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GRS Battery Diesel Set - SM32


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Hi all.

 

Just after some advice if possible. My uncle (who has never previously been an active modeller) is interested in starting a garden railway but has asked for my help in getting things going. To be honest I have no experience at all of these larger scales but, having had an initial look, GRS seem to offer a relatively inexpensive battery diesel loco and some tipper wagons in SM32 scale: http://www.grsuk.com/32mm-Manual-Battery-Diesel-plus-4-Tippler-Wagon-Kit-M11812

 

Does anyone have experience of this set and, if so would they recommend it?

 

It looks like a good option to get things moving and from my limited knowledge by noticing adverts in the modelling press, GRS seem to be a reputable and established business.

 

Many thanks in advance for any help or advice,

David

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Hi all.

 

Just after some advice if possible. My uncle (who has never previously been an active modeller) is interested in starting a garden railway but has asked for my help in getting things going. To be honest I have no experience at all of these larger scales but, having had an initial look, GRS seem to offer a relatively inexpensive battery diesel loco and some tipper wagons in SM32 scale: http://www.grsuk.com/32mm-Manual-Battery-Diesel-plus-4-Tippler-Wagon-Kit-M11812

 

Does anyone have experience of this set and, if so would they recommend it?

 

It looks like a good option to get things moving and from my limited knowledge by noticing adverts in the modelling press, GRS seem to be a reputable and established business.

 

Many thanks in advance for any help or advice,

David

David

I saw this set running at NGS at Peterborough and bought a couple of skips although not a loco as I use track powered DCC for my indoor layout. Looked robust and appeared popular. Skips are metal construction, run well and are nicely finished. Good VFM.

Chris

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It's a superb model but is slow ;)

Video comparing the original, background, to modified in the foreground.

https://youtu.be/6gJdIq_ByX4

 

PECO refer to their track range as SM32 so I guess that's where the terminology comes from.

There are also a lot of very simple 32mm wooden kits from IP engineering and Houston Gate Loco Works to expand the stock cheaply. They only need basic tools, knife, glue, sandpaper and rubber bands to assemble.

 

Peco do flex track and a set track range

 

If he wants to buy stuff off the shelf to run then Accucraft do a superb range of UK stock at very sensible prices. Trackshack on the IoM hold a good range and their service is also fast and excellent.

 

42522547815_5ee30e20b4_b.jpgGarden railways by -salisburyASC-

Edited by PaulRhB
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The loco and skips referred to are astoundingly good value for money. The loco is a very good model of an Ns2f, and the skips very good models of typical continental ones.

 

It is slow, possibly unrealistically so, but then you can admire it as it creeps along!

 

I’m not supposed to have a 32mm narrow gauge railway, mine is 45mm, but this set is so good that, er ...... um ...... I sort of own one now, by accident. It sneaks onto my 0 gauge layout when nobody is looking, and is likely to lead to a small 32mm line outside.

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I’m now attracted to 32mm track for 2’ narrow gauge, but like many others of the Great OutDoors Railway leaning, I started with 45mm track - the infamous LGB. For many who are just starting out and possibly unsure of direction it does give a wide range of options.

 

It’s relatively cheap, especially second hand. Indestructible. Capable of many incarnations: narrow gauge (at 15mm or 16mm/ft it’s like 3’ or metre Gauge), standard gauge, as gauge 1. UK, IoM, Irish, European, North American or Colonial - virtually anything. Open to buying RTR, kits or bashing/scratch.

 

It also has good resale value.

 

It’s worth a thought unless you’re weded to 32mm track.

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h'mm Southtyne. What exactly do you mean by SM32 Scale please? There actually is no such thing. I assume you mean 32mm gauge ('O') track which is 32mm between the shoulders of the rail. That means at with 32mm gauge you are looking at modelling 16mm = 1 foot to represent 2ft narrow gauge prototypes. This gauge is also used to represent other scales too like 18" prototype estate railways in 7/8ths inches = 1 foot.

 

As regards the gearing on the GRS locomotive you mention, remember that narrow gauge prototypes very rarely ran above a sedate walking pace. Usually the track was not good enough, hence the "dyehards" in 16MM were forever loudly criticising anyone who ran faster at any time. A lot of us gave up with them and did our own thing but remember with this gearing you will get better endurance and run times from your batteries. To put it simply. In 16MM there are any number of other suppliers for example IP Engineering who run ads in the mags. Look around and there are many here who will help. Its your railway and you can do as you please unlike the "indoor" scales you are playing with big boys toys in a 12inch = 1 foot environment.

regards

Ian

Sorry :( As I said I have no experience at all of these larger scales and was asking on behalf of someone else. I intended to mean 16mm scale and 32mm gauge track... I've obviously opened a can of worms.

 

Thanks for the other info. I'll look up IP Engineering and pass it on

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David

I saw this set running at NGS at Peterborough and bought a couple of skips although not a loco as I use track powered DCC for my indoor layout. Looked robust and appeared popular. Skips are metal construction, run well and are nicely finished. Good VFM.

Chris

Cheers Chris that is great. They do look nice and robust and perfect for the outdoor environment. I think he intends to install a simple loop around the garden with a couple of sidings and i think it will look great trundling some skips through the undergrowth!

