# New Guy, What Should I buy?



## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm thinking of getting into large scale. To get started I am thinking of just getting some track laying it directly onto the ground, and buying an Aristocraft engine and battery/receiver car.

I would really appreciate any thoughts on how I should proceed. All opinions welcome! Thank you!


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Do you have a more specific question? Buy some track, buy a loco and a battery/trailing car and you could be running.That would work!


If you know you want to run on batteries only then aluminum track is cheaper. If you make your curves 10 feet across or wider then you can run just about anything made.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

The short answer is; 'Whatever you like".... These links may help you narrow things a bit 

http://www.the-ashpit.com/mik/budget.html 

http://www.the-ashpit.com/mik/themes.html 

http://www.the-ashpit.com/mik/gauge.html


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## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

Thanks guys!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

This is a very open ended question. It is a lot like asking a stranger; should I marry a blond or brunet? 

Aristo has steam era locomotives (I have two), early diesel, and modern diesel. They and other manufacturers have cars and engines to match any era you want. The first answer is what type of locomotive and era do you like. Once you answer that question, everything will start to fall into place. There will most likely some disagreement, but as a beginner I recommend that you start with track power and then with experience you will be able to make a more informed decision as to your future power sources. Start simple and then expand as your knowledge and likes expand. There are a lot of power sources out there. To decide on one at the beginning may box you into a corner later on.


Chuck


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

I would agree with Chuck, pick up a basic track powered setup to start with. I guess I would ask you why? There was some underlying reason for the interest. Was it an outdoor railway you have seen? Quite often the motivation that you have that is driving this interest can help guide you down the correct path. For example, I was into N-Gauge trains prior and ran across an LGB starter set at a train swap meet. The size of it and watching it run (without breaking out the magnifying glass) was very rewarding to me. As I progressed the thought of the outdoor railroad and being able to build my own personal "empire" is what has been driving me to purchase way too many of these "G scale" trains!


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## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

Posted By chuck n on 29 Mar 2011 07:46 PM 
This is a very open ended question.

Yes! I don't want to lead the info, but would like to hear what you all think is most important to hear right now.

Thanks for the information!! 

I am interested in transition era, probably PRR and/or B&O.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Lay your track on a bed of 3/16 - 1/4 gravel, crushed rock, not river. 
Get as much track as you can afford! 

Do pick an era and style, I'm 1890s short line, I run small battery locos and short trains. My scale is 1:24, so the tack is an odd gauge, but I don't care as I like what I see more than what I know, bugs me! 

The more modern the look, the longer the cars and the more real estate needed for realism. 
I came from indoor smaller scale railroads and thought the big outdoors would be awesome, my bubble burst watching a Sierra passenger car overhang the inside of a 10'd curve. The Aristocraft stock car is too long for my tastes and is back on the shelf... 

So start simple, with the largest diameter curves you can fit in your space and run a train and see how it looks. 

Welcome aboard and Happy Rails ahead. 

John


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## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

Hi Rich. Thank you. 

I am an O gauger, have always been and will remain so, but that is a winter thing for me. In the spring and summer, I don't play with the trains because I don't want to be in the basement. Also, a major restricting factor with O gauge is space, but I have about a third acre of wooded land on my property, so the space will be refreshing outside with large scale.

I was speaking to another customer in my lhs today and he was showing me the Aristocraft engines with the jack for connecting battery power, and the box car with the receiver and battery connector. He also mentioned that at the York show last week the Aristocraft guy (president?) said they are planning to come out with inexpensive ($1 per foot!) plastic outdoor track with integrated road bed and plastic rails, i.e., all plastic.

Something just clicked for me and got the ball rolling when I saw the battery car thing, and now I can't wait!! 

While I can't seem to find anything about this new plastic track, and probably won't be able to wait for that, the idea of just simply putting down some track and starting running is exciting for me. 

I do wish this type of track mentioned above existed now, because I imagine it would be much more forgiving directly on the ground without doing too much work on ground preparation and for getting smooth rail connections since the roadbed will interlock in addition to the rails. These things would be good for beginners. When I do layouts I like to get trains running asap and then improve it over time. So, I'd like to start quickly, then learn about good techniques for leveling, doing roadbed, balasting, etc.

Thanks again, and thanks in advance for any future help you may so kindly offer me!!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Just make sure that your plastic track is UV resistant, otherwise you will be replacing it more often than you might like.

chuck


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## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

John, thank you! That is valuable info about the gravel.

