Hi, I'm opening up this thread for all G scale resources such as where to purchase new or used G scale related products. I will also use this thread for hot to intructions, reference charts as well as posting pictures and information about G scale trains now out of production. All current production G scale trains will be announced in EMD Trainmans News and reviews section. I think this thread should be a great aid in getting started in G scale model railroading.
G scale railroading, getting started I can't tell you how to get started, you have to make up you own mind what you want to model. Some model a certain year or time period, some model a certain place and some just make up thier own railroad. This is my story how I got started, the mistakes I make and progress that was made. In 1999 started out with a Bachman big hauler train set in which I ran on a home made hanging elevated ceiling system and I added about 4 cars to it. There was one mistake I made, I never put up any side railing on the system such as pleyglass or wood rails as I thought this detracted from seeing the train. Well, one day one of the track nails came loose from vibration probably, the train hit it and the locomotive fell off from 7ft high and smashed into many pieces thus ending my elevated train layout idea. I sold the remaining bachman cars on ebay and planned another layout, this time floor level with 4ft diameter curves, I was able to run Aristocraft Alco FA units on the track but another mistake was made. Newer and bigger diesels were coming out and the minimum radius for them was 5ft diameter. So I sold off all of my 4ft radius curves on ebay and bought all new 5ft diameter curves. My track and train collection started getting bigger and I needed more power. So I chose Bridgewerks transformers to run my power, another mistake I made was using the original 18 gauge wire to run power from my new transformers, this made the new transformer blow out as the wire could not handle the power. Dave at Bridgewerks recommended I run 10 gauge wire instead and that ended any transformer power problems. Some people run battery power, but I decided track power was best due to I knew I was getting into some heavy locomotive freight trains. The layout grew to 300ft of track, there are 3 different mailine tracks for the trains to run on and a kidney shaped small track for a trolley. Well track #1 has a S curve in it, now it maybe ok to put 1 curve track to the left and the next curve to the right to make your S curve for a small critter locomotive and small cars to go thru, but don't try these big diesels or big freight cars on it because disaster will hit and derailments will happen. I found when running big diesels by experimenting that there should be at least a 2ft straight before putting curves the opposite way to make your S. Small diesels such as the USA NW-2 will only need a 1ft straight in between opposite curves. Then came out even bigger diesels yet, the Aristocraft SD-45 and the USA SD40-2, both needing 8ft diameter minimum curves, so to cut cost I only replaced curves on track #1, but I found this limited the train to where it could go, so I bit the bullet and converted everything including the trolley track over to 8ft diameter curves and sold the 5ft curves on ebay. Of course this drasticlly changed the layout, I lost 2 yards and downsized 2 yards due to the new room space that was neede to run these curves. I also had to convert all of my 5ft switches over to X-wide which is a 10ft diameter switch. This was a very costly change over, so I suggest you plan on what you want to run before you buy anything. Planning the layout indoors was fun and easy, there was no weather changes to worry about, I didn't have to stake and string out my track plan as I could lay it out on a fly and if I didn't like it I could change it, working on this at night was not problem since how I had plenty of lighting. One mistake I didn't make that others do is to tie down a G-scale railroad. Coming from HO or N scale I can see why you would naturally want to tie the trac down, but you have to remember, you are using brass track now and not nickel silver, brass contracts and expands constantly, especially in wild weather changes. Tieing track like this down would be disasterous, you could end up with buckled and warped track, the best thing to do is let it float and don't tie it down unless really neceesary, let the rail joiners do there job. There is also expansion track available in G scale for those who live in continued changing climate areas. I think it expans up to 1", this is great for those who want to be out doors. UV rays are also a danger to your eqiupment outside, using a clear UV protectant spray such as dull coat may solve this problem. Final note: I got into the hobby to have fun, today I own 16 locomotives, 85 rolling stock, 3 Brigewerks Mag100DL transformers 1 Bridgewerks MAG15 add on and operate on 300ft of track indoors. I'm not a fine scaler or a rivet counter, I just wanna have fun with family and friends who enjoy trains. All of my locomotives are old to modern day EMD diesels which I love. I have 6 different trains made up, but obviuosly van only run 3 at one time. So I decided to changed them around seasonally as swapping trains around is alot of work.
