# Looking for ideas for fun “Thomas like” rolling stock



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

I'm new to G but not new to trains. I grew up with Lionel O, American Flyer S, & HO, but I have never really spent any time with G, and I'm sorry I didn't find it earlier because it is FUN! Now that I have kids of my own they love the big in your fae size of G. I purchased a few Thomas sets because my children LOVE Thomas. I know they aren't they best engines but we can always upgrade as my children get older; my main concern is getting them interested in the hobby of model railroading and keeping that interest focused ... even if it is only 15 min at a time as of right now.

I'm primarily looking for rolling stock other than the Thomas and Friends offered by Bachmann. What is out there? It doesn't have to be Thomas related so long as it is funky and fun. Where to begin looking? What should I be looking for? Thanks in advance for your help!


----------



## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Hello Cosmos, 
I have both G-scale Thomas and Percy sets. This year James will be released and some rolling stock, I believe a tank car and a gondola. When I was at a show this spring they have a snow plow for the front of thomas for winter time operation if desired.Go to Bachman.com they have some of these listed when I last checked. I am thinking of taking a two axle tank car and repainting and lableing Sodor or something else. I have a five year old daughter that loves to play with them and so far they have been pretty durable as long as they are not dropped. Let me know if I can help out any more or questions..........Travis


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

Posted By general1861 on 16 Apr 2011 07:10 PM 
Hello Cosmos, 
I have both G-scale Thomas and Percy sets. This year James will be released and some rolling stock, I believe a tank car and a gondola. When I was at a show this spring they have a snow plow for the front of thomas for winter time operation if desired.Go to Bachman.com they have some of these listed when I last checked. I am thinking of taking a two axle tank car and repainting and lableing Sodor or something else. I have a five year old daughter that loves to play with them and so far they have been pretty durable as long as they are not dropped. Let me know if I can help out any more or questions..........Travis 
Travis,

Thanks for you reply. I bought the Thomas set with Annie and Clarabelle this past Christmas; this past weekend I picked up James. In addition we have 2 troublesome trucks, a gas tanker, and a milk tanker; I'm certain Percy won't be far behind. I'm looking for a few more pieces of rolling stock than what Bachmann has to offer and I'm coming up with some really nice realistic scale model rolling stock but nothing that really fits in that cartooned world of Sodor if you know what I mean. Again, thanks for your reply!


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

These are based on European trains ( British to be more correct). LGB had a lot of European rolling stock, but the scale will not match very well. In my opinion the Bachmann Thomas series is a scale unto itself. Everything seems large to me compared to LGB offerings. LGB is now defunct, but Maerklin is now making some cars and engines. There seems to be a lot of LGB still left in the market, but you might have to search the vendors as to what is available. I do not think that anything on the market will look fine with the Bachmann Thomas trains, but Bachmann. LGB would be a good train for younger Children. It just wouldn't match the size. It would appear to be smaller.


If you want other trains there are a number of starter sets out there that are very good. 


Chuck


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

To run BAchmanns Thomas stuff with *anything* from any other maker you will have to add the coupler extender mounts that will drop the couplers to Large Scale standard heights, why Bmann put their coupler at such a higher position as to be unusable as delivered is beyond stupid to me, why not ship them with LS compliant couplers in the first place? Old LGB Toytrain items are a good choice, also Aristo 20 foot cars are good for the Thomas world


----------



## nkelsey (Jan 4, 2008)

Hmm, I mounted KD 906 straight onto the mounting holes and they match the KD height gauge....on Clarababelle, Annie, Thomas, the trucks and James. For the kids, I suggest gondolas, especially the Hartland mini gons, kids can put animals and figures and all sorts of things in the gondola. They are cheap and pretty indestructible. You could add the Hartland tank cars and flat cars for more fun.


----------



## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Old stock from Lehmann/LGB - Jurassic Park Dino Transport, Dumbo car, aquarium car, bubble car, milk car, exploding dynamite car 

















































Some are getting pricey and hard to find used. The mechanical ones pull pretty hard so you're limited to only one or two in a train. To 'match' Thomas, you'll have to change the coupler heights as noted, and may want to change the German single center buffer to the English style two


----------



## jebouck (Jan 2, 2008)

"Playmobil" used to make G scale children's trains.
Check e-bay.


----------



## DKRickman (Mar 25, 2008)

And of course, you could always make your own! Those cheap-o Christmas train sets would be a good source for inexpensive wheels and frames (and even couplers), and you can build any sort of body you like on top. Gondolas are good, I think, because they can haul whatever a child wants to put in them. Same goes for a flat car, and that's about the easiest thing there is to build.

It seems to me that the kids (if they're old enough) could even help, and build their own cars. Give them blocks of wood in the shape of a basic box car body, and let them decorate. Make up some basic shapes - flat, gon, tank, box - and let them decide what they want to build. Attach a frame with wheels and couplers, and off you go. That way they'll start to take a more personal interest in the trains, and maybe even get a taste for building or modifying their own rolling stock some day.


