Hey garden guys!! I am getting started in garden trains, if you could not guess that from the title. I am currently modeling in HO mainly NS. I am trying to get a grip on what is out there for G scale. I have found that I dont like the engines that have the coupler attached to the truck, they look too toyish for me. I want a quality train with body mounted couplers, Diesel era modern locos like SD40-2s or Dash 9s. BNSF, CSX, NS roadnames are my preference. What are the advantages/disadvantages of battery power or rail power. I like intermodal trains is there any rolling stock for this. so I guess my questions are this.
Who makes quality non toy like (body mounted couplers) modern diesel.
Power advantages/disadvantages.
and is there intermodal rolling stock and where can I get it.
In the garden, truck mounted couplers help us get around the “smaller” curves. One you start using body mounted couplers you start limiting the size of the curves you can negotiate. I have only one car that came with body mounted couplers, (actually it came with the needed parts and instructions to mount either on the trucks or body) and it failed to make it around my 9 ½ foot curves. After moving them to the trucks, it covers the layout quite well.
In the garden, sometimes realism is given up for functionality. If you are a fuss budget about “true to scale”, get out of the garden now. “True to scale” was the first thing lost when trains moved to the garden.
There are quite a few guys out there modeling modern freight operations. AristoCraft (http://www.aristocraft.com/) and USA Trains (http://www.usatrains.com/) both make very detailed modern diesels and freight cars in 1:29 scale. Most are being made with mounting pads for body mount Kadee couplers. AristoCraft has a searchable forum (http://www.aristocraft.com/vbulletinforums/index.php) where many questions can be answered.
My take on track versus battery power (I have both) -
Advantages of track power - Cheaper to get started, better for long run sessions (especially if you’re running long multi unit lash ups), and systems like the Aristo TE (Train Engineer) enable track power via RC (radio control)
Disadvantages - track cleaning and power continuity between sections of track (alleviated by use of rail clamps, etc.)
Advantages of battery/RC - no track cleaning, can use cheaper aluminum track, better for operating sessions
Disadvantages - Its expensive initially and you’ll need lots of big batteries for lots of big dismals
Thanks for the links guys. I will defidently look more into the G stuff before buying. I dont mind so much having the couplers truck mounted on the rolling stock but the locos I have seen at shows in my area just dont look right.
They were most likely LGB (or maybe Marklin 1:32 stuff). The reason for that design is that all LGB locos are designed to run on 2 foot radius curves. They had to make quite a few engineering compromises in design to accomplish that and lend to giving it a toylike quality. Aristo and USA locos have body mount couplers and require larger curves (4 foot minimum radius for the larger dismals). My Aristo E-8 is anything but toylike.
Yo! Dude! Tom! Why’d you give away the deep secret of scale so early? Or, where were such trenchant comments when I was more innocent? (Sounds better’n ‘ignorant’.) [:P]
