A Way In

[SpudUk]

Hi Folks,

There is a strong chance I may be abandoning the hobby for a while as I'm drifting towards bigger trains (I've been offered a 7 1/4" deal that I don't think I can refuse). Exploring ways of keeping my fingers firmly in the pie as it were, I started to think and reflect on the best ways to get into the hobby for newbies, balancing cost and ease of build/use. My initial thought was 45mm LGB, but I do wonder if the cost is prohibitive?

I'd be really interested in your thoughts of the "best" ways into garden railways for newbies.

[bazzer42]

Funny you should ask. I've been talking to a newcomer from the Facebook page after he received plenty of free advice including dual gauge..... He is more 32mm inclined so suggested he look at hglw or IP Engineering as a starting point for low cost entry. Not forgetting Binnie of course. Coming in at 45mm does give the LGB option. It may cost slightly more than cheap wooden kits but does hold its value and lasts forever. Lgb will require power or battery conversion so that might influence your decision.

The only thing I wouldn't compromise is track quality, but that's just me.

My two penny worth on an open ended subject, would make a great exam question!!

[tom_tom_go]

The question any new person should ask themselves is what do they want to achieve.

For example, is it just the building side they like or do they simply want to sit back and watch a train run around?

[SpudUk]

My inkling is that newbies would be looking at getting something running as quickly as possible

[Soar Valley Light]

Tom makes a good point. Whilst most people want to be running SOMETHING, it is often the building of rolling stock or the railway itself which motivates many others. Indeed, 'running' can be subdivided into people who want somewhere to run (primarily) an engine and/or train and those whose interest is in operating a railway. A new starter may have an idea about what they want from the hobby or they may not. In either case their motivation will almost certainly develop as they explore the hobby. I never realised it was such a complex old business having a garden railway!

Andrew

[tom_tom_go]

Bang on Andrew, we should wiki what you have just said

[markoteal]

Agree - that's Jedi like advice there Andrew! We should have t-shirts printed

The thing I find is that I move between different roles at any time - sometimes i'm in building role then sometimes i want to be out there, running the railway as per the timetable and being as prototypical as possible the other days its doing real things like moving kindling, birdseed and G&T's - I like that on my line I can happily do all three, sometimes they happen weeks apart and sometimes, it can be minutes!

[Killian Keane]

I would say a mamod train set is a good way in, its size puts one firmly out in the garden and those locos are highly upgradable, not to mention relatively cheap especially on the second hand market, as well as familiarising the owner with the workings of a live steamer, the sectional track enables one to play about with the layout design, the one disadvantage is the rolling stock is a bit naff, but for a similar price one might as well go with binnie, ip engineering and the like

[jim@NAL]

buy something 16mm lgb etc etc and have a go .keep a look out on e bay etc get something second hand and have some fun .there is a very good book called practical garden railways by peter jones that has lots of idears in it

[Soar Valley Light]

Thanks guys - praise indeed! Now, where did I put my light sabre!

[daan]

As long as your light sabre is not on the chair you sit in, there is no need to worry.

When starting a garden railway I guess it's best to see where it should go. If you need to dismantle the layout each time, you need sectional track which is sturdy. So LGB or Piko. If you want to lay your track in the dirt without making a foundation, also LGB or Piko.
If it's also in use with your children or grandchildren, Playmobil trains fit on LGB track as well and 45mm gives more stability which is a great thing when running an expensive live steam locomotive high above ground-level. It'll simply derail not that easy.

Only if you want to model a railway and want to spend time and effort building it, 32mm is a possibility. It needs more accuracy to get it well and it's less toy-ish, so less margin for error..

[methsman]

If I were starting again I would go for 45mm gauge as there is lots of cheap ready to run proprietary equipment available that can be either used as is or canibalised.

[tom_tom_go]

There has been an increase over the years of ready to run 45mm stuff so I do sometimes think I should of gone that way as well in the beginning.

