Owner of USA trains sold me a GP30 last night

Garden Railroading
1

I went to Charles Ro Trains in Malden Ma. last night and met Mr. Charles Ro and found out that he owns USA Trains. He sold me a USA GP30 and gave me an awesome deal on a sound car.

Now I’ve got my first locomotive, a sound car, coal car, and refigerator car and some track.

Now I need a power source and controls.

I don’t have a layout built yet but I want a decent sized layout. I’m just getting started.

Bridgewerks 15 amp transformer was recommended to me but I’m not sure of what that consists of. My wife made me leave the store before I’d gotten anwsers to my million questions.

Would the bridgewerks 15 amp have everything I would need to run the train or are other components needed?

What is neccesary to go with battery power? what must be done to the locomotives?

I’m new to garden railroading so the power supply and contolers are still a mystery to me. Could someone recommend power and controller components so I can get information and prices. I’m trying to decide between AC or DC.

Also one more question, can a train set up for battery power run on track power as well? If I set up the train as a display for 8 hours continus use iId need it to be track powered.

What are the best options without spending a fortune.

Bridgewerks 15 amp was $310. I can’t spend much more than that right now.

What about remote control? Is that way to expensive or is there an affordable combination?

One more thing, I live in New Hampshire, does the cold weather effect the batteries?

P.S. Thank You Mr. Charles Ro for giving me a great deal, and not making me ask the wife for more money!!!

Paul2

2

Nice purchase! I met Charles Ro this summer. A fine fellow.

Bridgewerks is mighty nice power supply. For that price, you could probably get set up with RCS and batteries if you like. Batteries are a little less efficient in the cold, but you’ll probably not notice the difference. RCS and batteries were recently used at the North Pole.

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The Bridgewerks is all you will need probably for the life of your railroad. It will power your locos, your cars, switches, every thing you need, and if int the future it will power a DCC system if you chose. One of the most important investment in your railroad is the power supply, and Bridgewerks with is 5 year warranty is one of the best out there.
PS look at the ads in Garden Railways, there are some better prices out there

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I’ve decided to start with a Bridgewerks 15 amp. I can always change things as I learn more about the hobby of garden railroading. It seems I could always find a use for a good power source even if I go to batteries some day. I’m already addicted.

I’m a landscape designer and builder of high end projects and I specialize in Ponds and Waterfalls. I have this “vision” of a train going around pond across a bridge, through a tunnel… and someday soon I’ll build it.

If your bored and want to see pictures of my ponds check out my photo ablums on my photo site. Imagine a train going across a train bridge instead of the foot bridge of Doc’s waterfalls.

http://paulgifford.photosite.com

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Woa! Beautiful place.

You can’t go wrong with a good power supply like that.

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Charles Ro supply is closed on Sunday or I’d be on my way right now!

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Paul2,

What part if New Hampshire do you live? There is a large Garden Railway club in New Hampshire that meets in Manchester NH. They can be a good source of information for the beginer and non-beginner. Their web site is:
http://www.nhgrs.com/
There is a show Nov 6th in Bedford NH they should be at, if I read their schedule correctly.

Jaime

8

Nice loco to start with.

That Bridgeworks will a be all you will ever need powerwise…

Judging from your landscale work this will eventually be quite the memorable layout! Good Luck![:D]