Newbie question

[crb]

Please be kind, I have become obsessed with the concept of garden railroading and have purchased my first ever train.  I have ordered some brass track and am waiting for more pieces to arrive.  My question is this.....what type of screwdriver/wrench do I need to screw the track pieces together?  Is there a special one that is sold somewhere?  Remember....be kind....I'm new and a total novice. 

[Hunt]

For Bachmann large scale brass track a 2mm allen wrench is needed to install the hex screws in the rail joiners.

[crb]

Thank you, hunt!  I don't own any allen wrenches and wondered if that might be what I needed, but wasn't sure.  I assumed if something special was needed, the track pieces would come with it, but one never knows.  I will (im)patiently await the arrival of the UPS man with goodies. 

[Loco Bill Canelos]

CRB,


First let me say welcome to a fun hobby, and remember there are no dumb questions, just questions!!   Always feel free to ask questions here on the Bachmann forum.  There are many great members here who will be able to help you enjoy your new hobby!! 

When I bought my track new in boxes, each box came with the little allen screwdriver needed to connect the pieces.  When I bought new switches, each box came with them as well.  The little track screws were sealed in wax underneath one of the ties, which was something else I did not know when I first started.

Again welcome and have fun.

Loco Bill

[crb]

Thank you, Loco Bill!!   I bought a starter train set just so I could have something to play with, then ordered the brass track separately to put outside.  I checked my boxes and didn't see anything, but who knows, I might have been "track blind".  I am grateful to have found this forum to have folks to network with!  I don't know ANYONE that has a garden railroad, so I am bravely (stupidly?!?!) plunging forward on my own....LOL

I appreciate any and all advice!  Looking forward to playing with my train!

CRB

[Hunt]

CRB -- Spend time on MyLargeScale.com lots of knowledge there.

[crb]

Thanks, Hunt.  I will check it out.    Everyone here is so helpful. 

[Loco Bill Canelos]

CRB,

Another possibility is to see if there is a garden Railroad club near you. Most of them have tours of club members layouts.

Some like m y old club meet at the members homes and so  you see a different layout at each meeting.   I have seen a lot of Garden Railroads as a result of visiting layouts of others.  I have never failed to learn something new when visiting another persons layout.

Then there is always Garden Railways Magazine which has articles of interest and lots of Ads with lots of related products.

Bill

[crb]

Bill,

I don't know of a single soul in my area that has ever heard of garden railroading, let alone created one.  Crazy, huh???

I sort of stumbled on it by accident.  I have a grandson (newly acquired through marriage) who has an O scale train.  I took him to a train store and the train bug bit me!  I have always been fascinated by trains, but when I saw those G scale trains, I was in love!  I came home and started looking online and stumbled across the garden part of it.  I KNEW that I HAD to be a part of this exciting hobby. 

So far, all of my track purchases have been Bachmann brass.  Have you found any other the other screw type brands to be compatible?

CRB (Chris)

[Mark Oles]

Chris,

If it is a 2mm screw, that's what the now-closed Aristo-craft used, and I assume what USA Trains uses too for their track.

I replied to your other post, but on the topic of track and planning, for an outdoor set up, use the widest radius curves you can.  8' diameter should be the minimum so that you'll be able to operate about 95% of the rolling stock that has been made over the years.

[crb]

Mark, thanks for the input.  I understand that the wider the curves, the better the performance.  As I am still waiting for track pieces to arrive, I haven't been able to lay things out and play (only with the steel track that came with the train set).  Right now I have some 1 foot sections of 4' diameter curve.  Can I add shorter pieces of straight track to the ends of those to make wider curves?  (I hope that makes sense!)  Unfortunately, I live in a rather remote part of Ohio (Small town) with no train shops nearby.  The closest one I have found is an hour and a half away and they didn't have brass track, nor much in the way of G scale items.  So, I am relying heavily on the 'net to help me out!

Thanks again for all of the wisdom and advice that I am finding here!

Chris

[Chuck N]

Chris

Welcome to the "wacky world of large scale".  There are a lot of large scalers in Ohio. If you could mention your town or county, there might be some near you.

You will discover that your new brass track will not mate with the steel track in your starter set.  The starter set has a single steel pin that goes inside the rail.  The brass track has a rail joiner that goes on the outside.  If you are planning to put your train up outside, the steel rail will rust in a very short time and with a little longer time will disappear into a line of red dust.  It is great for indoors around a Christmas tree, or an indoor layout.

Our advice is to decide where you want to put your train and then make some measurements.  Use the largest diameter/radius that will fit the space.  Your engines and cars will appreciate the wider curves.

Think about what you want before buying a lot of track.  My railroad has 10' diameter curves and I wish I had gone larger.  Some trains look OK on those curves and some don't.  If you are going to stick with engines and cars similar in size and scale to your starter set (1:22.5/24) 8' diameter will be fine.   If you think that you might want to get some more modern, late steam to diesel, "standard gauge" 1:29 or 1:32 scale trains, then you should go with larger curves and switches.

Again welcome, and don't be afraid to ask questions.  As was mentioned earlier <mylargescale.com> is another site.  This site is largely devoted to questions about Bachmann products.  If you have questions about products that Bachmann doesn't  make and sell, MLS is a good alternative.

A little history.

I started out in this gauge of track about 35 years ago.  My first train was an LGB starter set.  It was European narrow gauge and the scale is 1:22.5 or meter gauge in real life.  I acquired a lot of LGB, and later Bachmann, Delton, and USAtrains.  These were based on American Narrow Gauge cars and scaled out to 1:22.5 and 1:24.  Later LGB, AristoCraft and USAtrains started producing more moden "standard gauge" engines and cars in 1:29 scale ( this is an incorrect scale, the proper scale for standard gauge trains on our track is1:32).  Later still, Bachmann and Accucraft started producing American Narrow  Gauge engines and cars in the correct scale (1:20.3) for the 3' gauge trains that ran and still run in parts of our country.

I ended up with all three scales; 1:20.3, 1:22.5/24, and 1:29.  I run them all, but not at the same time.

Sooner or later you will be reading about the 5 or more scales of trains that people run on our 45mm track.  It can get confusing to a beginner.

Remember it is supposed to be fun and we are here to help.  When asking a question, try to provide as much information as you can.  It will help us help you.

Chuck