G Scale VS On30

[Chuck N]

Oscar:

Did you mean Accucraft rather than AristoCraft?  Accucraft makes cars and engines in 1:20.3, while Aristocraft is primarily 1:29 with a small amount of 1:24 stuff.  I do not think that they make any 1:20.3.

Chuck

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Oscar,

Glad it helped.

A word about track:  Bachmann Track is not suitable for outdoor use, so you will need Brass, Stainless or Aluminum track or possibly Plastic track now in the works by some companies.  Much depends on your decision as to how you will power your trains.  Also the 1:20.3 items do require eight foot diameter minimum curves. This is all out of my area of expertise and maybe Jerry B could give better advise on the curves situation for Fn3/1:20.3.  I have only heard my 1:20.3 friends say that they feel that it is way better to go much higher on the diameter.

Again welcome to your new adventure!!

Bill

[OscarG]

Yes Chuck N, I stand corrected. It was Accucraft. Thank you. Man they are priccceey! 
That's one reason I am re-thinking which scale I will commit to.

Bill the track radius will have to be larger, I think it stands to reason. There is probably radii and clearances between one train and another in  passing, too, that needs consideration. That is another reason I must re-think my original commitment of which scale to pursue. I have a backyard, but not acres of it! Because when one considers, off hand the size of track layout, the size of the buildings, tressels, tunnels, power needs, commanding the railroad, and all at 1:20.3 Scale. Boggles my feeble mind!.........................BOING!!
And I have a vision of at least six towns!  I think I may need an acre! 

I will keep my dream going, but I think I need a stiff drink, now, and ponder this. 

Thanks all!

Oscar

[NarrowMinded]

Hi Oscar, I remember when I bought my first "G"scale Big Hauler for aroung the tree I was hooked, but then I bought a "G-Scale" listed truck on Ebay, when it arrived I was very disappointed because it was tiny next to my train turned out it was 1/32, thats how I discovered the G = Everything on 45mm track issue

NM-Jeff

[scottychaos]

This might help with understanding all the scales too:



opps..the Bachmann forum resized it smaller..click here for the full-size version:
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/Large-scale-scales2.gif


Scot

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Scott, Thanks for the post, that is the one I was originally looking for.  This time I bookmarked it

Oscar, hopefully your hangover has subsided!! 

If you went 1:20.3 with six full scale towns that would be huge, even unbelievable!!   

I think it might even make you an event destination I would have to visit.   Dreaming and planning are all part of the fun of this hobby.

What ever way you go I have no doubt you will have a blast, I love your enthusiasm.

Bill

[NarrowMinded]

Oscar,
Please don't let suggested retail prices scare you away, there are lots of deals out there.
I have never paid retail price for My loco's or rolling stock ever, you may have to wait from time to time for a good deal for what you really want.

One thing I will mention is that waiting or price has forced me into being a better Modeler/Kitbasher, How? I turn what I really didn't want into what I really wanted.

NM-Jeff

[glennk28]

if you can hold the loco in one hand, it's On30 or another small scale.  If you need both hands--;it is G--or correctly Fn3.  gj

[on30gn15]

In the meantime many manufacturers steped on the train with all kind of different scales. All run on 45mm track but remember: scale 1 ist standart gauge 1:32 (1435mm), 1:22,5 (1000mm), 1:20,3 (914mm/3'). This are the true scales to the track.
All other sizes are out off scale to the track an will be called "G" - here in Germany.
steamrusty

If anyone cares to use 1/24 scale the 45mm model track comes out pretty close to 1066mm a.k.a. 42in a.k.a. 3ft6in gauge like in Australia, South Africa, and Taiwan. As well as several electric traction lines here in US such as Denver & Intermountain.