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

What about those cheap Hartland kits of oil tankers, flat cars, etc? They's fit right in with Thomas. Aha - Hartland calls them the "Mini Series":


----------



## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Got my first Grandson the Thomas set last Christmas. It is very nice, but everything for infants today have sound of some kind and Thomas doesn't. I want to spark his interst as strongly as possible. Can someone recomend an inexpensive sound card I can put in one of the trailing cars?? nick jr


----------



## atst (Apr 8, 2011)

Try on this page. 

There you have a few free simple paper models of the Thomas series, you can use them as graphic patterns, shapes and sizes take to convert an existing fleet or build something from scratch. 
Pozdrawiam 
Adam


----------



## neals645 (Apr 7, 2008)

A neat monster or dinosaur would fit right in. Like this one from The Apache Gap and Western RR, captured at NGRC 2008:










Little hard to see, but that's Capn Jack Sparrow riding along.


----------



## neals645 (Apr 7, 2008)

An Ozark Miniatures 1:20.3 Clear Creek Series 10ft flatcar could be a base for any kind of Thomas-like bash. They do come with metal wheels.


----------



## neals645 (Apr 7, 2008)

For a recommendation on low-cost Thomas sound, check this thread under Sound Systems. The vendor link provided inthat thread doesn't work, use this link instead.


----------



## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

10 years ago now I was engaged to be married and started collecting Elmo Express & Big Bird Express train sets on Ebay, yard sales, and flea markets. I took the characters out and repainted them to use as table center pieces at the reception. They were made by Illco and were a knock off of an LGB 2095 tank engine and 2 of the short 2 axle gondolas that LGB had offered. The Big Bird set had Big Bird riding in the loco and came with Oscar & Cookie riding in the cars. It had some plastic track and was battery operated. The Elmo set was Elmo and two empty cars and was a floor runner with rubber tired wheels with no flanges and no track and no characters in the cars. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/VTG-Tyco-Presch...948?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b880a0a4 

This is the only auction I could find right now. WAY too steep a price for this without the extra cars. $15 to $20 or less is a much more reasonable price. Heck most Yard sales you are looking at $5 for the whole set or what ever you can get. 

Chas 

P.S. I remembered you could see Big Bird & Cookie Monster if you looked closely in the mess.


----------



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Nick Jr on 18 Apr 2011 02:37 AM 
Got my first Grandson the Thomas set last Christmas. It is very nice, but everything for infants today have sound of some kind and Thomas doesn't. I want to spark his interst as strongly as possible. Can someone recomend an inexpensive sound card I can put in one of the trailing cars?? nick jr

I just finished a battery power conversion on a Thomas for my first grandson. I used MyLocoSound. In addition to being very economical, it has a British-like sound to it.

I put everything in a trailing car (Annie): Lithium-Ion battery pack, MyLocoSound and 3" speaker, and RailBoss Plus R/C. Changed the couplers over to Bachmann, and still need to put some lettering on it. I ran it yesterday for the first time. The kids are going to love it.


----------



## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

neals645 and DelTapparo, thank you for direction to MyLocoSound, looks like it will fit the bill. nick jr


----------



## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

I have two young kids and have gotten them started on trains. The biggest facination right now for the older one (almost 4!) is to be hands on. He likes to push the trains himself, not much interest in twisting a knob to make the trains run. We do have a Percy set that he likes to run sometimes, but much prefers an old big hauler that stripped a gear. I removed the offending gear and voila! Instant push train. On a recent trip in India, I found a New Ray train set which claims to be 1/32 scale. It is battery powered and has an 0-6-0T locomotive plus a gon and cattle car. Nice set, easy to run. It came with a bunch of supporting cast: A tractor with a wagon, cows, horses, pigs and people. Makes it easy to give the train something to do. 

For fun, gondolas are the best. These can be loaded with anything. Box cars seem to collect ballast, for some reason. I use a mix of LGB, aristo and Bachmann. The USA trains I have are too delicate and the details tend to break. These all require some close supervision. Also, I find that interacting with Luke while we play trains is what he likes best. Specifically, sometimes, he wants me to push freight cars with him. Other times, he wants me to run a Hess truck (1/24 scale) and "Wait at the Crossing". In both cases, it is all about playing together and taking turns. 

Try to incorporate their other toys, like blocks, in to the play. We use the Mega blocks to build tunnels, water towers, stations, etc..


----------



## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

To further Mark's comments about playing with Luke, Bob Grosh has an older Blog (not updated since 2009) where in he talks about watching his grand-daughter play and interact with the her friends, the trains, and her toys (polly pockets) and all teh rest of the props he set out. http://the-ally.blogspot.com/2009/01/hunting-for-dcc-system-of-future.html 

Some good information there. 

