I am starting a garden railway and am contemplating a small starter roster. It is
1.Hartland D&RGW Black 4-4-0
2.Bachmann Gold Ru***rain Set
3.LGB Stainz Passenger Train Set
4.Aristo Craft WoodBurning C-16
5. Accucraft Live Steam Ruby Kit
If anybody has any ideas or list they would like to add in this topic I would be most gratefull.
Hi there,
Just not quite sure what exactly it is you are looking for. Looks like a nice lineup to me, definately good for starters. Able to make any extra cash for all these goodies yet? This list will take a few bucks! All the best. Later eh…Brian.
I would not recommend you consider a roster at all to start, get just one loco or starter set and see whart you think of that. None of the units you are contemplating “do much” and you may not be satisfied with that after a while.
I started off with an LGB Stainz starter set and have built up a really nice little fun train. I think I started with 2 carriages and now have 5 all different colours, with a postal van on the back, what a great little fun train it is but it is very limited in what it can do. I would get the starter set you are talking about but before you do; decide if you can, if you are going to go digital. If you do, all those other engines wont be worth having, believe me.
My Deustch Rail Mallet Loco for instance, has about 6 onboard controllable function that I control remotely. Bell, whistle, smoke, headlights and internal lights, sounds of fire box opening and the coal being shovelled into it, steam valves, brakes and it goes on. It is just so powerful it can pull 4 litres of wine up a 5 % gradient and the sound can be heard next door, if I like. Having programmable accelaerating and braking is not to be sneezed at either and this can differ from loco to loco.
If you go digital the standing sounds and functions are incredible, all digitally recorded and very lifelike and as you have 20 V AC across all of your track all the time, everything doesn’t die when you turn the throtle back, You can operate points (switches) using the same controller; programme your points to operate in sequence, put two engines into a double header situation (for or against) and just so much more I just can’t tell you here.
So buy one thing and consider your position and if you make any decision let it cool for 3 months, so that you may not be sorry if you change your mind, I can speak from bitter experience.
Experience it before you waste your hard earned cash mate.
Rgrs; Ian Kawana etc
Hi Locomotive 10,
That’s some list you have there and a kettle on wheels as well! Have a good long think about it before you part with the readies, money is hard to save and easy to spend. There are plenty of great starter sets out there or you can make your own up from a variety of makes at a reasonable price, the main thing is to get some track down and a train running. The rest will follow on from there at its own pace.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]
Oy Mates
Thanks for all your advice I have also chosen a smaller starting roster mates and 'ere it is (I am American, But love speaking Austraillian and Briti***hats the languages I prefer)
I have realized that Ian has alot of things in common with me for instance his first g-scale train was an LGB Stainz Set and so will mine.
I have thought hard and eliminated alot of things from my list of choices.
That was a BIG list (COUGH49CHOICESCOUGH) I have read reveiws and asked people who owned these how good they were, they all said they loved them and did not regret their purchase. Thanks Ian Mate[:D][:D][:D]
I will still take suggestions of what to do and any add-ons.
I like American British and European trains. Fell free to speak up.
I prefer American frontier and modern American steam, to European versions (no offense). European trains, with their small coaches, two wheeled trucks and little bumpers have always seems more like being out of the realm of “fantasy” to me. I guess it is that “Old World” flavor.
I have more of a preference for Large American steam, 4 wheeled trucks really industrial looking things. The image of an American 4-4-0 or Mogul 4-6-0, or even a Prairie 2-6-2, pulling a mixed consist through the desert, or mountains or into a frontier hamlet recalled more nostalgia than the Orient Express pulling into Istanbul.
Please, don’t hate me for this.
Believe me Capt Carrales,having any sort of rail system that works in this country is a fantasy!
Capt. [;)][;)]
Hmmmmmmmmm. What an interesting comment about European trains. “Fantasy” you said?
Quaint (sounds better than fantasy) is what you find in the SouthWest including CO,NM etc.
You want modern, state of the art equipment; most people look at Europe or Japan.
BTW I happen to model one of those “quaint” railroads, yep it’s narrow gauge, but other than that it gives the NE corridor a run for its money in passenger train frequency on any day. And we’re not even talking standard gauge yet.
Don’t get me wrong; I like those quaint Colorado, New Mexiko NG lines but the last time they were state of the art was approx. 1910.
Did you know that RhB had AC chopper technology when the NA guys were still mulling “Hmm that might be a good idea”?
As I said, some fantasy and quaint!
