A 32mm gauge Austrian Garden Railway

[HarryW]

I've spent the last few weeks converting this Austrian 2091 lgb diesel loco to run on 32mm gauge track. There are a few reasons for doing this:

1. after many years of garden railway modelling I've come to realise Austrian narrow gauge railways are my favourite.
2. I had a circuit of 32mm track down already and didn't feel like replacing it all with lgb track.
3. As LGB models are roughly 1:22.5 scale, the Austrian models they produce to run on 45mm gauge track are actually representing meter gauge. This is because 45mm gauge works best for Swiss and German narrow gauge models in lgb scale as these are meter gauge railway systems. The LGB Austrian models being meter gauge bugs me slightly as Austrian narrow gauge railways run on 760mm gauge track. Therefor 32mm gauge track in 1:22.5 scale represents 720mm gauge track which is much closer to the prototype than 45mm gauge.
4. after converting a loco to 32mm gauge successfully, the wagons and coaches are extremely easy to convert using GRS wheels.

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The lgb model of the 2091 cleverly uses two motor blocks underneath. The prototype model of the 2091 has a 2-4-2 wheel arrangement, so I thought this would be the best way to build the 32mm chassis below the body. I used a lgb motor block to power one of the GRS 32mm wheels. The gear from the lgb wheel was removed and forced onto the GRS wheel. Aluminum angle screwed to the motor block on either side holds the wheel in the right place for the lgb motor. I could add a second motor to the other wheel set, but have found the loco is powerful enough with just one powered wheel to happily pull two lgb bogie coaches. This is all that I required it to do as on Austrian narrow gauge lines the 2091 loco could only pull this amount of carriages due to its limited motive power.

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The front and back trailing wheels are both GRS wheels using elements from a nequida steam loco that I have been scrapping for parts since it broke a few years ago. the lgb coupling elements from the model are attached to these.

The lgb motor is powered using a Piko RC unit and 6 3.7v rechargeable aaa batteries. I plan on adding a mylocosound card and fixing the lights in the loco.

I'm pretty happy with how it performs over Peco 32mm track. So far it has run very happily over points and uneven track pulling two lgb coaches.

Now I just need two lgb obb coaches for its to pull.

[philipy]

Nicely done Harry.
Looking forward to seeing the coaches when you find them!

[ge_rik]

Clever gauge conversion and rationale. Will you be taking video of it in action?

Rik

[HarryW]

[ge_rik]

Runs very smoothly. Thanks for sharing.

Rik
PS I like the sun-roof

[HarryW]

Runs very smoothly. Thanks for sharing.

Rik
PS I like the sun-roof

Thanks! The roof needs screwing back on now. I kept breaking the roof vents working on the model upside down.

[HarryW]

Nicely done Harry.
Looking forward to seeing the coaches when you find them!

I do like the new lgb ones but hopefully will find a nice pair second hand.

[Old Man Aaron]

That looks so much better on 32mm.

[Phil.P]

If you are using 6 Li-Ion cells, be aware they will go up to about 4.2V when fully charged.

See the section of the MyLocoSound installation instructions regarding fitting in ride-on models, for maximum permitted supply, and protection of motor-voltage inputs to the card.

[HarryW]

If you are using 6 Li-Ion cells, be aware they will go up to about 4.2V when fully charged.

See the section of the MyLocoSound installation instructions regarding fitting in ride-on models, for maximum permitted supply, and protection of motor-voltage inputs to the card.

I’ve now switched to a 20v parkside drill battery as the loco kept loosing speed/power after only 30 mins with the aaa’s. Thanks for the reminder about mylocosound max voltage supply. I probably would’ve not considered this and ruined the card.

Harry

[HarryW]

Finally acquired a couple of OBB lgb coaches to go with my converted diesel loco. GRS 32mm wheel sets make for an extremely simple conversion on lgb rolling stock.

[Old Man Aaron]

The coaches, the scale trees, the snow - it's perfect.

[ge_rik]

Beautiful!!

Rik

[HarryW]

I’ve been working on some dual gauge track for the viaduct section of my railway. The track is 45mm gauge with two interlaced rails that make 32mm gauge. The reason is to have a continuous loop across the bridge without using a reverse loop which isn’t as reliable. The 45mm gauge is for a shuttle system using track power. I plan on adding handrails to the 5inch gauge sleepers used for the track base.

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[HarryW]

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[Old Man Aaron]

That's the nice thing about the garden scales; you can repurpose all sorts of larger-scale stuff. Where did the viaduct steel beam come from, anyway?
Love the removed fence paling to allow the track to pass through, simple and elegant.

[HarryW]

That's the nice thing about the garden scales; you can repurpose all sorts of larger-scale stuff. Where did the viaduct steel beam come from, anyway?
Love the removed fence paling to allow the track to pass through, simple and elegant.

The beam was bought about 5 years ago for this very purpose. Can’t remember where from now. I stole the idea from a Brunel models bridge I saw. I only put it into place last year after finding the slate effect plant pots in aldi. The plan is to add some kind of girder plate siding to the beam (still working out the best way to make these)