You mention that you run "small battery locos and short trains." Is that to say that the battery power doesn't provide enough amps for larger locos and larger trains? I mean, I guess I'd suspect that the battery will not provide as much power as track power, but how restrictive is it? Could I run say a 4-8-2 steam engine with 10 transition-era sized freight cars on a battery?

Also, that is good to know that some would feel that a long passenger car overhangs too much on 10' diameter curves.

Are the offerings in 1:32 fewer than 1:24?

Thanks for entertaining so many questions!!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Jeff:

Battery and RC is not restricted to small engines and cars. I just fixed up my Aristo Mallet (with the help of Stan Cedarleaf) with battery and RC. Here is a link with some pictures and discussion. I now have two battery powered engines. I would have to rob a bank to convert all of my engines to battery and RC. I have been in the hobby since about 1980 and I average about an engine a year. It turns out that is a lot of engines to convert. I use track power and I am happy with it, I now have a battery narrow gauge (1:20.3) K-28 and a standard gauge (1:29) Mallet. I did this so that I could run trains on other layouts that don't have track power. 


Big engine battery 

Chuck


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

1/24 is an old scale. Guys like me use it because the math is easy 1/2" on the model = 1' on the prototype. The HLW stuff and the Aristo "Classic" (ex Delton) are about all that's currently available in this scale... plus lots of diecast cars. It works out to 42" gauge. This was used a lot in South Africa, but I think in the US most of the 42"ga trackage was insular at coal mines..... but there was a common carrier line in Nova Scotia?


1/29, 1/22.5 and 1/20.3 are more readily available today. The cheapest being the Bachmann Big Hauler stuff that's about 1/22.5, followed by Aristo and USA stuff in 1/29


Me? I use Lehmann/LGB 2 axles stuff on r-1s (4 foot dia) indoors and mostly ancient Kalamazoo stuff on the r-2s (5 foot dia) outside--- both were chosen for cost (they used to be less expensive than they are now) and lack of tiny bits to fall off.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Jeff Train on 29 Mar 2011 09:15 PM 
John, thank you! That is valuable info about the gravel.

You mention that you run "small battery locos and short trains." Is that to say that the battery power doesn't provide enough amps for larger locos and larger trains? I mean, I guess I'd suspect that the battery will not provide as much power as track power, but how restrictive is it? Could I run say a 4-8-2 steam engine with 10 transition-era sized freight cars on a battery?

Also, that is good to know that some would feel that a long passenger car overhangs too much on 10' diameter curves.

Are the offerings in 1:32 fewer than 1:24?

Thanks for entertaining so many questions!!


Hi Jeff,
My choice for smaller locos came from my On3 experiences as well as price. Mostly though I stayed small as I like the look of them on my 'tight' 10'd curves. Shorter trains makes my Empire seem bigger because it's not chasing it's tail! The 'time period' also played a part of my decision, turn of the century locos were small.

Batteries do fine powering larger locos, in fact it's harder to get batteries into smaller locos, my 4-4-0 required a battery car, whereas I was able to get them into the 2-8-0. It is getting easier with Lithium battteries, smaller and more capcity.
1:24 is an odd ball scale, but as Mik pointed out makes the mental math much easier.
There are many more offerings in all the other scales, that run on the same track, 1:32 (Standard gauge) looks better on the track, but looses the WOW factor of the larger equipment. I think 1:29 was offered to be more compatible with LGB. The rolling stock is bigger, though the track ga no longer represents 4'81/2"....
Standard ga trains look smaller than the narrow ga ones because in St ga. 45mm = 4' 81/2"(1:32) where as in NG 45 mm= 3 feet (1:20,3). In the wacky world of G, narrow ga. trains are larger than standard ga, because we all use the same track.

Many folks don't care as much about over hang as I, many are more concerned with; Can I run it on my curves? Not so much how does it look doing so?

I'm returning the favor... many of my questions were answered here and down the road, you'll share what you know.

John


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Early reports on plastic track suggest that it's not dimensionally stable outside--expands and contracts and warps. That ought to be fixable, but the only report I saw here about plastic track outside showed it warping a lot. 


You don't have to use batteries--I run a DCC system outside, so do many others. Battery has advantages and disadvantages, so does DCC: it's an old debate. Track cleaning, in my experience, is a trivial thing. You might prefer battery power--many people do. But you can use track powered DCC or plain old DC track power. 