[River Lin]

Hi all.
I agree with all of the above. I lean towards the enjoyment of building something that works. As a retired design teacher (woodwork trained) i missed not having all the equipment and space to continue building stuff that i had in the school workshop. After a while i bought a few ip and b'bright kits and enjoyed putting them together and fitting them out. I then took the plunge and decided to build a coach myself of either FR or NWNG/WHR origin and my pickering brake composite was the result. My NWNG no.1 is now the 5th of my home builds, all of NWNG origin and not a laser cutter in sight :-)
I get much pleasure from being welcomed to run them on other assoc'n members lines as i do not have one of my own.
Tomorrow i am off to play on the Disney Bridge Railway with Russel, the WHR Buffet car, a Cleminson 3rd and the Pickering.
Happy steaming.
David

[FWLR]

I would like to answer your question if i may. I am new to this garden railway hobby and i think does it matter what gauge you run, it is all garden related or is it “only the big stuff” the proper gauge to run. It is like the smaller model gauges that i run, the OO boys some of them especially hate anything smaller then their gauge and visa a versa. I feel that running a train no matter what it is, is all most of us want to do, and then building and also maintenance, has @markoteal as pointed out. I have bought a couple of 32mm items, i don’t know if you can call them trains, but i like them and that’s all that really matters, is what ever you run it’s yours and it is unique.

Also the cost of the bigger stuff is out of reach to must and i certainly wouldn’t want to pay and run something in excess of a few thousand pounds. So buying into garden railways is what you feel comfortable with and i hope personally to be able to run bigger live steam in the future, wether it be gas or coal, well maybe not coal, but i think you all know what i mean.

I just love trains of any ilk and i can watch them for hours and i will post some photos of my railway has it progress’s, still loads and loads to learn about all aspect’s of model trains no matter what gauge it is.

HAPPY MODELLING.

[IrishPeter]

Apart from live steam, I don't find 16mm all that expensive compared to OO/HO, but then you can spend a heck of a lot of money in the smaller scales too. I have a tendency towards scratch/kit building in the larger scale, which I don't have when working in 4mm, which eases the financial pain considerably. Scratch built ore wagons seem to come in at about 7 quid, less if I have the necessary timber in the pile already, and some of the IP loco kits come in between 40 and 50 quid, and even I can put them together. I am not particularly "sizest" when it comes to model railways. 16mm works for me as I like the heft of the thing, and it is big enough that scratch building is not a microscope job. Sometimes I think it would be nice to model a large area in a smaller scale, but then I remember I am not that fond of building scenery.

The one thing I certainly do not miss from the smaller scales is our old joy-sucking friend the rivet counter.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

[FWLR]

" when it comes to model railways. 16mm works for me as I like the heft of the thing, and it is big enough that scratch building is not a microscope job. Sometimes I think it would be nice to model a large area in a smaller scale, but then I remember I am not that fond of building scenery.

The one thing I certainly do not miss from the smaller scales is our old joy-sucking friend the rivet counter.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

Hi Peter, i agree with that the smaller stuff, especially my N Gauge can be challenging, so i hope to be able to build some building of some sort. And i agree hopefully the rivet counters are few and far between in the garden scene. I had some “counters” going really over the top with some other members who hadn’t got it right in their estimation in “N” so much soon to the point of really verbal abuse.

This is a hobby for everyone to enjoy no matter what gauge or scale you run or do, i just love seeing anything run and marvel at some of the layouts and trains that people run.

Happy Modelling

[Dwayne]

Hi Peter, i agree with that the smaller stuff, especially my N Gauge can be challenging, so i hope to be able to build some building of some sort. And i agree hopefully the rivet counters are far and for between in the garden scene. I had some “counters” going really over the top with some other members who hadn’t got it right in their estimation in “N” so much soon to the point of really verbal abuse.

This is a hobby for everyone to enjoy no matter what gauge or scale you run or do, i just love seeing anything run and marvel at some of the layouts and trains that people run.

Speaking only for myself... 10 foot rule is a rule on my layout. Would be silly to rivet count my rolling stock running through vegetation that isn't anything close to scale. Whimsical prevails.

[IrishPeter]

Three fingers of Whisky or Akvavit fix most problems associated with the ten foot rule. However, for all that rivet counters rant about being scrupulously accurate it is getting that elusive thing atmosphere right that makes a model effective. I have seen some rivet counters paradises in P4 where the striving for accuracy had produced a model that was stuffed and mounted and conveyed very little of the 'feel' of the original.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

[Nomis]

Just put the 7 1/4 in the garden