Have you ever used a battery operated g scale toy train in your garden railway?
Example:
Those battery radio control toy train sets made by scientific toys ltd. OR
New bright trains.
Etc…
WHICH battery operated g scale toy train have you used in your garden railway?
Example: Those battery radio control toy train sets made by scientific toys ltd. OR New bright trains. Etc…
Most of these train sets are can be found at KBtoys or Toysrus stores.
Currently Scientific toys ltd. train sets are available.
I got a “Coastal Express” as a gift from a well meaning relative. I took it out to the temporary layout I had set up outdoors, put it together and let it run, When it ran , the mechanism itself sounded like a garbage disposal with a knife stuck in it. I’ve heard metal grinding tools that were more melodic. The “real train sound” was incredibly annoying, and I couldnt turn it off, I cut the speaker wire the first day. On top of that the damn thing keep derailing every time it rolled over a switch frog and a couple of times it just rolled right over a curve and kept rolling into the shrubbery! I had to remove the lead wheel to get it to even roll right.
I thought I of using the loco to haul a track cleaning car around the planned layout but since the batteries were located in the tender, the tender weighed MORE than the engine, it didnt have enough traction power to effecivly pull my aristo/bright-pad equipped caboose around the flat loop. So eventually the loco got blown to pieces as scrap parts.
I still have the three cars, that were more european in appearance, that I switched couplers and one I switched trucks. I will eventually switch trucks on all of them, and try to make them look a little better than their cast plastic handrails currently make them look. If I ever get another of these sets again, I will immediatly scrap the engine, and keep but convert all the cars to something less european.
I also picked up a battery LGB loco from the bargain scrapheap, I put batteries in it put it on the track and it took off like a slot car around the track, way too fast. Eventually It got completely rebuilt with an aristo powered truck into a mine tram loco. It also was pure crap before I rebuilt it.
So BUYER BEWARE with these, they are not like track powered trains, they dont run like them, so keep that in mind when you see them in KB toys for $20 after christmas. Do yourself a favor, instead drive to every Orchard Sup
I expect to run battery operated trains along with live steam on my garden railroad. Large experience with battery operated R/Ckits, will convert higher quality stuff, not inherent “JUNK”. Being an expert scavenger, I’ll be looking forward to spring yard sales for the stuff that shows up at them, conversion of “JUNK” is an art form… Remember, you do get what you pay for, in either time or money…
Well, I actually have a Greatland Express battery operated train with its boxcar and cboose and it is what got me interested in G scale in the first place. My parents got it for me because I liked Thomas the Tank engine as a little kid and I loved that train so much all the track got broken and the engine’s detail parts are practically non existent because of so much use. In fact, sitting on the living room floor and watching it run around the christmas tree is my happiest memory. I did try running it on my outdoor track after the plastic track was too broken to work anymore and I got it to work once. Like vsmith, the 6 C batteries in the tender weighed so much more than teh engine, that it could not grip the rails to pull the tender without the tight curves of the plastic track. I still love the engine, and it is confined to use at christmas around the tree.
Teran, don’t lose the engine, in 30 years you’ll know why. No doubt about it, there is lots of crapola out there , some of that stuff really gives a hobby like Model Trains a bad name from the misunderstanding public. Some of it is almost wasteful of time trying to convert into anything useful. But ya never know, there’s diamonds to be found among the rust… (Sorry Joan B.)
Teran, load that piece of worthless plastic onto a catapult and fire the thing into the San Francisco Bay!
Check ebay and you’ll se that those New Bright items are virtually worthless. The only way they will ever be valuable is if you seal it underground for a thousand years and have it dug by the apes the Chuck Heston will run into one day…
Gotta go, The Adventures of Mr Bean just started on the tube…
I love the train because it was my absolute favorite toy as a child and don’t think I could bring myself to junk it, but I agree that most of the plastic trains give teh hobby a poor look. They are, however, great to get little kids interested in trains because the kids don’t care about all the stuff we think about like details and realism, they only care that it goes choo-choo in a circle.
I had been considering the possible idea of battery power since I have no intention of worrying about joint conductivity integrity for my steamers but it sounds like the issue here really is,—Can you get a high quality battery powered loco that actually works well.
I’ll let you guys argue this one out and sit back and learn. I may give up the idea entirely.
It’s a cinch nobody can run a sparkie on my layout but I had thought a battery system might be nice someday, just for the heck of it.
I like the catapult idea… My use of battery power would be limited to a decent LGB, Bachman or other “quality” engine converted from track power to either nicad, nickel hydride or gell cell power. The batteries and control unit, (R/C rx and speed control) would be pulled behind the engine. ) A box car or other could be used for this.
The Question did have the word “toy” in it. I love batt/RC garden trains all the way , they are simplest and easiest way to go when using scale model outdoor trains[;)].
The main object of this topic is “battery operated toy trains” like New Bright or Scientific. and again they really are pretty bad items.
Using quality battery systems to power quality locos like LGB or Bachmann is not the point, those systems are well proven and work great. Its these cheesy, guady, crappy, piles of junk that are part of the reason “large scale” has the “plastic in the petunias” reputation. People see these in the discount toy stores and it colors there viewpoint about garden railroading and model trains in general, “Why should I buy that $150 Bachmann set when I can get this New Bright trainset at KB toys for $40? Aren’t they both the same thing?” Thats what worries me. They are here to stay, we cant get rid of them, and they will continue to have a negative overall effect on large scale trains.
I absolutely see your point, I have in the past tried to explain this sort of thing to custumers at a hobby shop I worked at. Very agrivating at times (so is my spelling…) Some times you just can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. I still like the catapult idea.
Basically correct. My contention is the “conversion” of high quality track powered loco’s to battery power. As far as off the shelf, packaged sets, I have not seen them…