Chas


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks for all the ideas guys it is a HUGE help! There are quite a few awesome suggestions and the wife and I are really excited. I'm open to more suggestions as some of the ones posted just aren't in the budget as $200+ for some of them just isn't going to happen no matter how awesome I think they are. Are there any other awesome specialty units that don't cost a fortune? We really like the hartland mini gondolas and will be picking up a few. I'm not worried if the scale is a little bit off, this is to increase family time with my son, not a scale model rail road for me. I also just picked up a Big Bird express and I'm looking forward to converting it to track power. I think the Big Bird Express is my wife's current favorite train. lol My son loves them all.


----------



## mickey (Jan 28, 2009)

Have you looked at the New Bright Christmas trains? They are animated and very neat. Kids just love them. The base includes engine and 3 cars but they have additional cars that have different animation. We have all the cars and put it out every year. Even though the kids are pretty much grown they still want it out. Uses it's own DCC but made to slip on track easily. I believe the 384 series is the G scale. 

The one thing is the power pickups are on the tender and are of a slider type so they have huge issues with Aristo re-railers. Not sure about turn outs but I can't user the re-railers on the Christmas track around the tree. 

http://www.newbright.com/category/view/id/9


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

We just picked up a Percy, Bachmann Circus train, some playmobil rolling stock, and some Aristo-craft track for the pattio. For now it is just a big oval that goes around the play house and under the slide. Everything is working out quite well. I'm pricing a few different switching powersupplies and pulse width modulation kits to get more power to the track as the 1amp Bachmann unit just isn't getting the job done. It overheats, goes into self protection mode and shuts down the train. I also purchased a battery powered bubbler which hopefully will slide into one of the troublesome trucks. I'll post pictures when it arrives. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP GUYS!


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Go for the largest (amperage) power supply you can afford. If you are going to set up outside, you will eventually want to run longer trains with larger engines. I now use 10 and 15 amp Bridgewerks. There are others on the market. Look around. Engines with two motors and lighted passenger cars eat up power. If you run an A-B-A F3 those alone can draw between 5 and 6 amps.


If you get something with pulse width modulation, make sure that you can turn it off. There are some engines and sound systems that don't work very well with it. Since I never used it, I'm only going on what others have said.


Chuck


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

I'm looking at a few 12v 10a switching power-supplies. I think any one of them will fit the bill, I'm just looking into build quality, discrete components (for upgrading and or servicing later) and size. The Pulse-width modulator board I have my eyes on will handle about 30a with the included heat-sink, so I'm certain 10a power-supply will do just fine with it. I'll report back on the unit once I get it up and running. I don't foresee outrunning 10a any time in the near future and if I do power-supplies aren't that expensive. I'll have less than $50 invested in this unit before I'm done and it should last a good long time and have the ability to grow with the layout.


----------



## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

12v is a little low for the majority of the trains. 18 v is better. 

Here's a link to the aristo board where I've posted pictures and videos of the small railroad i built for my 3 year old. 

Pietown and Western


I am using aristo starter set power pack and an LGB starter set power pack to run these trains. For what I am doing now, these are fine. I am running Percy, Thomas and other small locomotives at high speeds!!


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

markoles, thanks for the advice. I grabbed my DIMM and checked the track voltage and found that 12v is plenty of power for the speeds I want to run. However, in the interest of possible future upgrades I took your advice and grabbed an 18v 10a unit. 

The aristo starter set power pack must be better than the bachmann unit because the bachmann just shuts down on the regular. Thanks for the links to your garden, I checked out your youtube account and it looks like you have a great layout. THANKS FOR SHARING! I don't have the clamps you were mentioning in your other post on the aristo forum, so I might look for those if you can give me a little more info. THANKS AGAIN!


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

Just picked up an Aristocraft Old Timer Sesame Street 30th Anniverstary Set in G (#1). We haven't set it up yet, but it looks AWESOME.


----------



## pageeddie (Nov 2, 2008)

The guys on the English G Scale website have done a lot digitizing and adding "Thomas" sound effects - check this page and its links out 
http://www.forum.gscalecentral.net/Thomas-goes-digital-m44640.aspx


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

If this thread is still relivent to Thomas compatible stock. Bachmanns Lil Big Hauler line is a direct match with Thomas stock. They come standard with the same high mounted couplers like the Thomas line and can be used straight out of the box. They are VERY affordable also.


----------



## Cosmos (Apr 16, 2011)

Posted By pageeddie on 01 Dec 2012 06:47 PM 
The guys on the English G Scale website have done a lot digitizing and adding "Thomas" sound effects - check this page and its links out 
http://www.forum.gscalecentral.net/Thomas-goes-digital-m44640.aspx
AWESOME! THANKS! 


Posted By vsmith on 01 Dec 2012 08:51 PM 
If this thread is still relivent to Thomas compatible stock. Bachmanns Lil Big Hauler line is a direct match with Thomas stock. They come standard with the same high mounted couplers like the Thomas line and can be used straight out of the box. They are VERY affordable also. 
Of course it is still relivent! Thanks for the heads up I didn't even think to look at that line. I'm still waiting for more Thomas trains to come out. Gordon is my son's favorite.


----------

