Getting Started

[On3 Convert]

I'm planning to convert from On3 to On30, primarily to take advantage of the great products available from Bachmann.  I have reviewed the Message Board and researched the Interet but have a few lingering questions:

1) I gather that the smaller locomotives such as the Climax, Shay, Porter and Forney will operate dependably on curves with radii as short as 18 inches but that, aestetically, 24 inch radii should be the minimum.  Is this correct?

2) I want to start with the Shay using both DCC and sound but it's not clear to me from the Bachmann web site which products are required for this.  What do I need to get started?

3) What size rail is recommended for Bachmann products?

4) What is the recommended minimun turnout size?

Any help would be much appreciated

[JohnR]

I have a couple comments for you.

On item #1 - Aestetics are 'beauty in the eye of the beholder'.   Some feel things look fine below 18" and some don't.  The Climax, Shay and Porter can operate on 18" (and somewhat lower radii) with cars attached.  The Forney (with cars) in my experience needs 22" or higher.

On item #2 - If you can hold off until Nov, Bachmann will begin shipping the Shays with sound (See recent announcements).

On item #3 - 70, 83, and 100 are the choices.  Which to pick depends on the products you plan to use and what looks right to your eye.  Peco is code 100.  MicroEngineering offers code 70, 83 and 100.

On item #4 - This also depends a bit on product selection.  Peco's line of O-16.5/On30 has exactly 3 choices LH, RH and Wye.  MicroEngineering's line of On30 track has 2 choices LH & RH (#5's).  If you build 'em yourself, you have more flexibility. 

-John

[eric]

To add to JohnR's comments, there are other ON30 turnouts available.  Two additional sources are:

<http://www.maine2footquarterly.com/turnout.htm>

<http://oldpullmanmodelrailroads.com/op_catalog/Narrow_Gauge_turnouts.pdf>

There are others, but I don't remember/have the URL's for them.

I have run all my Bachmann items through #4 turnouts, but to allow for different engines later on, I am using #5 or #6 turnouts.  If you ever plan to run some of the MMI products, such as a 2-8-2, I would go with #6 turnouts.

Some use regular HO track, which does increase your options considerably.

Hope this helps.

Eric Root 

[ollie]

This is what I am doing so far. Got a huge collection of H0-scale and my Con runs fine on the tracks I have. Have ordered some Micro Engineerings track and turnouts to make more trials before thinking of track plans and stuff like that. Then a few freight cars and a plastic kit from Wathers so I acan get sence of the mass of the scale.
Had an eye for Pecos but feel that the turn out looks too sharp for the bigger units I plan to run. Would love to see more firms doing more track, and the current firms make more variations like a double slip.  In hidden areas like staging I think I will go along with Peco. I live in Europe and they are available everywhere.

I guess running 18 inch curves look too sharp, even with small critters I think 24 works better.  I guess you could use the available H0 scale track but the tie space and lenght is obvious unless you do heavy ballasting. That in other hand seems to be overkill if you use small critters which hardly ran too often on well manicured road bed.  But track does not come cheap and as there are so many firms doing H0-scale track in numbers, you might save a few bucks you might need to spend elsewhere.Just a thought. Remember if you are frreelancing (which is far easily on narrow gauge), you are the boss, the bank and the constuctor so you are in charge and can set your own standards for your line.... Hope you have fun with the Shay and keep posting!

[Tomcat]

Ollie,

you did ask for Electronics to run your Shay in DCC+Sound: That´s Soundtraxx which offers Drop in Decoders for the Shay and Climax´es -
especially with the Climax (and her Backup Light...) it´s a bit of fiddling but
both work fine. Take a look at: www.soundtraxx.com

Same if you go with the Consolidation - there is the Tsunami Range which is almost drop-in, just solder the needed 8pin plug and the Speaker wires and that´s it!

Kind regards, Tom

[ollie]

Don't have a Shay, yet. Before that I think I am going to add a climax. But before that is to happen I think I am going for a second 2-8-0 and reletter them for my home road.  Soe cars are next in order, followed by a kit or two from Walthers to get the right feel.
On prototypewise I am blessed to live only some 150 km.s from a preserved narrow gauge line with all the original shop buildings, roundhouses depots intact. So I have a sort of 3D prefrerence to go with too. I think to make things successful, you need to do a bit of research, even if you freelance. And it is fun too....

Photos are nice, so are videos but it is nice to see things in "flesh". I have put a series of photos and more is yet to come on my web page over the 0n30, Just see the link below. Not much modelling there et as I live a bit far away so the ship ments does take some time....

http://olaviahokas.com/riofanguso   

[Tomcat]

Ollie,
can truly imagine the familiar touch of the Consolidation, they will probably form a easy convert into something Scandinavian. And putting sound is just fun, nothing to worry about. If you go with a Sound traxx Decoder, remember to use one of their speaker baffles - gives much better Sound quality - they´re cheap but worth to use...

Happy Logging!
Kind regards, Tom

[ollie]

In Finland and in Norway there were quite a number of American built engines. While in Sweden they were not that common. The national Railwaycompany did however order standard gauge 4-6-9.s at the turn of the century but a handfulwere ordered by the private companies. On naroow gauge I know of one Balwin 0-6-2T which was modernaized later with a swedish made boiler and a new cab.  Swden was very rich on narrow gauge and had common carriers on 600mm, 891mm, 1063 and 1093 mm gauges. And there are quite a number of preserved narrow gauge railroads in the country.

In Norway one of the narrow gauge lines which was standard gauged by the Germans in WW. used some US made moguls, not unlike the moguls offered in F-scale by Bachmann.

Finns had a lot of standard gauge engines from own shops, heavily reselbling offerings from USA, Germany and UK. This pictured preserved engine running on 750 mm gauge has some American out lines but was built by a shop in Tampere, Finland.