Joe,
What can i say; well I wont, I will send direct to your email address a photo of a Loco that has already pulled an American Mikado right down the line. Its not that its more powerful, it just has a better grip on things with 0-6-6-0 configuration. Each sets of six wheels is on an independent articulated bogey, each driven by a big motor. The coaches that go with it are luxurious to say the least; 600 mm long with two 4 wheel articulated bogeys and they are from the same stable as “The Orient Express”. The whole thing is designed for luxurious mountain work with tight cuurves (in our minature world LGB. R1) and steep grades; intially designed for a traction engine. I think you have all heard about my Deutsch Rail Mallet - ad nauseum but it will pull 4 litres of wine up a 5 % gradient with ease. Believe me it is no 4 wheel wonder. Have you seen a photo of my reversing loop, impossible for most decent sized trains of any persuaion but this big train goes through there without a hitch all the time and a few times in reverse even.
So size and power are important but so is pulling power and the ability to take tight curves. If you have a look at an LGB patented bogey you will see that untill you have something of this ilk you just can’t take tight curves and / or steep grades.
Rgs
Your Aussie mate Ian.
Captain,
I leap to your defence! To me nothing looks finer than an old steamer rattling along with a short consist in a mountain area. I have a VHS on the old Rio Grande and some of the camera work there is fantastic. The operating is totally different to what we brits are used to. One shot shows a mike pulling one caboose towards a freight on a loop. The guy in the caboose unhitches it whilst the engine accelerates away, at the first switch a guy jumps from the engine & turns the switch to let the caboose run up to the back of the freight whilst the engine runs to the front and backs onto the freight. The back switch is turned back to main line & the train is away in minutes. In this country? In your dreams! With our rules that would have taken for ever.
Still, each to their own!
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]
Kim,
I too love North Am. stuff. Even early diesels. Yesterday I was in my truck and paused to do some paper work. Peripheral vision caught sight of switch work going on. BNSF has a GP9 high nose all dressed up in modern paint(orange&green) like the one shown on Marty’s thread “Sharing with those who have…not”. Anyhow the sound of that diesel revving up and then a moment or two later starting to move…get’s my blood pumping!!! Sat there for a few minutes and watched a string being sent rolling into a siding. Then the whine of the dynamic brake with pop off valves in the backround. What a sight! Steam??? Don’t get me started! Later eh…Brian.
[tup] [tup]
Nice one Brian. At work i’m a desk jockey but I can see the west coast main line through the window. Majority of the traffic is local work - dmu’s & boring. Express runs are done by Virgin - seen one you’ve seen them all. The most interesting one is a very short train of 2 loco’s - push & pull - and 2 to 3 wagons, this is the nuclear waste train on its way to Sellafield on the west coast. I suspect they do dummy runs so you never know when it’s the real thing.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]
Nicholas
I have tried to send you several emails but your address is no good, have you a problem with it. They are saying it is permanently disabled.
Guys you haven’t heard much from me for a while, mothers day and my computer has a problem, will catch up with you all soon.
Ian
PS I didn’t get a bloody thing for mothers day usual.
Ian, Catch up quickly mate. You’re missed on the forum.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]
Dear Ian
I have worked out the problem and the e-mail address is restored.
Captain, I agree with you, recently, forign stuff has worn off and it does when I see the equippment, remind me of fake german villiage in the mountains. I do not hate you for you are the one that inspired me to go after american prototypes and I have enjoyed that more than the euro stuff (I sold all of it to some sucker in england who paid me more than they are worth). American stuff is cheaper so I love it now as I am an American. Europe has been tossed out the door for good on my railway. NARROW GAUGE ALL THE WAY.
Nicholas Parker
Kim mate I am only allowed to go on the forum every 3 days, i’m holding up my telephone line (somehting hjas gone wrong with our line). Also things aren’t going so well with my railway I have had a major dispute with my LGB supplier. Also i’m doing a lot of creative thinking with my new area 3 section. I thing Greypower is going to put them up for me.
Rgs Ian
Nicholas what happened to you? I thought you had run away from home but at your age it wouldn’t be for long as no one else could afford to feed you. welcome back!
Rgs Ian
iandor
Thak you
We have decided to build the railway that was featured in Sidestreet Bannerwork’s How to buil a Garden Railway via friend Marc Horovitz .
However, I am still at the delimma of choosing a train set to start me off. I would like it to be Bachmann. So what do you suggest
Nicholas Parker
Hi Nicholas
Sounds to me like you need to pick a theme for your railway first.
By the choice of trains on your list some fictional colonial place up the Uupsadasy river
that would mean repainting everything as you go.
Having a theme will make it easy to say yes or no to a given choice.
Thats my thoughts
I really think you should choose one set as a starter
nothing wrong with a steam choice
but just choose one to start and build from that
regards John