G scale reference chart There are many different scale ratios of G scale between manufactuerers and will make a quick reference chart for all. I know this sounds confusing about scale ratios. Let me explain it this way, If you are into HO and N scale, no matter what manufacturer you buy from, they are all pretty much the same size scale ratio wise, HO is all the same size, N scale is all the same size. In a G scale world this is way different. There is nothing, I mean nothing standard in the G scale world. When a product advertises its a G scale that could range from a 1:20.3 scale ratio all the way to a 1:32 scale ratio, everything in between those scale ratios are considered G scale. Now here is the manufacturers chart I promised. USA Trains Ultimate Series 1:29 scale ratio USA Trains American Series 1:24 scale Aristocraft 1:29 scale ratio Aristocraft Delton series 1:24 scale ratio Hartland Locomotive works 1:24 scale ratio Accucraft Mainline products 1:32 scale ratio Accucraft Narrow gauge products 1.20.3 scale ratio also known as F scale Bachman Narrow gauge products 1.20.3 scale ratio Marklin Trains 1:32 scale ratio MTH Trains 1:32 scale ratio LGB 1:22.5 scale ratio When you go to buy these above listed trains, they actually list their specific scale ratios either on the box or on their specifc web site There are manufacturers who produce non specific scale ratios which are just advertised as G scale and could range in different ratios from the same manufacturer. Now, if I take for example a MTH 40ft reefer which is a 1:32 scale ratio and hook it up to my USA Trains 40ft reefer which is a 1:29 scale ratio, yes there would be a big noticable difference which is why you have to choose manufacturers before you just go out buying G scale trains. Not to confuse anyone any more, but G scale is also known as #1 Gauge, but as far as commercial track goes, the width of course is standard at 45mm, but even the track comes in many different styles. Aristocraft makes European and USA style tracks for example, there is also narrow gauge style track from custom track manufacturers. But this isn't the end yet, LGB has different profile height tracks they sell. The biggest height profile is 320mm which both LGB and Aristocraft make. LGB also makes 250mm, 160mm and 140mm height profile tracks, mixing these around would also be disasterous. I personally like the 320mm and the reason why I choose Aristocraft is because ALL Aristocraft track is 320mm and they don't make any other size. The 320 is a more dependable track to run on, but purist railroad modelers would say that profile track is not realistic to my scale of train and thats the reason why LGB make som many different profile tracks because there are many different ratio scales and they wanted to capture the whole G scale market sales. Technically, the railroad model purist (also known as "rivet counters") would be right if I was a purist in which I not, but if I was I would have to run my 1:29 scale trains on 250mm track to be scale perfect, but I'm in it for the fun and dependability.
G scale in a small space I originally came from a Lionel O scale world and like many others, when I first saw G scale I loved it, but said, "Wow thats so big, where would I even put trains those size at?" Today I laugh when someone says they don't have the room for G scale. If you are a HO or N scale modeler, like many other modelers you put your layout on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, well guess what? You can cut that piece in half to a 4 x 4 square and still have room to put a G scale train set on it and run it, I'll explain how in this thread. Let me explain G scale track curves first since how curves take most of the room on a G scale layout. O scale rates curves in 027, 032, 052, 072, HO and N rates I believe rates curves in degrees, such as 33 degrees. G -scale curve ratings are very easy so you can manage the space you need. The G scale curves are rated in feet diameter, for example Aristocraft makes a 4 ft diameter curve which means you need a 4 x 4 ft area or 16 sq ft area to make a complete circle which is why I said you could actually run a G scale train on that cut in half plywood. The most common size diameter curves are 4ft, 5ft, 8ft, 10ft and 20ft and what you need depends upon how long of a train you are running and how big of a locomotive you want. I run 8ft diameter curves with 10ft diameter switches for extra room switching. Switch diameters only run 4ft, 10ft and 20ft. There are custom switch builders who will build what ever you want however. Lets get building that G scale train layout based on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood that a HO modeler would use on a budget. The wood work and frame design for a G scale table would be the same except you would use 2 x 4 studs instead of 1 x 2, you would use 1 x 4 sides and cross supports with 1/4 inch lag bolts, remember you have to hold more weight now. Also use the heavier 5/8 plywood and srew it down to your frame work For the HO modeler, he would visit the hobby shop for grass mats for the table, we are going to Home Depot or Lowes and get some indoor/outdoor green carpet, it's perfect for G scale. Next we have to decide on what track to use and in this application I would choose LGB 320mm profile track. The reason why I chose LGB for this project is because they offer vinyl road bed material to fit perfect under their track where Aristocraft doesen't because they think everyone models outside and it would get covered in real ballast anyway. Of course we will have to use 4ft diameter track due to space limitations. Remember not to tie this track down with too many screws, it needs to contract and expand a bit becuase you are working with brass track now. Screwing every other 