Intermodal in the Garden

Hi Gang,

I picked out my loco. But it’s a very modern loco. I’ve been searching for information on g scale intermodal. Not been overly succesful so far. Any suggestions.

Steve

USA Trains sells intermodel container cars, but as to operation I would look at whats done in HO and use that as a guide for G. As for actual operation like loading and unloading, your in the realm of scratchbuilding the loaders, I’m not aware of anything being made for that.

Which engine did you decide on? an Aristo DASH-9? just curious.

One look at this and I fell in hot railfan love. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to get into LS until, one look at this at the LHS and my mind was made up.

Steve
My first Large scale engine sat on my desk for a month or so till i bought track for it. Its been up hill ever since.

Steve , you’ll like the Dash-9 . Its a real beauty and it runs real good too . The doublestack cars are equally cool . They have a lot of delacate parts on them but will go with your modern choice rather nicely.

Hi Steve,
I love BNSF in those colours. Intermodal freight looks awesome when you get it out and running. You will want to make sure your curves are at least the 8’ diameter for those long cars. Have fun! Great choice for the loco too! Later eh…Brian.

Hi SKMoss
This new fangled stuff is not my cup of tea but there is a variety of single and double stack containers cars avalable.
I am sure Ihave seen an advert for G road railers some where can anyone conferm that one?
Modern box cars and a variety of other modern freight cars are avalable so you should not have trouble assembeling a modern freight train to go with the locomotive
Two would be better you don’t see many single locomotive trains now its mostly long haul multi locomotive single comoditie trains in fact the shortest train I have seen was one locomotive one fuel tanker with the same paint job as the locomotive. one crew car, one con flat and a few road railers
regards John

John,

Thanks for the reply. It’s odd how the mind works. In NScale I lived and breathed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Consolidations, Shays, etc. For some reason, I don’t get the same heart tug from the LS steam. It’s going to be an odd looking layout though. I’m planning on one modern rail yard, and then the rest a old 1900s vintage buildings. I guess the story would be the train is passing some of California’s ghost towns.

Brian,

My first trip to one of my none to local LHS and I got stopped by a freight train rolling by. (Probably the only one in the traffic that thought “Ya baby look at her go” as opposed to “oh crud”) The lead loco was the one pictured above.

Blue,

Thanks for the pic. Now i know i can go that direction with confidence.

Marty,

Soon as the budget allows, I’ll prolly pick it up. I’m not sure how long, but it will decorate my desk soon.

By the way. I run across pictures from your layout all over the place. As I’m sure you have heard a half million times before, “Nice work. You’ve got some serious talent there”

Thanks all for the replies.

Hi SKMoss
My reasoning is even simpeler
I like trains but do not want to see the ones I see all day at work at home.
I have always had a soft spot for steam, but would have liked to see some more of the real early diesle locos than are avalable on the current market but canot say I see box cabs as being a very marketable proposision
not the most atractive things to look at especialy if they are black.
regards John

John,

Model Rail facinates me.

I’m not a rail fan. Not really. During the normal course of the day, I don’t see trains at all. If I have to run up to the corporate office, or when my kid is in a baseball tournament, then I see a few. If I see a toursit rail, I love to get on and ride, but don’t really go out of the way to do so. My favorite is the Sugar Pine, a 3 truck Shay up in (near) Yosemite CA.

I’m also not into the operations of a rail way. I love to see and hear them run. But the idea of an operating session, just makes me cringe. (No offense meant to anyone. I know it’s a large part of the hobby)

I had tried to do scratch building on the nscale, but it’s just too small for my hands or eyes. (nothing wrong with my hands, just never been very dextrous. Eyes are just getting old.) Mostly I just like the process.

I’m starting to ramble here. Not a good thing.

Hi SKMoss
I actualy work for the railways. so my life is governed by the rythem of the rails.
It is totaly amazing how many railway people also have model or toy trains.
I don’t mind opperating sessions as long as rhey are relaxed sequence time table jobs bring out the fast clock and its time for me to go home.
I have tried OO N but am happiest now i have discovered garden trains
phew! back on topic just[:D]
I am not much good at scratch building but keep trying and chose what i did as a theme so I would have to sooner or later.
Any luck on finding road railers my personal opinon is they are your best bet as the train can be as long or short as you like and will look interesting in comparison to the traditional type rollingstock.
regards John

Working for the rail, would be a major life time goal for a lot of folks I know. May I ask what you do?

So far, so good. Of course at the cost of the things, I may end up with a bunch of emptys running around for a while. The cost of rolling stock and rail seem to have put me into the biggest sticker shock. I was ready to some extent for rail to be 3X the cost as nScale. But I wasn’t ready for RS to run 5-10X the cost. I see why, the level of detail is so much better. Not complaining, just as I said, wasn’t prepaired for it.

Hey was that Acela Express involved in that much publicised level crossing smash?

Rgds ian

Hi SKMoss
I am a signal maintainer.
I see you have had the first shock to the system the prices.
But believe me you will get over it and find ways of geting the railroad you want.
just takes a bit of ingenuaty some times Hmm wonder how much I have in the railway piggy bank now.
regards John

John,

I’ll get over the prices. Actually, I think it’s a good way to force me to slow down some. My thought on holding down the cost is to scratch build. I don’t expect any cost savings by scratch building. However, instead of wanting to buy 3-4 items at once, if it takes me a month to get a scratch buld done, then I’m spreading the cost out to some extent.

I spent a little time in Australia. Out in Perth & Freemantle. Is that WA? It’s been a long long time and I was either working, or downing some local brew or another, so I don’t remember much. Did get to play golf on one of the half million or so golf courses in Perth. Love the city. Really loved the Aussie girls.