Garden Railway Forum

Being on the brink of actually laying track I'm finding myself with a decision to make. I own a sizeable amount of '0' gauge tinplate of one sort or another as well as '0' coarse scale locos and rolling stock. I do have some 45mm gauge trains, mostly of battery trainset origins, as well a little scratchbuilt stuff.

I was about to start setting things up to lay 45mm gauge track when I realised that if I used up my only good sized indoor space with this gauge I would then have nowhere to run any of my '0' gauge stuff. Sooooo I'm seriously considering laying track for 32mm gauge and regauging those 16mm scale models that can be regauged to 32mm as well. That which can't be regauged, and unfortunately this includes 'Emily' my Locolines 'Mammoth' conversion, will be packed away for use on layout visits and also against the day when I eventually lay rails out in the garden.

Or you could just lay a Dual Gauge track?

Do you have a local group near you Annie? Check out what they run on (that's if you plan to be part of a group) so visting and hosting events will be the same gauge as with what others do?

I was in the same predicament not too long ago and decided to lay my layout in O gauge but i left provision for a 45mm line within it.

I don't think there are any groups with either '0' or 45mm tracks near me, but I will check that out. The nearest group has extensive 5 inch and 7 inch gauge ground level tracks which is very very tempting, only I don't think I can afford to build even an electric steam outline loco at the moment. And besides I think if I dipped my toe in that particular body of water I'd be selling off all my locos and rolling stock in a flash and wanting to go play with the big boys

Benchmark, - As it happens I have been thinking about laying dual gauge track as an alternative. It wouldn't need to be extensive, just enough of it to give my 45mm gauge stuff a circut to stretch their legs on. At the moment I'm still clearing away so I can get the first baseboard in place, but it won't be long before I will be able to start some serious tracklaying.