Garden Railway Forum

Hello all - my name is Jack and I am thinking about creating a garden railway in 32mm scale. I know which locomotives to buy, but I am not sure what track goes with the scale.

Hi Jack and welcome.

I have started a new topic for you so others can help.

Hi Jack.
SM32 is 32mm gauge as you've mentioned. I'm pretty new to the 'garden scales' too but PECO, The GRS, Tenmille and Cliff Barker are the main suppliers that i'm aware of.
PECO's set tack is a little pricey per yard but is easy to clip together as it's basically the same as their OO range and if looking to do tighter corners their two radius settings are handy, though the larger 38" radius pieces are better for helping engines keep their train chugging along.
I have no experience with the GRS's track range,
http://www.grsuk.com/uploads/Trackwork% ... 202017.pdf
nor Tenmille's other than the few pre-drilled sleepers and chairs I bought off them but they can provide rail lengths at 1.5m.
http://www.tenmille.com/16mmNGTrack.html
Cliff Barker's range I bought a load of recently from his site and I'm impressed by the quality and the pin holes moulded to every other sleeper are a nifty feature. If happy to thread said sleepers yourself rails can be bought in 2yard lengths, which I think is of benefit as it saves on the amount of joints needed, particularly handy on corners. On top of that stainless steel is an option with him and it looks great
http://www.cliffbarker.talktalk.net/Nar ... Track.html

Thanks for the help. I am also going to have the locomotives remote control as I wouldn't have to have a power source as well as cleaning the track all the time. I have found some locomotives on Track Shack but they are all very expensive. I am wondering if you have any suggestions - Jack.

Welcome Jack,
I'm afraid I use 45mm track. LGB were obviously the forerunners in this gauge and their "clip" together curves are useful where space is limited (as I know). Where I have used tenmille track I found track templates (inserted between rails whilst laying) useful to keep curves in check. A useful tip I was given was to offset rail joints where you are curving flexi track. I would imagine that templates are probably not necessary where you have plenty of room.

The Tenmille track I have used is very robust and much of mine is second-hand and is lasting well.

Hi Jack, I type so slowly you've asked another question!

I found track power a pain and moved to rc. Houstoun Gate and IP engineering do battery powered kits that could get you started quite cheaply. Installing rc seemed daunting but GRik's wiring plan makes it simple enough to understand for beginners. He also has useful videos on his Peckforton blog (worth a look to see the railway) about using Deltang products that are carried by Houstoun. Roundhouse do some nice rc diesels but they aren't the cheapest entry point. If you are planning rc steam outline but battery powered DEFINITELY look at Rik's blog.

All my rc live steam have been acquired second-hand, saved me a fair bit on list prices!

bazzer42 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:32 am Hi Jack, I type so slowly you've asked another question!

I found track power a pain and moved to rc. Houstoun Gate and IP engineering do battery powered kits that could get you started quite cheaply. Installing rc seemed daunting but GRik's wiring plan makes it simple enough to understand for beginners. He also has useful videos on his Peckforton blog (worth a look to see the railway) about using Deltang products that are carried by Houstoun. Roundhouse do some nice rc diesels but they aren't the cheapest entry point. If you are planning rc steam outline but battery powered DEFINITELY look at Rik's blog.

All my rc live steam have been acquired second-hand, saved me a fair bit on list prices!

Thanks for the plug for my blog .....
If you want a cheap intro to garden railways then you can't go far wrong with HGLW or IP Engineering kits. They are quite cheap and easy to construct. I found my HGLW kitbuilt loco slightly easier to build than my IP kit https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2018/0 ... t-and.html and slightly cheaper as it can be bought with 4wd as standard.

You can squeeze Deltang rc gear into these models or free-run them just with batteries and a reversing switch.

HGLW - http://www.hglw.co.uk
IP Engineering - http://www.ipengineering.co.uk
Deltang suppliers - http://www.deltang.co.uk/buy.htm

Rik

Hi Jack and welcome.
Most people who are on 32mm, use Peco track, which with the availability if both 900mm lengths of flexi track and settrack, should cover most of your needs. It also turns up 2nd-hand fairly often. The other track suppliers are fine but more limited in flexibility IMO. Cliff Barker stuff is extremely accurate and detailed but requires building from individual components and is probably not a good starting point for most newcomers to garden railways.

As for loco's, RTR ones are expensive, particularly if you are on a limited budget and/or just dipping your toe in the water. The HGLW and IP kits are both basic and as cheap as you'll get, but do require you to have the ability to build the kits.

For R/c the Deltang, as supplied by RC Trains is definitely the way to go in the opinion of many on here.

As Derek said, take a look at Riks Peckforton blogs https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/p/contents.html .
You'll find answers to almost any subject on there somewhere ( Rik models in 45mm though, so not everything is relevant in terms of loco mechanisms).

Hope this helps

Thanks this has definitely helped.

Hello all - I have looked at the kits (as well as some others) and they all look value for money. However, I have noticed the ones that I have found do not include remote control with the kits. I was wondering if you had any ideas or suggestions

What are you prepared to pay for what you want?

I know garden railways are expensive, but I would like to keep the r/c locomotive in the budget of £130.

At that price you would be looking at a budget kit which other members have mentioned and then fit R/C yourself.

I'm going to jump in with a question about Cliff Barker track... I've finally got to the point where I will soon be ready to build a phase I loop. Some later phases will be along a rock planter edge, maybe a bit of phase I will be too. So, I'm ready to have some track in hand to help with setting my rock in place...

However, following Cliff Barker's instructions for overseas, I've submitted the order, was emailed a receipt, but haven't heard from him in 6 days. Anyone know him or his process? Is he on vacation?

Thanks,

Jeff

Edit: Well funny, tonight (Monday, 7th day) I got an email from him, "you still interested..." I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi Jeff,

I've dealt with Cliff two or three times. I've always found him to be very helpful. More importantly he's as honest as the day is long and very trustworthy too. He's always been very quick to respond in the past but that was a while ago. It may be that he has something on at the moment.

All the best,

Andrew

Look on eBay, you can get some bargains for both locos and track, but you need to be quick.

Looks like I've got an order underway with Mr. Barker. I guess it just took a while for contact.

TheTrainGuy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:37 pm I know garden railways are expensive, but I would like to keep the r/c locomotive in the budget of £130.

Sounds about right

HGLW kit = £40
RC Trains Tx10 = £39
Deltang /RCT Rx65c (wired) = £42
1 x 18650 li ion battery = c £5
Total = £126

All that's missing is a decent battery charger such as the iMax B6 (c £20). There are li-ion chargers which are cheaper, though.

Alternatively, you could buy a cheap r/c car and rip the guts out of it. You can pick up cheapo rc cars for around £20. However, some may not work equally well in reverse.

Rik

Hi Rik,

On the question for the Ii ion batteries, are the ones with the dimple the one s that are needed for most of our battery holders. I have seen on Amazon ( other sites do have them ) that the ones that don’t have the dimple won’t fit….

FWLR wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:25 am Hi Rik,

On the question for the Ii ion batteries, are the ones with the dimple the one s that are needed for most of our battery holders. I have seen on Amazon ( other sites do have them ) that the ones that don’t have the dimple won’t fit….

Good question. I am no electronics expert and limit my dabling with electrical things to changing plugs and light bulbs. I have no problem building kits, but no idea where to start adding r/c and with batteries.