I was planning and have a couple of Radio controlled Loco im not into electronics so Adding RC + sound adds £500 per loco.

DCC would be preferable and cheaper but I’m not great at soldering and the thought of 360 joins is daunting.

is there any alternative ( clamped or screwed joint ?!)

any ideas

thanks

Paul Wagner, Editor of the Florida Garden Railway Society Newsletter, allowed me to mention his name as a reference in USA.

For questions about the book you please mail me: glm@vanderschrieck.nl

I think it would need covering with roofing felt,but I proposed doing that anyway. This is only a thought and I would be interested in comments from anyone who may have used it.

Regards, Derek.

I'm converting a Bachmann Fn3 Mallet to battery power with radio control.

I've got it working on the bench with a CVP Airwire CONVRTR-60X receiver and an ESU LokSound 5XL decoder (sound and motors) - lights, etc. have not been tested yet as the tanks are off during the setup process (and awaiting a custom battery to fit inside - but that's another story).

I've chosen this combination as it is running successfully in the 3-truck Shay I posted elsewhere and I use LokSound in both this scale and my 1:48 work due to the ability to customise the sounds (the Mallet is running ESU's mallet sound file but with different whistles as I didn't like those in the factory file).

I'm wondering if someone can advise me what the various Auxiliary connections on the Bachmann G828X DCC Adaptor Board make with the motherboard of the loco? ( Smoke, cab light, firebox flicker, etc. ?)

Maybe I have missed this on the forum but as Bachmann's documentation (and wire colour coding) leaves a lot to be desired I'd be grateful for some help.

Not essential as I can work through it by trial and error but it could save me quite some amount of time - once I know all of the connections I will post a PDF spreadsheet for others who wish to go down this path.

Any assistance would be greatly received.

Having started in O gauge during lockdown 2 by building a club layout, I’ve really got the bug for the scale. Once the club rooms reopened the club layout has been moved to its permanent home and I have nowhere to test my stock at home. So I decided to build something in the garden. SWMBO is not keen, so I’ve agreed to make it portable and just set it up for running sessions. The idea will be a triangular layout round two sides of the lawn with a third arm back across the middle.
 

I have chanced upon some planks of softwood which are used for pipe delivery crates and measure 10’6” x 8”x20mm as shown hanging above my MGB.

So not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I’ve decided to use them to make sections of baseboard 9’x8” ideal for a double track in O gauge. I also intend to build the curves from the same material by joining together lots of segments. 
 

I applied wood preserver over the weekend and so far I’ve built four 9ft boards as shown in my garage under construction this morning. 

I set them out in the lawn this afternoon and loosely laid some track on top to test the concept. It all seems to work OK, although will need a lot more care with levels when I lay the track properly to get a smooth ride.
 

I intend to join the boards using dowels and adjustable sprung toggles from Amazon which I found excellent on our club O gauge. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07RHD9CMN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). The boards will rest on loose bits of wood arranged to minimise gradients.

Does this all sound like a credible plan? Or am I setting myself up for a disaster down the line?

Thanks in advance for any feedback from those more experienced.

Andy

We've the concrete trackbed and am now giving it a few days to cure properly, before removing the shuttering.  We ran out of shuttering material at the end of the job, but seem to have got away with it, the dry earth and hardcore doing a job.  It undulates in parts, so I've bought a load of obsolete plastic drink stirrers to even out any camber and level out gradients.

The working title for now is the Elvington and Sutton Light Railway.  The local railway station was called "Elvington (for Sutton)".

The question: I have read many methods regarding the use of Rowlands Mix.  Laying dry, slapping it on wet, using screws, not using screws...  When I temporarily lay a section of track (Peco SM32) it is quite solid.  Once Rowlands Mix has cured, will it hold the track without the need for screws?  I'm thinking place a section of track, make sure it's level, add Rowlands Mix dry, then watering (on a still and dry day).  I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has done this or used an alternative method.

Many thanks,

Alun

Has anyone taken the drive-train of one of the latest version of these (LGB25911, green MPSB livery) to pieces?

I'm looking to understand whether the drive between axles now uses a shaft and bevels, as on the latest version of the Feldbahn steam loco, or still uses the toothed belt that the initial versions had - the exploded diagram on the Maerklin site says the latter, but so does the diagram for the steam loco, and its wrong.

