New to the world of Garden Railways

welcome steam5!


You've joined a select group of wealth losers.


When building a garden railroad, there's a rule of thumb that will help you plan your expenditures:
Dig a hole in the ground, throw all your money into it, then cover it up. No, it won't grow.
Also, when you have made some progress in realizing your outdoor RR dream, you'll probably want to add a pond. In that case, dig the same hole, but it make it twice as big. The throw all your money and then some into the hole, etc.


Good luck!


Mark

Steam5

Welcome to large scale railroading. I run R/C-battery control and just straight battery control. It didn't take me long to realize I didn't want to clean track all the time. I live in San Diego which has a climate similar to Australia in many ways. Even so, I live close enough to the coast that the marine layer and fog still messes with running track power.

I use Airwire 900 for some locos ( and my Bachmann track truck). Those are installed inside the locos and bed of the truck. I also use a system similar to the R/C car guys with the unit and batteries in a trailing car. Lastly, I also have a battery car with a simple DPDT center off switch that contains just batteries and the switch. I can plug them into any of the locos I want and then the train just goes until the batteries die, but gives the option of forward and reverse as well as center off.

I also use a variety of battery types. 1. battery packs containing 12 volts worth of NiMh AAs. 2. 7.2 volt R/C car batteries, and sometimes 3. just 9 volt batteries. Most last several hours before recharging. All are NiMh batteries.

All my locomotives run on no more than 12 volts or 14.4 volts (2 of those 7.2volt race car R/C batteries). Use batteries with the most amphres you can find. Mine are 2500 to 3000. This gives a lot of running time.

Tom Rey

Posted By MarkLewis on 06/23/2008 3:51 PM
welcome steam5!


You've joined a select group of wealth losers.


When building a garden railroad, there's a rule of thumb that will help you plan your expenditures:
Dig a hole in the ground, throw all your money into it, then cover it up. No, it won't grow.
Also, when you have made some progress in realizing your outdoor RR dream, you'll probably want to add a pond. In that case, dig the same hole, but it make it twice as big. The throw all your money and then some into the hole, etc.


Good luck! " border=0>


Mark



Man aint it the truth LOL
but hey Ya gotta love it