Recommendations for a rtr G scale loco

brianwhitehead · Post by **brianwhitehead** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:05 am

I shall shortly be installing a G scale track in my garden. I would
like to get a British prototype engine to run on it, preferably
electric powered. I haven't found much, but I quite like the look of
the Accucraft Caledonia:

http://www.glendalejunction.co.uk/Accucraft.html

Can anyone recommend anything similar (and at a similar price)?

Thanks,

Brian

pauly · Post by **pauly** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:04 pm

British outline track powered engines are very thin on the ground mate.
you might want to try some kit building as British outline is very well represented by this.

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:26 pm

Caledonia is about the only RTR properly "british" outline loco available- I'm not sure if it's out yet but someone is making the IoM railway's diesel as well, and Accucraft did the Isle of Man Beyer Peacock 2-4-0's a while back.

However there are a few locos in the LGB range which look OK in a British setting. The starter set "Stainz" loco makes an ideal candidate for bashing into something more British looking, alternatively Garden Railway Specialists make kits of British outline locos to go on LGB chassis, either the Stainz or the "Toytrain" range locos. By all accounts the kits aren't the easiest to put together however.

Another couple of options are the LGB Corpet Louvet 0-6-0 tank engines and the LGB Feldbahn 0-4-0s (which are tiny!).

The Corpets are a French design but don't look out of place in a British setting- several worked here and if fact LGB did make a model of "Cambrai", one of the British engines. It's not a particuarly good representation however as the real Cambrai was to a different design to the one modeled by LGB. It's still a pretty engine though.

The "Feldbahn" 0-4-0 tank engines are very German in appearance, however a few similar engines did work here and again they don't look wrong in a British setting.

My vote would be to get a Stainz- they can be picked up for £50- £75 if you look hard enough, and have lots of potential.

If you really want a "Caley" though, get one quick- there aren't many left it seems, and the next batch is supposed to be much more expensive. I know John at Trackshack- probably the best Accucraft supplier out there- has sold out.

MuzTrem · Post by **MuzTrem** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:56 pm

Endless, Nameless wrote:My vote would be to get a Stainz- they can be picked up for £50- £75 if you look hard enough, and have lots of potential.

I don't know - I think you'd have to do quite a lot of work if you wanted to make it look really British! The Bachmann Lyn is a good model however - no longer availible, but you could probably find one second hand...

steamyjim · Post by **steamyjim** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:14 pm

Someone posted about the Double Farlie by Bachmann at first but they appear to have deleted the post for some reason

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:21 pm

I've not seen much British stuff in G scale as we used 2', 2' 3", etc etc, not 3' which G scale is modelled on (whereas on the Continent, they did use this system). You can get kits for British stuff, but these are pricey, so best way is to bash a Stainz or something like Endless, Nameless mentioned. Of course there are live steam British stuff that you can get as 45mm - so bare in mind when you put your track in, not to use too sharper corners.

made-in-england · Post by **made-in-england** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:24 pm

I think you can model 2ft6 on G and it look OK but the sleepers aree too close together

pauly · Post by **pauly** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:13 pm

the diesel is no longer in production.

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:36 pm

Forgot about Lyn and somehow also about the Baguley. Baguley is great, Lyn less so. I seem to remember the scale isn't quite right, which doesn't matter much in the garden, and they aren't the best of runners, which does.

Also only available secondhand and they tend to be quite expensive for what they are.

Although it's pretty tricky to make a stainz look properly British it can be done- it's not that difficult to make it look like and engine that could have run here- there was a broadly similar German tank engine working at a quarry in the South West for many years, albeit on the 2ft gauge. History can be stretched a bit...

SillyBilly · Post by **SillyBilly** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:54 pm

steamyjim wrote:Someone posted about the Double Farlie by Bachmann at first but they appear to have deleted the post for some reason

Nope!
http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about585.html

Welcome Brian, there is lots of feedback on the Caledonia here:
www.gscalemad.co.uk/forum/index.php?sho ... 957&st=300
They also report that this place is one of the few where they are still in stock:
www.hobb-e-mail.com/shop/shop.php?cat=3 ... bb3b28a1d2

The Baguley isn't G Scale, but is G Gauge (45mm), I've got one it ran well on trackpower, you may want to add some extra weight though if you're thinking of loading it up though.

steamyjim · Post by **steamyjim** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:07 pm

SillyBilly wrote:
steamyjim wrote:Someone posted about the Double Farlie by Bachmann at first but they appear to have deleted the post for some reason
Nope!
http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about585.html

Welcome Brian, there is lots of feedback on the Caledonia here:
www.gscalemad.co.uk/forum/index.php?sho ... 957&st=300
They also report that this place is one of the few where they are still in stock:
www.hobb-e-mail.com/shop/shop.php?cat=3 ... bb3b28a1d2

The Baguley isn't G Scale, but is G Gauge (45mm), I've got one it ran well on trackpower, you may want to add some extra weight though if you're thinking of loading it up though.

No, there was a post about the Farlie in this thread earlier today

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:14 pm

I was going to suggest visiting the G Scale Mad forum- loads of stuff on there- but wasn't sure if I was allowed!

I'm an escapee from the GSM asylum y'see.

SillyBilly · Post by **SillyBilly** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:36 pm

Please feel welcome too, if help can't be found here then it is better getting a deeper answer elsewhere rather than fudging it up.

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:14 pm

Cheers William

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:34 pm

made-in-england wrote:I think you can model 2ft6 on G and it look OK but the sleepers aree too close together

can always use Peco Sm45!

Titan · Post by **Titan** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:19 pm

steamyjim wrote:No, there was a post about the Farlie in this thread earlier today

That was me - misread the original post and followed the link and saw the steam countess, thought for that price he could have the fairlie plus change. Then realised my mistake so deleted the post. Must have been up for all of five minutes... there is quite a bit of brassworks/bachmann stuff in Gauge 1, but a lot seems to be in the 'coming soon' category

brianwhitehead · Post by **brianwhitehead** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:18 pm

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I guess another option would be to go for a Gauge 1 loco, like the Bachmann Brassworks 060 Jinty. Am I right in thinking that this will run on LGB G scale track?

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:40 pm

brianwhitehead wrote:Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I guess another option would be to go for a Gauge 1 loco, like the Bachmann Brassworks 060 Jinty. Am I right in thinking that this will run on LGB G scale track?

I would of thought so, but would look a little odd...

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:33 pm

Might be issues with the finescale G1 wheels on the rather unfinescale LGB points, I don't know.

Peco G1 track looks a lot better anyway if you're running gauge 1 stuff. I'd be inclined to stick to narrow gauge, it's cheaper and you can usually get more track in a given space- gauge 1 needs large radius curves and points to look right really, unless you are modelling an industrial setting.

brianwhitehead · Post by **brianwhitehead** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:21 pm

Endless, Nameless wrote:Might be issues with the finescale G1 wheels on the rather unfinescale LGB points, I don't know.

Peco G1 track looks a lot better anyway if you're running gauge 1 stuff. I'd be inclined to stick to narrow gauge, it's cheaper and you can usually get more track in a given space- gauge 1 needs large radius curves and points to look right really, unless you are modelling an industrial setting.

ta.

The G scale stuff is certainly cheaper, from what I can see, but there's hardly any British stuff, as people have pointed out. I will have to see if I can pick up a Caledonia.

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Recommendations for a rtr G scale loco

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