Many thanks in advance, Kevin

I have been looking at the MSS kits, this one grabbed me as something to start with.

https://www.dreamsteam.co.uk/mss-mamod-live-steam-garden-railway-train-sets/SAGS.html

I can have this setup as a loop on my decking, while then building out a slightly larger setup in the garden. My sticking point in the garden is to be able to build a loop in that doesn't consume too much of the garden. I've been working to a 5' radius, as from reading a few posts that sounds about right, also now finding this kit, it has 5' radius curves. 

I want to build a ground level, as the management said they don't want anything too obvious. My current thinking is to have it set on railway sleepers!

Just wondering what people think of the MSS stuff? I guess it's simple and not quite a scale model, but a good start?

I want to go large as that's kind of the point really. What are the merits/demerits of the various starter packs out there?

Really appreciate any input. You don't need to go into long explanations (unless you want to) - just what you'd start with if you were starting now.

Many thanks.

That implies it can provide up to 3 amp current.

I believe the "classic" LGB motor pulls quite a lot of current, but one possibility would be a lead acid battery in an attached wagon,  however I've seen LGB running outdoors with normal track pickup in very heavy rain (!) so the track controller would do fine for what I want.

Has anyone used this particular controller, which I may have to hunt down anyway.

Are there other makes suitable, for O gauge perhaps?  that would provide enough power.  The later LGB controllers and locos seem to be their own DCC system.

Any suggestions welcome, this is quite old kit now. 

Thanks, Bill

It's driving me nuts.

Best and stay well, brian.

With thanks.

Geoff Endacott

The loco came to me in a pretty bad way. It’s had a lot of work done to it and the final major job was completed this week in repairing some damage to the driving wheel hubs. It currently has a tender drive motor but I am going to try to encourage the owner to replace it with a more modern motor and gearbox on the loco drive axle. The boiler is not in its final position in case you are wondering why it’s inclined. 

If it is, has any member used one, I don’t want to really buy one of the top of the range airbrushes, simply because I don’t do enough painting to warrant the expense of buying one.

It is from this company, http://www.airbrush-pro.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d27.html

Is this company a good one please. I sent them an email to enquire about it, but I haven’t received a reply yet.

This picture, believed to have been taken ca. 1950, was posted to the Geograph website as an 'unknown location'.  It could be a 'visitor attraction' or somebody's rather elaborate 'personal' garden railway.   Does anybody recognise it??

Thanks,

Bill

However.... have discovered wonderful Goo Gone (seems cheapest on eBay) - a small amount on a reasonable quality plastic scourer (type used for non stick pans) and its gone leaving a nice smell of oranges! Unfortunately back the next day, but what’s a bit of daily maintenance.... Hope this is useful, any other tips would be good to hear.

My back garden is very neglected. Most of the garden is not visible from the house and you know what they say, out of sight, out of mind. It has a bramble problem and some of my neighbour's shed roof blew off and landed in it and it needs a good sort and clear out. Not being an outdoors type, really, I don't like gardening. I think having a railway out there is the kind of thing that would make me go out and actually show some love to the garden.

But I have another problem. Living in a terrace that backs onto another terrace we are plagued by cats, many of whom use our back yard as a toilet. There is cat poo everywhere. (That's another reason not to go out into the back garden) I'm worried that if I sort out the garden and start working on a railway the neighbourhood fleabags will damage it on their nocturnal rambles looking for a place to take a dump.

So how do I solve the problem of cat-proofing my garden? 

Please don't suggest that I get my own cat, which seems to be the first suggestion that always gets made.

Thanks

Jon

I'd personally be especially interested to see anything that I haven't previously thought of having, but would want to add to my own collection

In no particular order, I have....

a little 'toolbox' including a multi-tool with snipe nose pliers

and an assortment of tools

A refillable lighter and a couple of spares (people always borrow lighters at steam-ups!)

A couple of boiler filling syringes

and a handy size container for the filtered rain water (make sure the syringe fits as shown in the photo)

A collection of 3 link coupling chains, lamps and headboards

Spare batteries for the working lamps, and connector clips for R/C battery packs (I lose em)

Gas can adaptors - for 'screw top' and 'push fit' types

and of course the fuel supply itself

Steam oils (both of the recommended grades because I run Accucraft and Roundhouse loco's) and lubricating oil for the motion

A "shunters pole" - for coupling the 3 link chains, but also useful for reaching the regulator inside the closed Roundhouse cabs, fishing out errant bits of ballast etc

A "rolling tin"

which carries a "Rolling Road", so I can carry out any fault finding without occupying the track at a steam-up

Last but not least, a selection of rags for wiping down loco's, hands etc

Unless I've taken something out and forgotten it, that's the contents of my box, have you got anything else in yours ?