).

Very handy:

C-clamps.
Multimeter.

I've probably overlooked a few things, but that should get you started.

Les