2 tracks down with only 2 screws should do. Now we have our track work done, lets check out some railroad models available for our application. Aristocraft has a nice variety of small 20ft freight cars available for around $28.00 a piece. They also have a small diesel critter locomotive, a small center cab diesel locomotive and a small Rogers 0-4-0 Steamer for those who don't like diesels. If 20ft freight cars are not your thing and seems too kid like, then USA trains has a EMD NW-2 starter kit, it comes with a EMD NW-2 disel switcher, a American Series box car and a full size caboose. You could probably add another 3 Amercian series freight cars on this layout and still look good. All of the above are good porducts that run on track power and are not like those cheap battery operated G scale trains you would find in Toys R Us. Now that we have our trains, lets move on to the scenery. LGB makes building kits which are expensive and time consuming to build. Aristocraft has already pre-made buildings at a good price. So we will put Aristocrafts farm house on one end of the layout and Aristocrafts Freight shed on the other end. Also Aristocraft makes a wide variety of G scale people. Now for the vehicles, we are going to that toys R Us and buy a 1/24 scale diecast car of our choice and preferably a 1:24 scale stake body truck. I say 1:24 scale because that is the closest scale diecast available to our 1::29 ratio trains we are using. The car you put next to the house and the truck goes next to the shed. Now for the roadway, you go back to home depot or lowes again and get 320 grit sand paper for a belt sander, this makes a perfect roadway for G scale cars. Lifelike also makes a G scale railroad crossing signal which we will add, add some trees and now you have a fun fully operational G scale layout on the same space you would have put your HO layout on, it may not be totally accurate or to scale, but we made this on a budget and for fun. You also made not be able to make a empire builder in G scale on a 4 x 8 area, but hey now you do at least have a G scale layout, the possibilties are endless. If you really are confined in space and have a very low budget, you can have a fully running train set for only $235.00 that would fit in the corner of your porch or sunroom. Hartland locomtive works has a Barrel train set kit in which the train runs around on top of a barrel, you just add flowers to the center of it. I've seen these in person at the East Coast Train show and they are neat, you can visit Hartland and check these kits out at www.h-l-w.com
G scale 1:29 ratio equipment reference chart Hi, today we are going to discuss track requirements of some G scale equipment, mainly 1:29 scale ratio equipment since I know this ratio equipment best. As in the previous post, we learned about the different track feet diameters. Now I will list some railroad equipment and what requirements are as to what diameter curve you will need. Lets start off with Locomotives first Aristocraft Locomotives Lil Critter 4ft dia Center Cab Diesel 4ft dia Alco PA 4ft dia U25B 5ft dia 2-8-0 Consolidation 5ft dia 0-4-0 Rogers 4ft dia 2-8-2 Mikado 8ft dia SD-45 8ft dia GP-40 5ft dia 2-8-8-2 Mallet 8ft dia USA Trains F3-A 5ft dia GP-30 5ft dia GP-9 5ft dia GP38-2 5ft dia NW-2 4ft dia SD40-2 8ft dia SD-50 8ft dia Special Note: I only listed equipment I'm most familiar with, I have been told by many people at train shows that LGB makes all of thier trains to run on the smallest curve availble which is 4ft diameter, so basiclly you don't have to worry about what LGB product you buy, it will negotiate a 4ft diameter curve.. I also know that all Bachman trains will also run on 4ft Diameter curve, but not sure about the new 1:20.3 scale K27 steam locomotive they just came out with. Here is a very small list of freight cars USA Trains Ultimate series passenger cars 10ft dia USA Trains Ultimate series 55ft Tank car 8ft dia USA Trains Ultimate series 55ft Hopper car 8ft dia Aristocraft Heavyweight passenger cars 8ft dia Anyone who wishes to add to the list is more than welcome to.
G scale coupling problems Does everyone remember what I told BoxcabE50 about how nothing is standard in G scale, well today we will discuss G scale couplers and if you plan on getting into this hobby you should follow along closely. There is only one type coupler that is standard in G scale and that is the "hook and loop" type coupler. I myself not being a big fan of the hook and loop couplers I run "knuckle type couplers instead and here is where the problem comes in. Lets take another scale for example, in the O scale world, you can buy a K-line, Lionel, MTH, Atlas 3-rail trains and hook them all up together with no problem, the same in HO, Atlas, Athearn, Bachman, Kato, etc, the all hook up together. This is not so in the G scale world as far as knuckle couplers go. Aristocraft makes their own type knuck couplers, Bachman makes thier own type, USA Trains makes their own type, MTH does, Hartland does and guess what? None of them are a standard style and these different manufacturers will not couple with each other. Another words If you buy a USA train car and a Aristocraft train car, because of the different design knuckle couplers, they won't couple to each other. What do you do? One alternative was to run all hook and loop couplers, but was not for me and was ruled out. Another alternative which maybe familiar to some HO modelers was to run Kadee couplers. There were some huge disadvantages for me to run these kadee couplers. First of all let me explain that all G scale commercial rolling stock mounts their couplers on the trucks of the car. Since how many railroad purist said this wasn't realistic, Kadee came out with body mounted couplers, the one huge disadvantage to a