Standard Gauge Section

I am glad to see this topic re-surface. I just purchased the MTH 384 Freight set. The engine and tender run fine (the sounds are awesome!), and the cars (caboose and boxcar) run great on new MTH track, but derail on some older track. This is the first time I have had problems with MTH rolling stock. I have three other MTH 500 series that track fine on my layout. Has anybody else had this problem or does any body have some suggestions? I am going to e-mail MTH this evening about it.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

Dave - here is a link on gauge and scales

http://rail.felgall.com/scale.htm

thanks, Tom. I think your bird hangs out on your layout because there are so many colorful things for it to inspect

FJ&G;

Standard and G are not interchangeable. Standard Gauge track is 2 1/4"
between rail centers and G gauge is 1 7/8" between rail centers. The
“scale” of the rolling stock is in most cases very close and I guess you
could put ‘G’ trucks under Standard and vice versa, but that would be a
shame as you would have to tear up some nice rolling stock just to be
able to run them on different track. I have both Standard (vintage) and
G gauge trains and while the sizes in G gauge vary somewhat they are
pretty close.

cheapclassics;

Check your track condition and make sure the spaceing between rails
has not been disturbed. Often that older stuff has been played with a
bit rough. The track gauge can become "tight"and maybe you might have
to adjust the space a little. Also check the guage on the wheels on the
trucks. Again, you may just have a clearnace problem and needs a
bit of adjustment to solve your problem.

Hope this all helps.

thx, I never realized that Standard Gauge was THAT wide. Then, the Standard Gauge trains I’ve seen look a bit undersized.

I would like to see some article about Standard gauge in CTT.

I too, would like to see some basic info about Standard Gauge, along with recommendations and advice.

Dave, there is small, medium, and large standard gauge. Like comparing 027 to O. The small low budget standard gauge sets like no 8 sets were overwhelmed by the wheels and trucks. Then you had expensive large sets like state sets that shook the living room floor joists.

Just to clarify things a bit:

Track gauge is customarily determined by measuring the distance between the top inside edge of the railheads.

Standard Gauge track measures 2-1/8" between the rails.

Large Scale (aka #1 gauge and “G” gauge) track measures 45mm between the railheads, which equals 1.7716535"

So, even though the models themselves can be of similar size (and often are), there is a considerable difference in terms of the track gauges these trains operate on.

Also, Large Scale is really made up of a number of modeled scales, the most common of which are 1:20.3 (correctly modeling U.S. 3’ narrow gauge), 1:22.5 (correctly modeling European meter gauge), 1:24, 1:29, and 1:32 (correctly modeling U.S. standard gauge ). There also are a couple of less-popular scales used on the same 45mm (#1 gauge) track. Standard Gauge has no set scale for the models produced, and they range all over the place.

There have been a few SG articles in CTT (as opposed to articles about SG collections) including a good one on the 500-series Lionel Classic Era freight cars. I’m at work and don’t have my copies in front of me, but I’ll bet our Overlord can probably give us the issue date.

J.L. Cowen must be rolling in his grave:

What were those guys at MTH thinking? That’s just not right. Not right at all…

Lionel did make a pink 408 as a department store special. It is pretty rare though.

Since my last post in May, I’ve really been bitten by the MTH bug - mostly because I decided I just had to have a #444 Roundhouse Section…and then another and another!
Man, are those things BIG! Oh, and beautiful. There’s no way I could touch one of the originals. I’ve gotten two of the MTH 200 series cars (the searchlight and cattle) and have had and resold a few others on my way to acquiring the original Lionel versions.
I’ve also gotten scads of MTH lights and signals, and happily intermix them with Lionel originals - they seem to get along together just fine. Oh yes, and instead of getting a 381E, which I still covet, I became enamored of the MTH 400E (in black & brass), so I got one of those to pull my original State Cars, reproducing the “20th Century Limited” set from my 1931 catalog. Next thing I have to do? Set up a permanent layout!

I am looking for a Lionel 13303 Classics standard gauge 1-215 Sunoco Tank car to complete a set I am putting together. If anyone has one they want to sell, or knows someone who does, please let know.

Here is the address for a couple of photos of my standrad gauge layout.

http://hometown.aol.com/cwhtrains/index.html

ChesBchRy,

I finally had the time to test the car by itself. The mystery now is not why the new cars are not tracking correctly, but how the old cars even made it around ok. Due to the way the track is fastened down, there is some banking on the curves. When the back set of wheels are still touching the track, the front set is up in the air. When the weather gets a little warmer (the layout is in an unheated attic), I will experiment with some other track. Thank you for your advice.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

Cwhtrains,

That’s one heck of a nice layout and train room you have there. I’m envious! [bow]

cwhtrains
very nice!!!

Has anyone purchased the Lionel Hiawatha or Vandy SG sets? I was just curious as to quality and operation. Been hunting for one or the other for awhile on secondary market, and should have bought one when there was a flurry on eBay, that’s gone now. Anyway, I have some nice original Std. Gauge for traders for one of those sets. Would prefer the Hiawatha set. I have a pretty decent shape #384E master carton for engine and tender with individual tender box with minty tender and a nicely restored #384E to go with it (No loco ind. box though). Decent buff 402 set, etc. Always loved SG, always will. It’s just so damn big! You have to love it. There’s not enough room here, but my best antique find of all time was a room full of SG. It was nuts. I still remember standing there after the folks called me an wanted to settle the estate and looking at this room full of SG and Buddy L floor trains and thinking my wife would have a stroke when I wanted to second mortgage the house to buy it all. Two other toy dealers had low-balled them so bad (It was just outright insulting), when they shot me a price, it was still such an insane steal I just asked them if they were sure they were OK with that price and then I pulled out the checkbook. AF, IVES, Lionel SG sets all EX in the boxes, AF Shasta w/auto bell, ultra rare colored AF SG gondola’s (Blue, yes blue original, Orange, it was crazy). The old guy was into gondola’s for some reason. No State set or blue comet, but lot’s of the mid-range sets and tons of accessories too. So glad to see a forum for SG chat. As far as MTH SG, I say it’s all good depending on what you like. It’s that variety of interests that keeps hobbies alive and moving forward. I like original stuff, but those wild liveries on the MTH 400E’s are sure cool! Daylight, Green SP, crazy! I also collect antique fishing tackle just to add insult to injury. Tackle and Trains! I have been known to trade trains for tackle and vice versa. I think most of us would need to win the lottery to buy

I don’t own the Standard Gauge Hiawatha train set but I did have the opportunity to set one up and run it. (See link to article below). We found the set to be a great runner and absolutely trouble free. All of the electronics - whistle, steam sounds etc. worked right out of the box. The engine’s response to the throttle was smooth and very steady. We only had to run a single jumper wire from the transformer lockon on one side of the huge loop to the other to guarantee very even speed over the entire loop.

The article is “Standard Gauge at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens” and the link is

http://www.tcamembers.org/articles/layouts/standard/index.html

Tom,

Finding a room full of antique trains like that is something that most of us can only dream about. I can only imagine what that must have been like…

WOW!