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It's a superb model but is slow ;)

Video comparing the original, background, to modified in the foreground.

https://youtu.be/6gJdIq_ByX4

 

PECO refer to their track range as SM32 so I guess that's where the terminology comes from.

There are also a lot of very simple 32mm wooden kits from IP engineering and Houston Gate Loco Works to expand the stock cheaply. They only need basic tools, knife, glue, sandpaper and rubber bands to assemble.

 

Peco do flex track and a set track range

 

If he wants to buy stuff off the shelf to run then Accucraft do a superb range of UK stock at very sensible prices. Trackshack on the IoM hold a good range and their service is also fast and excellent.

 

42522547815_5ee30e20b4_b.jpgGarden railways by -salisburyASC-

Thanks for your reply Paul and suggestions. Video is very helpful! I must admit I was obviously a bit naive regarding the scale/gauge issue but I think I know what I meant and suggested that 16mm scale and 32mm gauge would be the best option with plenty of commercial support. I cannot see it being finescale modelling, more just a broad representation of an industrial narrow gauge operation.

 

Cheers!

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Thanks for all the replies above. I'll pass the info on but it seems excellent value.

 

Plenty of support for IP Engineering too! Definitely worth further investigation :)

 

He wouldn't be wedded to 32mm gauge, I just automatically assumed that had most most bits and pieces available and (very selfishly!) it seemed to be the obvious choice for a more industrial setting which suits my interests ;) I'll get him to look at the 45mm gauge options too though!

 

Thanks again to everyone who has input.

 

David

Edited by south_tyne
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I’m now attracted to 32mm track for 2’ narrow gauge, but like many others of the Great OutDoors Railway leaning, I started with 45mm track - the infamous LGB. For many who are just starting out and possibly unsure of direction it does give a wide range of options.

 

It’s relatively cheap, especially second hand. Indestructible. Capable of many incarnations: narrow gauge (at 15mm or 16mm/ft it’s like 3’ or metre Gauge), standard gauge, as gauge 1. UK, IoM, Irish, European, North American or Colonial - virtually anything. Open to buying RTR, kits or bashing/scratch.

 

It also has good resale value.

 

It’s worth a thought unless you’re weded to 32mm track.

 

I have been around this for a very long time now and have run on both gauges. I actually model in 7/8ths = 1foot on 45mm gauge track for a good number of years. My experience is that in general 45mm gauge track provides much moire stable running, it does upset the purists a lot because most of the commercial suppliers use brass rail of code 332 section which is perhaps a little heavy for most prototypical devotees. Its horses for courses really but its robustness will amply repay the investment made in it. My collection of track is eclectic to say the least. There are pieces of LGB (some of which date back to the very early days of LGB before my time and bought secondhand which have the the duly distressed sleepers moulded), Aristocraft, Hartland Locomotive Works and my favourite which is USA Trains. All has been used and lifted now more than once but remains eminently usable. Spares are available, like boxes of sleeper modules in the unlikely event that they get broken, lengths of new rail section to make up your own flexitrack and so on.

 

The big plus that I have found after taking the heretical decision to run permanently on 45mm gauge is that it opens up the possibility of modelling in much wider fields. Originally LGB was based on a scale of 1:22.5 to represent continental prototypes which ran on metre gauge, There are the "wider gauge" prototypes in the narrow gauge field and of course 45MM is Gauge 1 in the standards which opens up the field of 10MM (or 3/8" for the purists) =1 foot generally of British standard gauge (4ft 8 1/2") prototypes although their rail section tends to be not quite so heavy.

 

I found that after starting out when things really were fun in garden railways, my tastes and what I wanted to do changed as time passed with my railway. Eventually I settled on 7/8ths but would not have had the passion for it had I not already had most of the track having built, tried and run other things. There would always have been a sub-concious feeling of lack of choice had I saddled myself with 32MM gauge track.

 

Just a few personal observations and experiences to consider.

regards

Ian.

Thanks Ian for your thoughts and personal musings. I've passed it all on. I don't imagine he is wedded to any particular scale/gauge combination the 16mm scale and 32mm gauge suggestion was mine but I am just a novice with no real experience of garden railways at all and, following he input here, was probably naive!

 

Lots to pass on so thanks to all.

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  • 3 months later...

Hi

 

I am new to this group, but have just picked up one of these LKM NS2f loco's along with 9 matching tipper wagons. It has had the motor upgrade and I would like to turn this into a little RC loco.

 
My question is this, has anyone on here ever converted one of these to RC, what did they use, how did they fit it all in, etc, pictures would be awesome. The motor is in a very inconvenient place so curious as to what others may have done.
 
My thoughts at the moment is to use 3 x 18350 Li-Lo batteries, putting each one in a battery holder and placing them where ever I can fit them. Then add a Deltang RX, either an RX65c or maybe even try the smaller Rx61c? Simple but quite effective as I have used similar setups with 18650 batteries in a number of locos now.
 
It has lights fitted and came with some upgraded LED's, but these are both white. Should I have these as directional so it shines white on whichever direction it's going and the other turns off, swap them out for dual colour LED's and have them swap over for which direction it's going, or leave them both white and on all the time?
 
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
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