body mounted coupler was that now you need a bigger diameter curve to negotiate a curve so you don't throw the car off the track. Another disadvantage is that because there are so many different scale ratio G scale models out there you have to shim the kadee body mounted coupler to the right height with plastic styrene not included in the coupler kit. You also have to buy the kadee coupler height gauge to measure the right heaight for each railroad car to your track you are using. Now I own 85 freight cars, can you image how much time I would have to spend doing all of this, that wasn't for me either. So I came up with my own idea by experimenting. Since how the majority always wins the vote, I experimented with the couplers in which I had the most equipment of and in this case is USA Trains. Since how I had all 1:29 scale trains, the truck height was pretty much the same between manufacturers. So I tried a pair of USA knuckle couplers on my Aristocraft trains with slim modifications and it worked out well, so I moved on to my LGB cars in which hardly took any modifications. Now I have seen some people have a string of Aristocraft cars and just installed USA couplers on either end of the string instead of each individual car, the only down fall to that idea was you couldn't seperate the string and run it with other cars. With me changing all non USA train cars over to USA couplers, now I can run any car with any train.. The USA trains coupler at first glance is smaller in comparison to the Aristocraft, but don't let the size full you. I have run any where from 10 to 30 car strings and had only 4 USA knuckle coupler failures since 1999, I think that is a good record, especially when you are pulling 10lbs or more of rolling weight
Running G scale multiple loco lash ups Hi, today we are going to discuss running a multiple G scale locomotive lash up. In the HO and N scale world if you want to run multiple lash ups, they sell dummy units so you can do so. Well in the G scale world there are only 2 manufacturers that have diesel locomotive dummy units which is LGB and MTH Trains. All USA trains locomotives and all Aristocraft locomotives are fully powered. Lets take my USA EMD F3 ABBA lash up for example in the previous post. In HO or N scale only one locomotive would be powered, but all 4 of my USA EMD F3 locomotives are fully powered. This gives me a huge advantage in my opinion and let me explain why. As I said I run the F3 units as a ABBA set, but I have the option now to break this set down and run 2 different AB unit powered trains, or I could run just 2 AA units, or I could run just 2 A unit powered trains, now I have a nice locomotive power combination available to me. I also can pull all 85 of my cars if I had the room with no problem with all 4 units. So let me take this even further with more options. The USA Trains GP-9, GP38-2, GP-30 and F3 locomotives all use the same power trucks on all 4 models. Now I can take one of my GP-9 locomotives and lash it up to a F3-B unit and run it without damaging any gears or motor blocks, or I can take my GP-9 double header and lash it up to my GP-30 double header and have an awesome 4 locomotive train. The options are endless to me with the USA Trains that I run. I can't comment on ay Aristocraft locomotives because I haven't had any long enough to know. The only downfall to all of these powered units is you better have some serious transformer power to run all of this which we will discuss next time. Now lets talk about a break in period time. Don't be surprised if you buy 2 GP-30 locomotives for example to run as a double header and they seem to fight each other when you first put them on the track together. This is a perfecdtly normal action and you just have to be patient and they will eventually break in together and run smooth together. I seen so many people get into the hobby and rush into it, the next thing is they are unhappy how the double header lash up runs and they wanna take the motors out of one of the units because they came from a HO world that has dummies ( no pun intended). The only locomotives so far from USA that ran together smoothly out of the box were my SD-50 units. I just love having of all my locomotives being powered only because it gives me so many endless options on how to mix the equipment up to run with. Special Note: I also wanted to mention that some of the cheaper HO model locotives only has one powered motor block in it. All USA trains and all Aristocraft trains use 2 fully powered motor blocks for each locomtive. Also the new USA Train SD-50 uses two motors in one motor block which gives you 4 motors per locomotive
G scale hobby store listings with special run items For me since I have no patience with scratch building, I soley rely on commercial models. I see and appreciate scratch built models, but I just wanna take it out of a box and run it. I just don't want to spend a year of my life building and waiting to run a model. So here is a small list of places that carry special run G scale locomotives and rolling stock. Art Knapp in Canada carries special run Canadian name railroads made by both USA trains and Aristocraft, you can visit them here www.artknapptrains.com Gold Caost Station carries special run Southern Pacific black widow series mainly in USA trains, you can visit them here www.goldcoaststation.com RLD Hobbies carries special run Rock Island, CSX and BNSF trains in Aristocraft & USA trains, you can visit them here at www.rldhobbies.com