You might also consider the track code. Most G scale track is code 332--it looks way oversized, but it's robust and carries a lot of current. Code 250 or code 215 look better, to my mind, and are cheaper. But I have all code 332 on our railway, and nobody notices but me! You can find smaller


As mentioned, scale is a mess. The most accurate modeling tends to live at 1:20, secondarily at 1:32. 


There are two really great sites for people starting out--both of these are fantastic resources

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips.htmlGeorge Schreyer's "Large Scale Tech Tips"


Greg Elmassian's Train Pages


I rely on both theses pages all the time. George's site is especially good if you are just getting started


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

why Gauge 1? Since you already have O gauge; do O gauge outside; that is, unless you like multiple gauges 

I run 7/8" scale (1:13.7) trains outside on O gauge track. Some O gaugers run O scale (1:48) outdoors; other model O gauge 16mm, representing 2' gauge like those in Maine, outdoors. 

People have been running O gauge outside for a century now 

Dave


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

Jeff, if you have O scale 2-rail and want to run that outdoors, look at this site for track ideas. Pete Comely owns Sunset Valley [http://www.svrronline.com/about.html] and he makes 32mm [O Scale] track which will withstand the weather. He makes Gauge 1 and Dual Gauge as well. The track and switches are good and his service is excellent. Our club has some of his dual gauge [45/32mm gauge] and that's a good choice if you want to run both gauges. You may even have a dealer for his track near where you live. Also, it's good for either track or battery power. 

As for ballast, do make sure you use crushed granite or limestone as these materials move much less than pea gravel, especially with heavy rain. 

Enjoy. 

Will Lindley

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## tmtrainz (Feb 9, 2010)

Beware of any new plastic track outside, until it is proven to be stable. Here's a thread discussing the use of plastic rail outside. 

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/9/aft/119346/afv/topic/Default.aspx 

Just a heads-up so you don't get stuck buying something that may not work for your application. 

Tom


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

adding to Will's excellent advice, Atlas makes 2 and 3 rail track that withstands the elements. If you handlay track, that too is a possibility. 

think of it this way, you already have all the trains you need so why buy more unless you can afford to and want to switch gauges 

Dave v


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

If you decide upon using track rather than battery power, do yourself a favor and pick up some rail clamps. A bag of ten would certainly do for starters.

The factory joiners from Aristocraft work very well overall, but once in a while a screw simply won't go in, or the screw wiggles loose. Having a small backup supply of clamps is very handy, and once you replace a joint with them, it's not going to fail. Well that's been my experience anyhow.

So best wishes!


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## Jeff Train (Mar 29, 2011)

Thanks to all for the continuing support! 

Chuck, thanks. That train is exactly what I wanted to see! 

Mik and John, great info. I'm getting it re the multiple scales on the same track. I have a flat(ish) area and a hill area and was thinking to do a std gauge mainline on the flat and if I stay in this, then do a switchback logging operation up the hill to the mainline, but I hadn't yet come to the realization that the narrow gauge train on the switchback would actually be bigger than the mainline trains since it's be the same track. Maybe O for the switchback ... 

Lownote, thank you for the links. I'm sneaking a peak at this stuf at work right now, but will delve deeply into those links later. 

Dave and Will, why one gauge? Cuz its nice'n BIG!!! The area where I can do this is in a forest conservation area on my lot, so I can't do too much disturbance. I guess in my mind's eye, O scale trains in bare woods will look so tiny. 

Tom, Yikes! Maybe an integrated roadbed can prevent that type of warping. I'd say I'm going to go with some sort of metal rail though. The other problem I will face is wildlife messing with the track, especially deer stepping on and crushing it. Thre will be alto of MOW work to be done. 

White Deer, I will get extras, even just to ensure good mechanical connetion. Thanks.


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## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

RailroadModelCraftsman, Sept. 1987 pg64-68 OO scale railway started in '66 5-yr. rebuilding prog. '78 , concrete roadbed embedded hardwood crosspieces for track 'mounting' , peco streamline track nickel silver rail, peco foam track underlay/ballast . . . . . bryan burchell (and family) "DaventryGardenRailroad", Northants, England 

Also for G-gauge George Schreyers fantastic website ; http://girr.org/girr/tips/tips.html that I've visited maaany times over the last 10+ yrs ! 


doug c


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