[MilitaryMike0023]

hello, my name is Mike and i love trains, i started when i was very young with wooden railways then moved to HO then O guage and over the years i have sold everything as a loss of intrest, no space and no time ... now as i am married and out of my teenage years and have my own house i want to start with G scale and make my backyard a beatiful layout, the wife is all for it too so i have great support there, i guess as long as she can plant her flowers and plans and all that womanly stuff haha ... i am a soldier in the US army and am in iraq but after my 15 months i will be coming home and thank god thats in 2 months for me! ... i am from NY/NJ but am stationed in Hawaii for another year or so then who knows but i dont miind building up and tearing down a layout in the yard, im still young and eager, i have many hobbies and this 1 has always lurked in the back of my mind and now with support id love to make it a reality ... yes i have 0 knolage on garden/ outdoor railways and i have no idea where to start but i am willing to start right now all i need it some help and to be guided in the right direction, i guess you can say im the N00B of N00Bs ha ... well thats my small bio and im very happy to have found this forum and look forward to many years of activity here


---michael

 

[Dwight Ennis]

Welcome aboard Michael, and a sincere "thank you" for your service to our country! Please pass that "thank you" along for me to all with whom you are serving.

 

[markoles]

Mike,

Ditto Dwight's comments. Thanks for all you guys are doing.

As for the large scale trains, this is about as good a place to find out everything, good and bad!! I'm on the younger side of this hobby, like you, even at 31!! I've seen a couple guys posting from Hawaii, too so you might have a couple guys out there who can help. My sister and her husband are about to relocate to Pearl Harbor. He's in the Navy and will be an officer on one of the fleet out there.

Good luck and welcome to MLS!

Mark

 

[jimtyp]

Welcome to MLS Michael!

I appreciate your efforts and hope for your safe return!

I might suggest starting with what type of locomotives you like (steam, diesel, ...). And is there a particular era (early 1900s, modern, ...)? Is there a particular railroad you like (Rio Grande, East Broad Top, Pennsylvania RR, New York Central, Santa Fe, ...)? Any particular industries you would like to model (logging, mining, coal, farming, passenger, ...)?

Until you get back home it may be difficult to put a layout plan in place as you may not know what size yard/garden you'll have, but you can always get started by laying some track and running trains

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Welcome aboard Michael, from an old Veteran. Thank you for your service and stay safe!

 

[Torby]

Pleased to meet you!

And thank you.

Garden railroading is a great husband/wife/kids activity. Wives often get into plantings, buildings and other decorations for the trains. I was at a get-together last spring and saw...

..get this..

... the wives sitting around the table pouring over train magazines. Something you never see in other scales!

 

[Bill Swindell]

Michael, Please take care of your self. We look forward to you making it safely home and getting to build your dream garden railroad.

 

[Jeff Livingston]

Michael,

Thanks for supporting your country and our freedoms. When you get back to Schofield or Shafter there are a small number of us here that play with and model LS trains. We'd love to have you join in the fun. Let us know here on MLS when you get home and have a little time to readjust and I'll contact you and let you know when and where we'll be getting together. Or see Dave at Sandy Fleming's (in the phone book under hobby shops) and ask him to get ahold of me. We look forward to meeting you following your safe return.

Jeff Livingston
Kaneohe, Hawaii

 

[MilitaryMike0023]

thank you all so much!! i am on HMR but live so very close to wheeler and schofield .... so what im into ... i am into trains from the 30's to early 50's like when locamotives went out ... but i am not too fond of the western style .. so after that .... i love WWII so that wud be my key era on the layout ... the RR names well that doesnt matter too me ... you can mix and match names right? they all dont have to be like conrail or NJ trasit ( just to use those names as example) ... i like both construction and passanger styles too ... i have questions but i dont want to fill them all here so here are a few ... what are the best rails to use out doors and is remote control how you work outside railways and not track power?

 

[Torby]

hehe

Already a convert to the dark side!

I mount an Aristo TE receiver in the tender with a big rechargable battery:

I modify the coal load to lift up so I can change the battery. This big battery will run my mallet 2 to 3 hours on a charge. Two batteries and a charger will keep me going all day.

 

[Jeff Livingston]

Mike,

The largest known outdoor railroad in Hawaii is in Wahiawa and we gather there often. Not big like mainland outdoor railroads and a little crowded but we have a lot of good times. Most of us model narrow gauge "Hawaiian Style" and others, but standard gauge is well represented also. We use both track and battery power/radio control. As to the best track to use I'll leave that to some others. Oahu had a huge narrow gauge miliraty railroad system. Schofield had an extensive 3 foot system which included Wheeler and at one time prior to the 30's operated a 60 cm trench railroad also. There was military trackage at Shafter, Pearl Harbor, Fort Weaver, Fort Barrette, Fort Kamehameha, Lualualei, Hickam, West Loch and other locations. All were connected by the OR&L and no military train could operate over OR&L track unless and OR&L conductor was onboard. The Navy operated the railroad at Lualualie until 1973 and some of the equipment has been preserved along with some Army equipment at the Hawaiian Railway Society at Ewa.

Jeff Livingston
Kaneohe, Hawaii

 

[jimtyp]

Mike,

Yes you can mix and match all you want. After all it is your railroad i think of it as if I were running a railroad what would I do. I'd buy rolling stock from other lines, or I might even haul their rolling stock for a fee. And yes, on real lines I see a mixed bag all the time.

As far as rails go, for outside the only thing I would say for sure is to not use Bachmann as it is not rated for outdoors, I believe all other brands are. All G scale track is 45mm from rail-to-rail. But then there are differences in rail code (how heavy the rail is); the most common are 332, 250 and 215. And material varies (brass, stainless steel, nickle silver, aluminum). Check out the pros/cons of each. I'd say most use 332 brass outdoors, but all rail codes and materials are used outdoors. 332 is stronger but 250 might look more realistic, so depends on what you like. Brass is generally cheaper but stainless steel may need less cleaning. Aluminum might be nice if you are considering battery power or live steam. I have a mix of 332 and 250 code brass track. Look through the Track forum for topics on track.