Deciding on transformers when going track power Today I want to discuss the options of how to power your G scale railroad with some advantages and disadvantages. Lets start with DCC battery operation, there are many advantages, you can take your trains anywhere and run them like at a club meet without the worry of what kind of track power is being used, you don't have to trench any under ground wires, you don't need to worry about having to install any isolationg tracks and switches. You don't have to worry pretty much about oxidation on your track. The downfall is that you have limited time runs, you need a dedicated trailing car to put in a battery such as a box car, you also need to have a battery changing station for ease of battery changes. Now lets move on to DCC constant track power, in this case you would use a transormer that would put out a constant supply voltage, usually between 12 to 24 volts depending on what maximum voltage requirements of your locomotives are. This indeed is a great set up, no worries about isolating tracks, you can run as long as you like and have a hands free operation by using a remote to operate everything, The down fall is that its hard depending on what DCC you are using in starting a diesel lashup since how in many cases you can only address one locomotive at a time, although I'm not too familiar with Locolinc and RCS systems, maybe they have something by now. The down fall is the huge expense, especially for someone like me, to convert 16 locomotives over to DCC would be a huge expense and you still have the track maintence to do. Another disadvantage is that most DCC systems can't operate on high DC voltage such as 24 volts. The option I chose is total track power control with a twist. Total track power allows you to run all day also, but you have to have isolating tracks and switches, you are also stuck turning off your locomotives manually if you wat to park it on a siding of the same track you want to run another locomotive on. This is more in my budget area and now for the twist. The transformers I chose are Bridgewerks MAG 1000 DL models which are fully remote controlled so in reality, I still have some remote power of my trains. Aristocraft offers a train command walk around system but it is still corded. Now if you are going transformer control you have to know what your manufactacurers maximum DC voltage requirements are and what type of DC output voltage they require. Aristocraft trains require a pulse width output DC voltage, the Aristocraft transformer takes the input voltage and changes it to a pulse width output. Now lets talk about AC voltage for a second, AC voltage is NOT a constant flow of electiricty like DC, if you were to put a oscillating scope on a AC current outlet, there would be steady spikes of electricity pretty much like a heart monitor. These spikes can be harmful to some locomotive motors because most transformers will take that same AC spike and transform it to DC power with the same spike in it, but you would never notice it on your transformer monitor because it happens so fast, usually a milli-second. This also brings us to why I chose Brdgewerks transformers, Bridgewerks transformers have a patented DC filtering system in each of their transformers, The Bridgewerks actually takes the spikes in AC voltage out before it transforms it into DC power giving you pure DC power. Brigewerks also has a huge selection of transformers and I actually got to meet the owner and founder Dave at the East Coast large scale train show. He is a great guy making time to help anyone out in there power need, he is 100% totally American and shows it, all of his transformers are made right here in the USA. His son works for a eletircal testing company so of the internal Bridgewerks electronics are fully tested under harsh conditions before it even hits the market. You get a 5 year warranty for anythig that goes wrong with it. I had a failure in one and it was 6 years old, when I called and told Dave about it, he said send it out and I'll fix it, I asked how much it would be, he said free, all you have to do is ship it, he told me he doesn't worry about the warranty dates and wants everyone to have these and pass them on to another generation, so I got it fixed for free. He also gets to see why the unit failed and improves upon it, you can visit bridgewerks site here www.bridgewerks.com
USA locos fragile parts For those who are getting into G scale for the first time or buying a USA train locomotive for the first time there are a few fragile parts on them I will go over in this thread. When buying the USA GP38-2, GP-9, GP-30 or even the NW-2 and the S-4 there are some parts that are not installed and come in a plastic bag. The reason why USA didn't install them is #1 they are fragile and will break in transit, #2 there was no way to put them on the loco and pack the loco with breaking these parts. You will have to install all handrails, most people leave them off because they are scared to break them. The tabs on the hand rails which you have to insert into the holes are fragile, jut make sure the hole is free from flashing before you install it, you also have to install all of the individual hoses, horns, bells and step plates. On the F3 units there is a warning sheet inside on how to handle picking up this partiucular locomotive, you can NOT hold it from the sides and must be picked up from the bottom or you will break the side fine mesh grille, the motor blocks on the SD40-2 and the SD-50 have to be handled with car when placing the locomotive on the track, the motor blocks are packed in foam since how they are a articulated motor block. You will have to remove the foam from the motor blocks. You don't have to necessaarly install these parts, some people don't and save them a side. If you do install these parts and break something later, don't get up set, USA trains a very nice illustrated parts list for every locomotive they ever built with a parts break down for each, just order what you need. They also sell the rubber tires and pick up shoes.