1066mm/24=44.4mm

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Oscar,

Jeff has a great point about prices, and I fully agree that you should never pay full MSRP as listed in the catalog.  The real price is often called the street price.  Specific places to check to get a feel for street prices is to visit Trainworld.com, St Aubin Station, Nicholas Smith Trains, Wholesale Trains, and Ebay internet sellers such as The Favorite Spot,and  ana Kramer,and other internet sellers like rldhobbies.com, Kidmann Tree Farm, and I am sure many others.  Many of these advertize in Garden Railways magazine which is a great resource for beginners.  I am not endorsing any place in particular, and I am sure that once I hit the post button I will think of others. 

Going thru all this reminds me that there were no personal computers, or internet, or forums when I bought our LGB set in Germany in the 1970's. It wasn't til the late seventies when I got my first Commodore Vic 20 computer. Wow! a lot has happened since those days when LGB was the only mass producer of Large Scale trains.  Bachmann did not even get into Large Scale til 1988.  I have 31 years in Large Scale as of the end of the month.
Bill

[NarrowMinded]

Hi Oscar, I just read over some of the posts above, if your plans are for a backyard layout I would think twice about putting anything other then "Large Scale" outside.

Maintenance on Ho/On30 track outside would not be something I would want to deal with.

NM-Jeff

[OscarG]

Not to worry Jeff. I have decided I would commit to large scale with my layout. Specifically 1:20.3.

At this time I am interested in modeling 1885 - 1910.
Minning, logging, small towns, end of the old west,etc.

I will do my research on the subject as I will strive for as authentic as possible.
(I'm not exactly certain I won't fudge a little.  )

Thanks for your post Scott. That was very helpful!

Jerry stay in touch!

Hey Bill yes I agree six towns would be terrific! But maybe I will be forced to cut back to 5!..........BOING!
Lots of FUN!

Thanks all, and Happy RR'ing!

Oscar

[smcgill]

Just put some track with an engine ,cars or caboose outside were you are thinking! 
This will help you "envision " the empire you want or just to show you how it all will look outside compared to on paper!
Do not forget the camera!!
Good luck!
Sean

[tac]

It even gets worse, G Scale trains made by the USA Trains company are 1:32 scale and G Scale Trains made by the Aristo Craft  company are 1:29th scale, except for their Classics line (formerly Delton Trains) which is 1:22.5.

Bill - as a fully paid-up rivet counter, I just HAFTA point out that both Aristocraft AND USA Trains make their models in 1/29th scale, and that the former Delton models are 1/24th.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[Loco Bill Canelos]

 Tac,

I am sure you are nominally correct which is why things are so confusing.  I have rivet counter friends who swear that if you put the actual measurments of the prototype against the USA Trains products that many of them actually measure out as 1:32 scale and are "the only accurate correct products" on the market that are correct to scale standard gauge, and that the Delton is closer when measured against the prototype to 1:22.5.  Aristo does advertize the Classics as 1:24 so I apologize for that too.  Having said that I have no idea nor do I care weather my rivet counting friends are correct or not, but it is sure fun listening to them argue about it on and on.    USAT says their product line is 1:29 so I guess that makes them officially 1:29th weather they are or not so I aplogize for adding to the confusion over scale by saying they are 1:32.   I also heard that the USAT work car series is 1:24 scale, what is with that???  Just more confusion!!!

I think the whole issue of scale in large scale is horribly confusing to a brand new person and that the average modeler just wants to run things that look good together.   Rivets counters are generally a minority aspect of the large scale hobby, who have a need to determine if a given model has six rivets on the tender tool box instead of five on the actual prototype, and that is ok and totally fine with me.  I do not judge a person who uses a Large scale Percy to pull a 1:20.3 freight car, and I do not judge a rivet counter for what he or she does.   

I have been in large Scale from the beginning and understand the differences as much as possible, and as I said earlier It makes me crazy, just trying to keep it all straight as to what is actullay what.

The most important thing is to have fun, what ever your style of Large scale railroading is.  whatever you like is OK.

Cheers

Bill