Another thing to consider is scale and gauge. Although all track is 45mm locomotives and rolling stock differ in gauge and scale. Standard gauge was run on wider rails, like for mainline operations. Narrow gauge was used in rougher terrain or smaller lines. Models are built in different scales, 1:32 and 1:29 are the most common for Standard gauge models. For Narrow gauge 1:20.3 is the most common scale. I primarily have Western style Narrow Gauge locomotives and rolling stock in 1:20.3. But I also have a 1:29 Standard gauge loco. Some folks mix and match gauges/scales, and some stick with a single gauge and or scale to be consistent.

As far as remote control goes and power. There are lots of options. DC would be standard track power, DCC would be advanced track power. Battery would not need any track power, nor live steam. They all have pros/cons. Are you leaning one way or the other? Look through the Live Steam, Traditional Power, DCC and Battery forums for a discussion on the pros/cons of each. Once you decide on that then remote control can be considered. All of these have remove control, but they use different setups. Or you can get one of each But it could get expensive.

 

[MilitaryMike0023]

well i was reading i want to go with the stainless steel track from aristo craft but whats the next best thing ? i want to do radio control ... lets say i bought the arist craft mallet 2882 ... what wud i need after i bought some track to make it work via remote control ... i say that engine cause i saw it and fell in love with it!

 

[jimtyp]

Ah she's a beaut alright. I believe the Aristocraft Train Engineer would be a good, low cost option for remote control. But I have neither an Aristo loco nor the TE so hopefully someone with knowledge will jump in. If not post a separate topic in the Traditional Power forum.

I know those that are very happy with Aristo Stainless steel. I have Aristo Brass, I'd say that is probably the next best thing. Another option more folks are going with is flex track and shaping the curves the way they want. You might check into that. The only issue is you may need a rail bender. AMS and a couple others make G scale flex track. I have a small section of AMS flex track and am very pleased with it. But I would recommend a rail bender for use. Even though you can bend by hand I found the curves were not as smooth as a rail bender can do. But you could try bending one by hand (or belly first and see if works for you.

 

[Jerry Barnes]

Welcome Mike, from an old vet. Proud you are serving your country PLUS being into G scale trains. For a quick layout, some guys have been using rolled roofing, cheap to buy. Cut it and lay it down, easy to pull up when you leave. Jerry

 

[John J]

WELCOME TO MLS
FROM: THE NEW RIVER AND WESTERN RR.
NEW RIVER AZ.

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Yes, Michael. Welcome to MLS and thank you from another vet. Peace time..... Calm in between the storms.... Stay safe and get back to the US so you can start runnin' trains..

Yes, the dark side is a nice place to be.....

And MLS is the place you can have an answer to every question and some answers to questions you never even asked..

 

[Semper Vaporo]

NAY! Michael...

Stay away from the dark side...

come unto the light...

Live Steam!

 

[MilitaryMike0023]

thank you all .... live steam is amazing but maybe years down the line ha mucho $$

 

[Richard Smith]

Mike,

Many thanks and best wishes for your service. I'm not going to advocate anything to you as there's a lot of info for you to digest before you can find a direction best for you. A quickie primer below: (understand this is a partial list but should cover the bigger players). I'm posting this to give you a basic guide map to perhaps relieve some of the initial confusion everyone finds when they first encounter "G" gauge. There are many special niches that others may bring up but hopefully this'll be enough to allow for some first decisions.

Many different scales, eras operate on 45mm (G gauge) track.

1:32 correct scale for mainline standard gauge on G track. Manufacturers include MTH, old Model Die Casting, Accucraft.

1:29 Defacto standard gauge scale actually a bit large for G track to represent mainline. Popular because of wide variety of models, especially diesel era, available and some just like the larger size than 1:32. Manufacturers mainly Aristo and USA Trains. There have been a small number of different models available from other mfgrs.

1:24 This correctly would represent 42" gauge when operated on G track but most models are representative of 3 foot gauge prototypes. Manufacturers Aristo's Heritage Series which are based on the old Delton line, and Hartland. Some older USA Trains rolling stock is nominal 1:24 also. This scale is little represented in the US now but the models work favorably with LGB's 1:22.5 scale. Note that the LGB narrow gauge cars, Delton 1:24 and 1:22.5 Bachmann cars are almost identical in over all size.

1:22.5 This is the nominal scale LGB uses for their European and US narrow gauge models. The older Bachmann trains including their 4-6-0 "Annie" and the cars sold in train sets are this scale. A lot of bang for the buck but the scale is a bit too small to represent 3 foot gauge models on G track. I use a lot of Bachmann's 1:22.5 rolling stock because it is rugged, cheap and there's little worry if it gets caught outdoors in the rain.

1:20.3 Produced primarily by Bachmann on the low cost end and Accucraft on the higher end. This is the correct scale to represent 3 foot narrow gauge on G track. All the latest Bachmann lokies are to this scale including the Shay(s), Heisler, Climax, outside frame 2-8-0, Porter, 2-6-6-2T, etc. Bachmann and Accucraft both provide rolling stock as well. In addition Berlyn has produced a few lokies and their have been some fine craftsman kits made available from Hartford (not to be confused with Hartland).

In addition to the above there are several other more specialized scales that I won't mention here because there are not many producing items in these scales. If any interest you you would have to feret out sources anyhow.

I should mention that there are live steam models available in 1:32 and 1:20.3 primarily and in 1:22.5 and I believe even one in 1:29.