Realism in a G scale world Hi, today we will talk about how USA trains invests alot of time and energy in researching the rolling stock or locomotives they are about to build. When I first got into this hobby in 1999 and you wanted to buy an Aristocraft piece of rolling stock you liked, the one thing that kept me from buying it was the fact that Aristocraft used the catalog part number as the railroad number for that particular car. For example I own a Aristocraft flat car stock #46309, guess what the railroad number of this car is the same. Charles RO trains pretty much the same exact thing until it became USA Trains. When USA trains took over Charles RO they recognized that people wanted real life railroad numbers on the locomotives and rolling stock and not just any made up number either. They were so successful at this and popular that Aristocraft was eventually forced to do the same thing later. You can take any of my USA trains locomotives or rolling stock and you will actually find that road number on Rio Grande's roster since how I model mainly after Rio Grande I'm using them as an example. USA spends alot of time researching rosters to make sure they come with a product that has correct road numbers for the railroad of choice. Lets take for example my USA ultimate series 50ft double door box car in Rio Grande, the road number for that particular car is #65244. If you look up Rio Grande's roster you will see they bought a group of these in 1967 starting with road number #65200 to #65299 and they were 5,100 cubic feet box cars, these particular box cars were used for hauling metals such as copper, lead, tinplate and vanadium by Rio Grande, because these particular box cars were made so tough, some are still in service today including #65244. Picture #1 deleted Picture #2 is the USA trains ultimate series box car So now you know how much research goes into the USA trains rolling stock and locomotives. Don't get me wrong I own a few Aristocraft pieces, a matter of fact I bought a Aristocraft 2 bay covered hopper car this year at the East Coast large scale train show for 2 reasons, 1) It had actual railroad numbers on it and 2) they actually painted it in the correct color this time which is grey. The earlier version of the Rio Grande 2 bay hopper had stock numers for raod numbers and were painted orange which was incorrect for a 2 bay hopper car in Rio Grande, but I still own that one also. I still complain about having to buy steel wheels as USA trains ultimate series comes standard with steel wheels and all aristocraft comes with plastic wheels, another $15 added expense to the item price.
Trouble at Troublesome You see write about how USA uses real railroad numbers and my USA F3 units are no different. I own a USA F3 ABBA set up, The F3-A is #5521, F3-B is #5522, the 2nd F3-B is #5523 and the 2nd F3-A is #5524 just like they were numbered from Rio Grande. These 4 locomotives were bought new in 1946 by Rio Grande in real life but were originally numbered #521, #522, #523 & #524. Rio Grande switched these locomotives to a 4 digit number because the dispatchers were getting them confused with the switchers in the yard. In 1965, believe it or not these 4 same locomotives were lashed together to pull a load, when was the last time you saw any railroad run sequential numbered units together? The 4 units were heading into Colorado after a crew change, the engineer and the watchman were talking and never noticed the slow and get ready to stop signal. At a curve called "Troublesome" there was a switch, but by the time the engineer realized what was happening it was too late, #5521, #5522, #5523 and #5524 could not stop in time in the switch and crashed into a on coming train at Pactolus, Colorado in 1965 and what a terrible mess it was. You too can see what happened, it was all caught on film and Rio Grande made a training film out of this accident. The video is called "Royal Gorge/Trouble at troublesome" and is avaliable at www.pentrex.com All four units were repaired and repainted in the single black stripe with yellow paint scheme and remained in service until 1966 which they were all scrapped. Only one F-A and B Rio Grande units survive today, they are the F7-A #5771 and it's orignal F3-B unit, both can be seen at the colorado train museum, you can take a virtual tour here at www.crrm.org The Rio GGrande F7-A and B were famous for pulling the California Zephyr
Running Train schedules and keeping inventory Running a train schedule to make deliveries with can be fun and entertaining for the kids. For instance if you have a string of box cars, you can drop certain ones off at different warehouse on your layout to pick up items and then later pick them back up and deliver them to the to outlet warehouse with loading docks that has trucks to deliver the goods. Also keeping track of your inventory can be challenging, to know what you have can be better for you to schedule trains. I tried a inventory program called All Aboard data express and it's for all scales. It was ok, it allows you to put pictures to go with each description you put in for each rolling stock. My Dell Windows XP crashed and Dell replaced it for free with Windows XP professional, unfortunately my All Aboard program would not work with this, I contacted the makers of All Aboard and they said they had trouble with the Dell version of windows XP professional. They had another program they gave me for free called Fort Knox, this was also a good program but you have to call for a new license code every time your computer crashes. So I came up with a better and cheaper idea for myself, I put all of my inventory on a Word Office excel spread sheet and at the same time organized it into train schedules. You will see examples in photo attachments. I tried keeping certain era rolling stock with the right era locomotives. For example I own 40ft box cars, single dome tank cars and 40ft reefer cars, since how most of those were made in the late 50s and early 60s I put them with my F3 units, My 50ft box cars and 50ft reefer cars go with my SD40-2 units since how they were all made in around the same time era, The SD70-Macs pull my 55ft center flow and 55ft tank cars which keeps all of my most modern stuff together. There are 3 trains I did not follow the time era rule on, I run my GP-9 locomotives with my coal cars since how Rio Grande used the same locomotives forever to do the same thing with their coal cars. Plus my shortline railroad here still uses old GP-9 locomotives, they have 6 of them. Then running with a idea from a train magazine I decided to run a "Flat" service train which has piggy back cars. center beam cars and other flat cars. There was a article in a magazine about running dedicated "Flat" service trains and it is as fun as they said it would be, I'm glad I tried it. Then of course running a MOW train is also fun and I don't pay much attention to time era on this one either. Hopefully this may give those interested some good ideas.
weather or not There are alot of people who like model trains to look as real as possible. Therefore many modelers will weather their trains in a heavy or light rust, or paint graffitti on them or even paint heavy smoke on the locomotives. Some will even dinge them heavily to make it look like years of dirt build up. There are many methods of doing this, some use paints of various types and some just use the chaulk method. Weathring or having a weathered rolling stock isn't for everyone however. weathering a car takes a lot of practice to make it look real. None of my rolling stcok or my locomotives are weathered and I'll tell you why later. You must consider what you are buying, do you really want to waether that $75 or more rolling stock. some people will buy a cheaper Bachman or Hartland train to make a project out of or to weather. Here is why I don't weather my trains, lets say I change my mind on what rolling stock I want to run or roadnames which does sometimes happens to me. I can recover more money from that item on e-bay in it's original condition than if it was weathered or alterted. Most of the time I was able to recover as much as 90% of the original purchase price even though it was a used item. If I was selling a weathered train that would be way less, especially if it was a exspensive train to begin with. weathered trains do not seem to sell well on ebay, most probably buy them just to repaint in their own paint scheme over again anyway. So before going off and weathering all of your railroad equipment, make sure it's something you are going to keep forever or later make another project out of it if you lose interest in it. Just because you liked the way you weathered it doesn't necessarily mean that someone on ebay will like the way you did it. Before anyone says trains don't have bright finish coats of paint, my shortline railroad here just finished painting 10 old 2 bay covered hopper cars in a bright yelow. Although they are old, now they look like new. For those who don't like that bright finish there is a product called dullcoat and it's a clear paint spray which should help out without reducing any value to your trains.
How To: Couple Aristo to USA Here is my first "How To" article. We are going to discuss how to convert Aristocraft trains rolling stock to accept USA knuckle couplers. Now I could just make it easy on myself and just run hook and loop couplers like Route 66 did in his thread and the hook and loop coupler set up is the ONLY standardized coupler in the G scale world. But if you like knuckle couplers, the hook and loop just won't do. If you are a big kadee coupler person and like body mounted couplers, I have bad news for you. First you need to buy a kadee coupler gauge and a whole bunch of plastic shim stock because of the way all G scale manufacturers don't make the bottom of their rolling stock the same. So each rolling stock has to be gauged to you track and then shimmed with plastic shims, you then have to glue the shims to the bottom of your rail car and then screw in the body mounted coupler to you shim pack you made. This is a very time consuming process. The newer 55ft USA centerflow cars and the USA 55ft tank cars are the only USA trains rolling stock that is already set up to mount kadee couplers and comes with the body mount kit, but you supply the kadee coupler. The way I did it as I previously said is the majority always wins just like in voting. So the majority of my equipment is USA trains, but I do buy LGB or Aristocraft once in a while when I see something I like so I convert my rolling stock to USA train couplers. The next downfall to kadee body mount couplers is that you will not be able to run on a curve smaller than a 10ft diameter which by the way may be a perfect curve for outside, but for a inside modeler such as myself, 10ft curves are out of the question. Today I recieved my Aristocraft 53ft Evans double door boxcar in the Railbox name after being inspired by seeing a real CSX train pulling a string of 10 Railbox Hi cube box cars in the mix of its freight. But now we have to make some modifications to make it capatible with the rest of my train which is mainly USA. Now I have seen and heard people convert aristocraft trains over to USA trucks, this I found as I did one as a experiment is very timely due to the amount of modifications you have to make to both the USA truck and Aristocraft car, so I found the easy way out. You can just merely remove the entire Aristocraft coupler, take the USA coupler, cut the rear tab off and reinstall on the original Aristocraft truck. They are just about the same dead on height to do this with.
G scale for Canadian Train lovers Do you want G scale trains but want Canadian Railroad names? Well, it looks like the G scale manufacturers heard you and are coming out with new Canadian railroad equipment constantly and some with multiple road names. Here is a couple of places specializing in G scale Canadian roalroad equipment. www.hobbycraft.com www.artknapptrains.com
G scale building vendors This week I will also be listing some G scale building vendors to help out those who are getting started. K's G scale buildings, www.ksgscalebldgs.com Colorado Structures - 1:24 scale, www..coloradomodel.com Michaels woodworking, www.trainbuildings.com Garden Texture - 400 items to choose from, www.gardentexture.com Wiilow Creek Customs - All Scales, www.willowcreekcustomcreations.com Pacific Coats Supply - hand built buildings, www.pcgrs.com Metzgers Wood Werks - fine scale 1:20.3, www.mcwwerks.com G scale builder, www.gscalebuilder.com VES Enterprise - facades and buildings, www.gtrainbuildings.com My hobby supply, www.myhobbysupply.com G scale Structures - made from cedar, www.gscalestructures.com St Aubin Trains - supplier of Aristocraft builings, Piko & Pola buildings, www.staubintrains.com/trainshop/default.asp I hope this helps you out in your search for G scale buildings for those who don't want to spend time scratch building thier own buildings.
Track, Switch and Bridge manufacturers Here is a list of G scale track, switch and bridge manufacturers for those who like more sepcifc code tracks, more realistic switches or need custom made switches. Train-li USA - R2, R3 switches, curves, flex track in brass or nickel, new switches now offer metal frogs > www.train-li-usa.com Lone star Birdges - 1:20 scale bridges in brass and mahogany > www.lonestarbridge.com C&OCRY - track code 250 in nickel silver, code 250 & 332 in aluminum with UV ties > www.cocry.com Sunset Valley Railroad - 1:20.3 and 1:29 scale track in stainless steel, also offering hand built #4 and #6 switches in Brass, stainless, nickel silver and aluminum. > www.svrronline.com LLagas Creek - 1:20.3 and 1:32 nickel silver track, code 215 and 250 aluminum track for R/C and live steamers > www.llagastrack.com Switch Crafters - code 215, 250 and 332 track in aluminum, offering #4, #6, #8 and Y switches and 19 degree cross overs. > www.switchcrafters.com The Parker Company - code 332 turnouts in brass or stainless with real redwood ties and tenmille throw included > www.coparker.com Smith Ford Junction - Wood kits and Scale lumber, includes kits for trestles and Howe Truss birdges > www.spjrr.com Garden Metal Models - complete line of Deck girder bridges, cat walks and piers > www.gardenmetalmodels.com Flexxbed - Vinyl road bbed for all raius and brand tracks > www.flexxbed.com For the below listed track please visit my favorite hobby store and he will take care of you. www.staubintrains.com USA Trains track and switches Aristocraft track annd switches available in brass or stainless AMS Mainline track code 332
Train Inventory, track plans, simulators I'm going off the beaten path again and off subject from G scale. I think inventory of a railroad is very important, especially if you certain rolling stock and want to run multiple road numbers. You definately don't want to buy what you already have. There are many inventory programs out there just for trains for any scale which you can download information such as scale, create folders for different equipment such as box cars, tank cars etc, you can even create sub folders on some programs such as 60ft box cars, 50ft box cars, 40ft box cars, etc. There are some programs you can load pictures for each car entered, year the car was made or aquired, product number, road name and road number. There are also railroad planner software that allows you to input data or type of curves and equipment and then simulate how it will run. If you made a mistake the program will tell you what the problem area is with your plan allowing you to save time and money. Then you can change you plans until you get a successful running railroad and then you can put your plan into works knowing it will be successful. A company called Tayden makes such programs aimed at train inventories and track planning. A place called hobby linc sells these programs and you can view them at > www.hobbylinc.com/prods/u_tay.htm A company called Auran has many nice train simulator programs but I must warn you in advance you must have a lot of memory and a big video card to play these games. These are the best train simulator games I've seen in a while allowing you to create your own layout, giving you cab controls to really use the brake, the throttle, etc. Again if you mess up in making your own layout and make a curve too tight on a radius your train will derail. You can put the simulator in real rail mode and if you mess up and forget to switch a switch in the right direction, you will derail. You can add trains, hook up and disconnect, drop off at different points. You can shop for these programs at www.auran.com There is another simulator program out there which doesn't need as much memory but the 3-D graphics aren't as good either. There is a game called the 3-D Railroad master. You can't build your own layout but what you do is you have to make certain stops and deliveries in a certain time frame while keeping within the speed limits and remember to honk your horn at the rail crossings, if you don't you will get fined from what you made from your deliveries. Ulitimately if you go too fast in a curve you will derail and catch on fire. If you switch your loco from foward to reverse without stopping you will break reverse or the foward part of that gear. They also have train puzzles and a program called the "Hump" yard that will keep you on your toes. The company is called abracadata and you can view their products here at www.theliquidateher.com <> trust me the site name looks like a girl site, but it's not and I'm not sure why someone would choose to name their website like this, lol.
Pictures of all of the USA heritage series here Hi, I have incuded all of the pictures of USA trains new heritage series locomotives. I figures it would be ok to post here since none of the pictures are copyrighted. You really have to see on in person to appreciate their art work and beauty.
